Page 29 of Just Another Meet Cute
“It’s not their first time.” He gave me another smile and squeezed my arm before letting go. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay.”
Feeling warm, I almost skipped down the walkway. I didn’t though, since Ryan was still standing there watching me. Well, him and maybe a few relatives in the house. Instead, I concentrated on not falling on my face in front of my unseen audience.
Once I got into the car, I slumped forward and banged my head on the dashboard. Not enough to actually hurt, but enough to get my frustrations out.
“So I guess the confession part didn’t go well?” Linh let out a low whistle as she pulled out of the driveway. She reached out to pat the back of my head, smoothing my hair a bit. “It couldn’t have been that bad since he gave you a kiss goodbye. Or was it agoodbyegoodbye kiss?”
“It’s even worse.” My voice was muffled against the leather dashboard, but I didn’t even lift my head. “You have no idea.”
Desperate to escape Linh’s thousands of questions (with a bit of cursing tossed in once I told her about Ian), I slipped into Bá’s old bedroom in the corner of the house to panic in peace.
The door creaked when I came in, like it hadn’t been opened in a while, but I knew that wasn’t the case since there wasn’t a speck of dust on any of the furniture. Even all the picture frames crowding the dresser were polished until they sparkled. It was probably Aunt Sarah’s doing, since Linh was pretty much blind to dust and hair on the ground. I doubt she even knew where the broom was in the house. The only room she cleaned religiously was the kitchen.
Despite the fact that Báhad been gone for almost a year, her room was still exactly the same. From the pearl-green cardigan draped on the foot of her bed to her gray-and-white star slippers tucked neatly next to her desk. Strangely enough, there was even a strong smell of d?u xanh swirling in the air.
The knot in my stomach instantly eased, like I had rubbed some of the medicated oil on. For the first time since we came back to Austin, I finally felt like I was home again. Which was strange, since this room was missing the mostimportant person. Maybe it was because I had met Ryan’s grandma today, but I suddenly wished that I could hug Bá.
I sat down on her bed and looked around, almost expecting her to come in to turn on one of her Sylvester Stallone movies. Right on cue, the door creaked again, and I swung around.
Instead of Báthough, Mom stood at the doorway with a surprised look on her face. “I thought I heard someone in here, but I figured it was your aunt tidying up. Why are you hiding?”
So I was right about Aunt Sarah cleaning in here. “I wanted to get some peace and quiet to think.”
“About?”
I shrugged. “Life?”
“That’s pretty vague.” She came in and sat down in front of me. Her hand smoothed out invisible wrinkles on the thick comforter. “It’s kind of weird to be back here, huh?”
“You mean in this room?”
“I mean in this house. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is. Like everything’s the same. Your aunt hates change, so even the salt and sugar are in the same spot your Báused to keep it. But something in this house is off to me.”
My eyes widened a bit at her words. How did she—I would have thought she had read my diary or something, except I didn’t have one since I was eight. But I never even told Linh, or anyone, how I felt, and I especially never thought that Mom would feel the same.
“Maybe it’s not the house,” I said carefully, testing out the thought that hadbeen lurking in my mind for the past week. “Maybe it’s you who’s changed.”
Leaning back on her palms, she laughed. “You’re probably right. A lot did happen these past two years. I guess we can’t go back to the way things were, no matter how much we try. I wish I could take back a couple of these wrinkles though. Those Korean face masks aren’t strong enough for me.”
I knew that Mom expected me to laugh at her joke, but I was too distracted with what she said about not being able to go back. My brief moment of relief evaporated with Mom’s words. All year, all I wanted was to go back to the way things werebeforeDad. That was the main thing that kept me moving forward. But now, the thought of that being impossible was scary and paralyzing.
Mom was quiet. I didn’t know if she was lost in her own thoughts or if she was just letting me figure mine out. Not that there was ever a chance of that happening. If anything, I was more lost than before.
The essay from the flash drive popped in my head, and I couldn’t help wondering if Ryan or Ian wrote it. Logically, it was probably Ryan’s, since it was his key chain. But a part of me felt like it was Ian’s words.
“Do you have any plans tomorrow?” I asked to fill the silence, even though I already knew the answer. Mom and Dad had been disappearing for hours each day so I assumed that they’d be doing that again.
To my surprise, she shook her head. “No. Your dad has to do some paperwork for most of the day. I was thinking of walking around the mall a bit. Do you need anything? You can come with me. We could grab some lunch, too.”
“Sounds like fun. I’m free.”
“So it’s a date!” With a beaming grin, Mom bent over to study my nails.“Maybe we could fit in a manicure, too. It’s been so long since it was just the two of us.”
She was right. It had been a while.
It’s funny, but I never realized until this exact moment how much I missed her. We’re together all the time, but like she said, it wasn’t the same. Ever since Dad came back, I felt like I took a back seat in her life. Not that I expected her whole life to revolve around me forever. I wasn’tthatselfish. But it would be nice to feel important in her life again.
