Face Time (32 page)

Laura orders spicy tofu soup and bibimbap for lunch, and my mother makes a comment about how skinny girls shouldn’t eat so much food, in Korean, so Laura doesn’t understand her. We all ignore her as best as possible. Daniel smiles at Laura and orders even more food, and I follow suit.

“I’m starving, even after breakfast this morning,” Laura says, turning over her menu. “I exercised a lot.” She purposely doesn’t make eye contact with me but squeezes my knee under the table. Yoga and sex. I should think about that all day so I don’t have to think about death or the fact I’ll never see my father again.

“Did you go running? Not a nice day for it. Lee was telling me you run as well,” Nari says from across the table, and I have to rack my brain to remember I did tell her this last night.

“No running today. Yoga this morning. Maybe we’ll go for a run tomorrow if the weather cooperates.”

“Yoga…” Daniel hums and nods his head. “Nari does that now.”

“It’s good for meditation.” Nari nods too, and I’m blown away again. Nari exercises? What the hell is going on with her? Sandra and Nari are best friends, and they always both made fun of the women who go to the gym.
 

“I love yoga best, I think, but I also run, spin, lift weights on occasion, and go to barre classes. I like to stay active.”

My mother gasps and comments, again in Korean, about Laura’s muscular arms (which are on full display in her sleeveless dress) and how they are not attractive. I shoot a deathly stare at her. Of course, Laura is attractive. She’s hot. What woman doesn’t want her body?

“Mom,” I hiss at her. “Please speak in English.”

Everyone quiets down as appetizers are distributed, and I reach under the table and hold Laura’s hand. She’s stiff but trying to keep the conversation going with Daniel and Nari while Chase draws in a coloring book between us. Laura asks them about their jobs, and Nari is nice.
Nice
. She smiles. I’m so shocked I can barely speak.
 

Laura eats all the food with as much chili sauce as the rest of the Koreans at the table, and I’m so damned proud, it must be showing because Daniel smiles, too, watching us both.

He leans forward to Laura. “You eat like a Korean.”

“I love this food. I should have become a chef.” She pushes her bowl away and pats her belly. I want to laugh and kiss her right now.

“What do you do, Laura?” Nari asks.

“I got my degree at NYU in English, but I’ve been an administrative assistant the last five years.”

She reaches up to play with her hair only to pat and poke in the bun at her neck. Her hands wander down to the table, smiling and rearranging the spoon next to her bowl.

I set my chopsticks down and examine her smile, and it’s uncertain. I haven’t said anything to my family about inviting her to live with me, and we’ve not talked about our plans since New York. I said I would protect real love at any cost, and I only have something to gain by speaking now.

“Laura’s coming to Seoul with me after we go back to New York. She’s quitting her job and shipping her belongings to Korea.” I squeeze Laura’s cold hand under the table, and her neck reddens in a blush. “I asked her to move in with me and travel with me, and she said yes.”

“Lee,” she whispers, turning towards me and playing with her earring, “this may not have been the best time.”

Dead silence falls over the table. Daniel’s eyes meet mine, and I can tell he’s secretly patting me on the back. I even have Kade and Leland’s attention, their iPhones neglected.

My mother’s spoon hits the plate in front of her, and she says,
“Don’t you dare take this girl in. She’s just a gold digger. I won’t allow it.”
Her finger is pointed directly at Laura, and Laura’s face pales, my mother’s antagonism hitting her straight between the eyes.

She leans over to my ear as everyone falls silent again. “Did your mother just call me a ‘gold digger,’ Lee? I’m pretty certain I heard the word ‘gold,’ and she doesn’t seem pleased at all.”

“She’s only after you for your money, Lee. You should get rid of her and go back to Sandra. She’ll be at the wake later. It would make your father happy.”

“Mom, stop it,” Jin interrupts, his voice hard. Mimi has her fingers pressed to her lips, her eyes widened. Kade and Leland both turn off their iPhones to watch the fight brewing.

Laura glances around the table, confused, but, of course, no one is going to translate for her. We’re all shocked and ashamed of what’s coming out of Mom’s mouth right now.

I pull the car keys out of my pocket, my hands shaking with rage, and give them to Laura. “Laura, would you mind waiting in the car?”

