Page 50 of Just Another Meet Cute
“Consider it a continuation of the first one.” He lightly drummed his hands against the steering wheel. “You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”
It was funny, but the fact that he was giving me a choicemademe want to answer. Was this some kind of twisted reverse psychology? Whatever it was, it was working. I never liked talking about Dad to anyone. Even Linh had to force my feelings out sometimes. But for some reason, I wanted to tell Ian. To talk to him, because I had a feeling that he would understand. Even though a few hours ago, he was literally the last person I wanted to see.
“We don’t get along very well,” I said carefully. “Not that we fight a lot or anything, but we don’t … spend time together. At all actually.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Oh, really? So you don’t spend much time with your dad either?”
“More like the opposite.” He fiddled with the volume button on the radio. “I pretty much spend all my time with my dad. I was the only one who decided to live with him after the divorce. Everyone else wanted to stay with Mom.”
Surprised, I swung around fully to stare at him. “Your parents are divorced?”
His mouth twisted into a wry grin. “I guess Ryan never mentioned it?”
“No, he didn’t.” Now that I think about it, we never talked about our families much. Even though Ryan met Mom and Dad, he never asked about us. Or maybe he didn’t notice there was anything wrong. And I guess I was so relieved that he never made me talk about them that it never occurred to me to ask abouthisfamily.
I wanted to know now though. “So you don’t live here anymore?” My finger pointed behind me even though his house was long gone by now.
“I’m still in Austin. Sort of. We moved to Marble Falls. Been there for over a year now. Despite what everyone thinks, it’s notthatfar from Austin, but sometimes it feels like a world away. Especially with the shitty traffic. This is the first time I’ve been back for more than a day or two …” His voice trailed off a bit. “Even though everything’s still the same, it feels … different somehow.”
There it was again. Without knowing it, he was saying exactly what I was feeling. And from his words, I justknewthat Ian was the one who wrote the essay. It made me want to lean closer to him, but I forced myself to stay still.
“Why’d you decide to live with your dad? You know, instead of staying here with Ryan and everyone else.” I knew I was being super nosy now, but I couldn’t make the questions stop. “Seems like things here are pretty great.”
Luckily, Ian didn’t seem to mind too much. “Because no one else was going to.” He let out a short humorless laugh. “Ryan and my other sisters wanted to stay with our mom and the rest of the family. Everyone you met was on my mom’s side. My dad was an only child. MyÔng and BáN?i died a few years ago. So he didn’t have anybody else. Still doesn’t.”
“But now he has you.”
“Now he has me,” he repeated like it was some deep and dark secret. Maybe it was to his family. “At least I get my own room now. That’s a plus.”
“If you could go back, would you still leave with your dad? Even knowing that it would make things different and you’d feel alone?”
His eyes jerked over to my face. “How did you know I feel alone?”
“I—” Damn, I was mixing up his words and his essay. “I assumed that’s what you meant when you said things were different now. Being away from your family.”
“Right.” Still not looking entirely convinced, Ian nodded. “I think I’d still go with him. My reasons for leaving haven’t changed, and there’s no point in thinking about what-ifs now.”
Everything he said made sense, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to let go of my what-ifs about my family just yet.
“I’ve only known my dad for two years,” I said, offering up my own secret. I tugged on my fingers, cracking my knuckles. A habit that Mom absolutely hated. “My parents weren’t married when they had me. Well, hewasmarried, but to somebody else. They—he has two other kids.”
I wasn’t sure why I told him all that. But after everything I knew abouthim, in the essay and in person, I felt like I wanted him to know me—the real me—too.
Ian flickered a glance over, and I expected him to be shocked. But there was a thoughtful expression on his face. “And that’s why yousort ofhave a half brother and half sister.”
“Yep. Both of whom I’ve never met.”
“Does he ever talk about them or see them?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know if he’s not allowed to or if he doesn’t want to, but he doesn’t. Nor does he talk about them at all. It’s almost like they don’t exist to him anymore.”
“And now he’s with your family.”
“Now he’s with my family.”
One side of his mouth quirked up into a half smile. “No wonder you decided to come home with us. I would have done exactly the same thing.”
