Chapter Ten
Dalisay ties off the final balloon with string and adds it to the bundle already tied to the back of the chair.
“Who decided on the fiesta theme?” Daniel asks, hefting a stack of chairs across the hall. It’s Melinda’s baby shower and everyone’s been tasked with helping set up St. Mary’s recreation hall for the big event, a seemingly all-hands-on-deck sort of emergency, so the shower can happen before everyone is occupied for the holidays.
“It is a little odd for a baby shower,” Dalisay admits. “But it’s Bernila’s vision!”
Bernila, Melinda’s best and extraordinarily loud friend, is in charge of everything. She is a taskmaster, putting everyone to work to get the place ready for fifty guests. Evan, fortunately, is spared the servitude. After his near panic attack with the parol, Dalisay is glad the family is giving him a day off.
She wishes she could get a day off, but she’d rather die than admit it out loud.
Working at Overnight is exhausting. American work culture is a lot more demanding than she ever expected. After spending eight hours at the office, sometimes she comes home to do even more work, on the weekends sometimes too; checks her work email on her phone in the middle of the night; is always aware of the unspoken rule that she must be reachable at all times, especially before deadlines.
In Manila, there is a concept called pakikisama, the closest English translation being “camaraderie,” and it’s a foundational part of office life. Teamwork and cohesion and social harmony. It’s a value she’s brought with her since starting at Overnight, but in America, office life is a lot more individualistic. Everyone seems to be looking out only for themselves, but Dalisay still feels the need to go above and beyond to make sure that everyone in the office is happy, pulling extra weight just to ensure that everything gets done. She truly stands by the concept that if the company looks good, everyone looks good. She will not be the weak link in the chain, even if it means she has to sacrifice her own free time to do it.
She barely feels like she gets any time to breathe anymore, with both work and home responsibilities. But Evan coming over to the house for Servitude has been more helpful than she cares to admit. She’s grateful, truly.
Her mom sets up games, like a blindfolded diaper-changing challenge and a baby bump balloon pop; Daniel raises a pacifier-shaped pi?ata on a rope in the corner of the room; and Lola brings out the ice-cream cake, and tells Melinda not to eat any. “Cold food equals big baby!”
Melinda holds her belly. “It’s too late for that, Lola!”
The party hasn’t even started, and yet Little Luis is taking full advantage of the fact that Melinda is so pregnant and about ready to burst that all she can do is sit on a chair and scold him from afar. He runs through the empty church hall, whacking anyone unfortunate enough to stand nearby with the pi?ata stick.
“Perhaps a fiesta was not the best decision,” Dalisay says, wincing, as Little Luis thwacks her in the back of the knees.
“Come here, you!” Daniel growls and chases after Little Luis, grabbing him by the torso and putting him under his arm like a football. “You are being a monster.”
“Monster! Monster!” Little Luis squeals and struggles to escape, but he’s no match for Daniel, who plops him down on a chair near Melinda, telling him he’s in timeout, and Little Luis screams. His tiny but powerful voice echoes off the walls.
See, Evan? she thinks. He’s perfectly fine.
Evan was so worried about breaking the parol, Dalisay has been thinking about his reaction since last night. The way his eyes got so wide, how the color totally drained from his face, the way his hands shook. She’s never seen someone so upset over such a small thing before. He was acting like he’d done something terrible, like he was holding on by a thread. When she touched his wrist, she wasn’t sure if it would help, but the way he looked at her made her feel like it did.
Pinky was right. She hasn’t even begun to understand him. She wishes there was an easier way to find out what goes on in someone’s head.
While she’s been with the family setting up for the party, she’s thought about Evan almost the whole time. A part of her almost wishes he were here, just so they could talk about what happened.
Then again, she can’t even talk to people who are right in front of her.
Across the hall, Dalisay watches as Nicole stands on a ladder, hanging the last of the streamers across the door as a curtain. She’s been quiet all morning. Of course, she’s been working hard these past few weeks. The holidays are always hard at hospitals—broken bones, knife lacerations, food poisoning, firework burns. Hospital visit rates skyrocket this time of year, no matter what part of the world, and staff can only try to keep up. It’s almost a never-ending tsunami of emergencies. Their dad, a heart surgeon, always said that the holidays were the most stressful for people. It’s why he never made a fuss when he was in the hospital himself. He always understood. But Dalisay wonders if Nicole’s looking tired for other reasons. If only she could just talk to her, but Dalisay hasn’t been able to have a moment alone with Nicole yet, they’ve both been so busy. Overnight and Kaiser Permanente might as well be on different planets.
Before she can think of what she’d even say to her, Bernila marches over to Dalisay. “The balloons aren’t even done yet? People will be here in five minutes! Chop-chop!”
Before long, the party is in full swing, but something doesn’t seem right.
“Bernila said there were just fifty people, right?” Dalisay asks Daniel. Daniel silently counts them too.
“Yup,” he says. “This doesn’t look like fifty.”
There are at least two hundred people packed into the church hall. Either Bernila miscounted the RSVPs, or everyone decided to invite plus-threes and then some. The hall buzzes with conversation and laughter. There aren’t enough chairs for everyone, so pockets of people stand around the room or line up to play games in rounds. They totally underestimated how many people were going to show up.