She hesitates for a moment but takes them. “Sure. I guess you have some family matters to speak about. I’m going to go charge my iPhone for the afternoon.” Laura smiles at Chase. “You’ll be my buddy later? Keep me company?”

“Okay,” he responds with a genuine smile that lights up his face. I love three year olds. They’re so easily charmed and sweet, and it’s moments like this when I miss Evie and Cori. I wish they were here. Cori’s Korean is excellent, and she’d back me up in a fight against my mom.

Laura takes the keys and walks away from the table with all the poise and confidence of someone who knows she’s a good person. Any other woman upon hearing my mother call her a “gold digger” would have dissolved into tears. If she can continue to handle my family like this, I’m going to marry her.

Fourteen-year old Kade openly watches her go and whispers across the table to Leland, “I’d like to be her buddy.”

“Kade,” Mimi snaps at him. “Eyes on your iPhone.”

“Good job, Uncle Lee,” Kade whispers, nodding at me. Jesus. I remember being that age. Horny as hell. I’m going to be fighting men of all ages for Laura.

“Mom,” I say, standing up, “you can continue speaking to me in Korean, but I won’t answer or listen unless you switch to English. Laura is not after me for my money. That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. And don’t bring up what Dad would have wanted. I talked to him all the time. He would have wanted me to be happy and in love.” I grab my jacket from the chair and pull a hundred dollars from my wallet which I hand to Daniel.

I stop next to my mother on the way out, but she refuses to look at me. “And I swear if you tell Sandra I want to get back together with her, or any other lies about me or Laura, I will never come back to Seattle. I’m tired of this.”

I won’t let her control me any longer.

(>’o’)> ♥ <(‘o’<)

I get in the car, and Laura is typing away on her iPhone, the car turned on with the heat blasting on her legs. I let all the air release from my body, and closing my eyes, I press back into the leather seat. I knew this trip wouldn’t be easy, but I hoped it would go better than this. I can’t believe I just issued my mother an ultimatum, an ultimatum I’ll have to keep if I want to have any self-respect for the rest of my life.

“Are you texting someone?” I ask.

“Yeah, Justin. He says hi.” She holds up her iPhone.

Justin Taylor

Fuck his mom.
 

He obviously loves you so she doesn’t matter.

Bring him back to NYC with you soon. I had a great time the other night.
 

And tell him I said hi.

“Tell him I said hi and he’s good with advice.” She taps away and turns off her iPhone, setting it aside to charge.

“I’m sorry, Lee. I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t come. Maybe it would have been better for you to deal with this and then come back to New York…” Her speech pattern, usually so upbeat and quick, grinds to a halt, and she turns to stare out the window for a moment. “You didn’t have to tell them today.”

“We have nothing to hide, Laura.”

“No, we don’t. But the timing could have been better.” She turns to face me. “I thought maybe I could stay in your mother’s good graces for a bit.”

“Laura…” I squeeze her hand and pull on it to bring her closer to me. I want to explain that there will never be good graces from my mother, and it’s not Laura’s fault. It’s mine.

“But it’s okay, Lee,” she interrupts me. “If it doesn’t matter to you that your mom doesn’t like me, then it doesn’t matter to me. Remember what I said about boys and their mothers?”

Laura would rather not compete with my mother.
 

“She has Jin and Nari, and I’ve always been the son she didn’t want and caused her nothing but trouble.” Tears burn right behind my eyes, and if I let go now, I may never make it through the afternoon.

“Oh, Lee.” She sighs and squeezes my hand in both of hers. “You’re sweet, handsome, successful, and a good son and friend. You’ve been really good to me too, and I haven’t even known you that long. If she can’t see any of that then you don’t need her. Mother or not.”

I nod my head, using the last strength I have to hold my tears.

“Now, I can make things easier on everyone and go back to the hotel, if you like. I’ll drop you off at the funeral home and drive downtown…”

“No. No, don’t leave me, okay?” Just the thought of going through the afternoon without her makes the tears come right back. “I can’t make it through this day without you, even if you’re in the other room.”

“Don’t cry, Lee.” Laura’s warm hand wipes away the tears from my cheek. I suck in a deep breath and stop them before I delve into the land of no-return. “I’ll stay, of course. I just wanted to offer. This day is not about me, and I’m sad I’ve become the center of attention.” She reaches into her purse and pulls out a tissue, handing it over to me. “Besides, it sounds like Sandra will be there this afternoon?”

I blow my nose and nod. “Yes. Damn, Laura, you understood more of that conversation than I thought.”

“I’m a good listener, and I haven’t mentioned this, but I have a bit of a photographic memory which is why I learn languages so fast. I heard the word gold and assumed ‘gold digger’ since you just declared I was going to live with you, and the word ‘money,’” she says, tapping on her chin. “I heard Sandra’s name and ‘father happy.’”

“Yes, Sandra will be there and, no, getting back together with her will not make my father happy. My dad wanted me to be with you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I sent him a bunch of photos and told him all about you.”

She smiles, one of those sweet and happy smiles I love. “I had no idea. Well, then, don’t worry about it. I can handle Sandra. I’ll just flash my guns and send her running.” She flexes her biceps, and I’m betrayed by my own body that gets a hard-on watching her, knowing she’s fit and strong but soft and sexy, too. This is going to be a long day.

My afternoon at the funeral home drones on and on. Chase is a sweet kid and stays by my side all day, playing on my iPhone and talking incessantly about Rescue Bots, which I knew nothing of but am now fully versed in including which characters change into which rescue vehicles, et cetera, et cetera. The weather clears between 3:00 and 4:00pm so I take him out back to the garden and let him run around. Nari comes out and stands next to me, smiling at Chase.

“They should figure out how to bottle kids’ energy and sell it to everyone else,” she says, rubbing the corners of her eyes.

“Oooh. Now that would make a great dystopian novel. I need to write that down.” I mime patting my pockets and Nari laughs. Good. I was hoping to be the comic relief today if at all possible. “I was just telling Lee yesterday I’d like the ability to erase memories at will. That’s a story that’s already been done.”

“I’d like to erase today, if I could, especially lunch.” Nari nods, her chin-length hair, shorter in back than in front, bounces along with her head. “I’m sorry about my mother. She’s a righteous old bitch, very set in her ways.”

“Well, she doesn’t know me, so I won’t be too bothered by it.”

“That’s the right attitude to have. Lee stood up for you after you went to the car. He’s a good one to have on your side.”

My neck breaks out in a blush imagining Lee defending my honor. I press my cold hand to my clavicle to cool it down.

“Can I talk to you for a moment? Before we go back inside?” Nari asks.

I rearrange the collar of my coat to cover my blush while remembering all the conversations Lee and I had about this woman, his older sister who never gave him an ounce of love. What I’ve heard is at odds with the person I’ve come to know today.

“Sure.”

Chase zooms by us, and we both lunge out and tickle him as he runs by. His high-pitched laughter echoes in the small garden. I wonder what Nari is about to confess, and my heart is beating so fast I might up and die. At least I’m in the right place for it.

“I think you’re perfect for Lee, and I wanted to tell you that…”

I turn and face her, my mouth open and eyes wide.

“And I’m wondering if you’ll do me favor?”

I laugh. “I guess it’s going to depend on the favor.”

“Fair enough.” She takes a huge breath, and folds her arms across her chest. “Sorry about what I’m about to dump on you, but I know I’ve been a horrible sister to Lee. Last year, Danny threatened to leave me if I didn’t get help. I was a miserable person, clinically depressed for years and drinking heavily in secret. I went to AA and got sober, got a therapist and happy pills, and turned things around. I stopped seeing all of the people that made me worse, including Sandra and the others in our crowd. And it’s one of the things I have to do, apologize to all the people I’ve hurt…”

She sighs and smiles at Chase climbing over the back of a bench. I wince as he does a death-defying leap and lands on his knees, but he jumps up and keeps going. He’s distracting me from the growing ache in my chest. This family is a lot more complicated than mine, and I thought mine was bad.
 

“It’s hard to bring this up to Lee because he doesn’t know. None of the family knew. I mean, I was a bitch for years but no one knew how depressed I was. I would silently get drunk at family gatherings and then abuse Danny as soon as we got in the car. I kept it from all of them, especially my mom, especially my recovery. If she knew I was taking anti-depressants and seeing a therapist, she’d disown me. I’m sad I never got the chance to apologize to Dad.”