“We’re not going to run out of food, right?” Daniel asks.
“I hope not …” She glances at the buffet table and sees that most of it has been picked clean. Nicole helps dole out desserts, but it won’t last long.
As if summoned, Bernila appears. “Dalisay! Saklolo! We’re all out of food! This is a disaster!”
“What do we need?” Daniel asks.
Bernila looks desperately at the hall. “Everything!”
“I’m on it.”
Just as he leaves, a new face enters the room, and Dalisay’s eyes immediately linger on the flash of auburn hair.
It’s the woman from the hospital. She’s wearing jeans and a leather jacket, and her hair is braided loosely down her back. A motorcycle helmet is tucked under her elbow. She lingers at the door, standing on her tiptoes, and cranes her neck, looking for someone. Probably looking for Nicole.
Nicole, meanwhile, notices the woman too, her eyes flicking to the door furtively, but she doesn’t go to meet her.
Dalisay counts out the seconds, waiting for her sister to go to her, but Nicole doesn’t move. It’s like she’s frozen in place.
“Come on, Nicole …,” Dalisay murmurs, but Nicole looks like she’s seen a ghost.
Dalisay doesn’t want this woman to feel like she’s unwelcome, so she winds through the crowd and greets her. The woman’s eyes land on Dalisay for a beat, doing the usual double take at the sight of Nicole’s twin, and then she smiles curiously.
“Hi!” Dalisay says, extending her hand. “I’m Dalisay.”
“Dalisay,” the woman repeats, shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Claire.”
“Claire! Welcome! Come in! Don’t be shy.”
Claire smiles and her freckled nose crinkles when she does. She’s stunning.
“Are you looking for someone …?” Dalisay is fishing, seeing if she’ll get a bite.
“I know, it’s rude. I wasn’t invited. But, yeah, actually. I was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by to see someone.”
“Oh! Well, this place is pretty crowded. I’m sure we’ll find them sooner or later. It’s no problem! Everyone is welcome.”
“Thanks!” Claire seems like a genuinely sweet person. Dalisay glances in Nicole’s direction, and Nicole remains frozen, watching the two of them.
“So what do you do, Claire?” She sounds so American asking that, she almost laughs at herself. Maybe she is feeling more at home here than she thought.
“I’m a med student, actually,” Claire replies.
“Oh! Funny, my sister is a med student too! Where at?”
“I do clinical rotations at Kaiser Permanente.”
“My sister does rotations there too! What a fun coincidence!”
Claire doesn’t stop smiling. No doubt she starts to realize the game being played. “Wow! Crazy happenstance!” she says, her eyes twinkling. Claire finally sees Nicole standing on the other side of the room, and Dalisay can actually see Claire melt. Her eyes widen, her smile gets bigger, and her whole body relaxes with a sigh. She’s in love with Nicole.
“Would you like some ice-cream cake?” Dalisay asks.
“Sure!”
Before Dalisay can guide Claire toward the dessert table where Nicole is, Nicole makes a beeline for them, elbowing her way through the crowd and intercepting them. Dalisay can see the whites of her eyes, and all the color has drained from her face.
“Hey!” Claire says, beaming.
“Hey,” says Nicole, slightly sharper, teeth clenched so her mouth barely moves. She tries to smile, but it looks strained. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you,” Claire says.
Nicole’s eyes dart back to Dalisay and she leans in to Claire. “Can we talk about this outside?”
Claire furrows her brow. “I … I thought I’d surprise you. Wanted to take you for a ride.” She shows her the motorcycle helmet tucked under her arm.
Nicole’s face is turning so pale, Dalisay is worried she might pass out. She keeps looking around, as if she’s waiting for a clown to pop out like the one who scared Evan at Angel’s party.
“Is this your sister?” Claire asks. “We were just chatting—”
“Yes, this is my sister,” interrupts Nicole, sharp and staccato. “She is needed at the dessert table.”
“It’s fine, Nicole!” Dalisay says. “Claire and I were just getting to know each other. She’s welcome to stay—”
But Nicole interrupts Dalisay now. “She’s just a friend from work.”
Claire reels back, staring at Nicole with a frown. She looks hurt.
Too late, Nicole sucks in a breath, like she knows she said the wrong thing. She freezes, waiting, and clenches her fists at her sides.
None of them say anything for a moment, and Claire clears her throat. “Right! Just a friend,” she says, eyes darting to Nicole.
Dalisay desperately wants to tell them it’s okay, that she knows, but she can’t. If Nicole wants to tell her, she will on her own. All she can do is put on a smile and say, “Well, you’re welcome to stay anyway.”
Claire gives Dalisay a tight smile, then looks at Nicole. “You know what, I’m going to …” She juts her thumb over her shoulder, spins, and leaves before she can finish her sentence.
Nicole drops her shoulders and groans. “Claire, wait!”
Before she can run after her, Dalisay grabs Nicole by the wrist. “Hey, it’s okay—”
“Not now, Dalisay.” Nicole rips her arm out of Dalisay’s grasp and chases after Claire.
Alone, Dalisay stands wringing her hands, spinning her silver infinity ring on her finger. It was a gift from Nicole when they were teenagers. It was supposed to symbolize that together, they were forever, and now it feels like a brick wall has been erected between them, and Nicole is filling in the holes with cement.