Chapter 18
Paul was fun. I could say that about him because he returned not only with our lattes but with a supreme croissant.
With chocolate just like the couple beside us.
Strategically, he angled his chair, so his back blocked a view of our table from the street.
The couple beside us left, and I could tell by how the woman looked at me that she thought I was like her: that Paul and I were a couple. I didn’t mind.
Speaking of couples, I wanted to know more about the man my cousin was in love with.
Channing and Minjae were probably impossible to separate now.
I asked Paul what he thought of Minjae. He launched in without hesitation.
“He’s great. Some people you don’t see for a while, and it really affects your friendship, but not him.
A year or two can go by and then he calls me and we meet up.
We were like that even as kids. Minjae is always easy to hang out with. ”
“Will he stick around here long term? He’s going back to Korea, isn’t he? Since his mom lives there?” I swallowed a piece of the flat croissant. It was flaky, sweet, and buttery all at once.
“You sound like my grandparents. They were worried, too, when they thought Minjae and Ames were a thing, but they’re not each other’s type.
Ames wants a man who’s going to father four children and get her a big house in East End so she can write her investigation pieces for newspapers.
Minjae’s an adventurer. He wants to live in a lot of places, maybe have more than one home. ”
“Sounds like Ames should be with Kent.”
He coughed at that, setting down his cup of coffee. “Don’t know what it is. All the old people love Kent, but Ames didn’t like him at all. She tried, she really did.”
“What happened?” I asked.
He was about to answer when he abruptly stood up and smiled at someone behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw Ames walking out of the East End Courier offices.
She headed straight for the Blasian women who were standing now, preparing to leave, exchanged some words and then bent down to pet their dog.
I heard her say, “Awww, sweet Mika.” At last, she made her way to us.
“Aren’t you supposed to be studying?” she said to Paul.
“I have to eat, don’t I?” he said, and pointed to the pastry between us.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, and then without an invitation she sat in his chair. He retrieved another chair from a table nearby. Ames handed him his coffee.
“How’s the piece you’re writing on zoning changes?” I asked her.
“It’s going,” she replied, and then to Paul she said she wanted him to get her a double espresso and two biscotti. “Since you’re on break.” He grimaced at her before trotting off toward the café’s entrance.
“Cousins,” she said, shaking her head.
I liked her in that moment and had to laugh. “I know what you mean.”
She nodded. “I know you do.”
“So, what were you talking about yesterday when I went to pick up my grandfather?” I said.
She scooted her chair closer to the table.
“It’s so odd that all the families who aren’t Korean tell me to talk to the Koreans, but my relatives won’t tell me what happened twenty-one years ago over this beach club expansion,” she said.
She explained about the proposal to increase the business district on the waterfront and her plan to fill the reader in on the details of those failed efforts in the past.
“Koreans never want to talk about money,” I said. I thought about the time period some more. “That’s the year my aunt died.”
She nodded. “Yeah, it was a bad year, I get that, but I still need to find out what happened. That was supposed to be a proud moment, I just don’t understand.
I’m going to look in the archives at the library.
Maybe it doesn’t matter. I’ve got to file this piece soon because Mayor Reynolds is making a speech about it on Wednesday, and Kent wants it out before then, but I still need more info.
It’s why I moved here, so I could write long features instead of churning out stories like I was doing in Boston. ”
“You mean this Wednesday?” I asked.
“Yup.”
“You’re not writing PR for the mayor no matter what Kent wants, are you?” I must have looked alarmed, because she laughed and assured me she was not beholden to Kent.
“He can be a dick, but he knows he can’t use the paper any way he wants,” she replied.
“That’s good,” I said. “You know him pretty well since you dated him.” When she hesitated, I added, “He keeps using the door code to get into the Ahns’ house at all hours to see Channing.”
She made a face as if she’d tasted something bitter.
“He’s annoying, I get it. One of his strengths is that he doesn’t give up easily.
If he wants to go out with Channing, she should just do it, and then at least he’ll feel she gave him a chance.
There’s nothing he can do after that. As long as she keeps refusing him, he’ll keep trying. ”
“That’s your advice?” It sounded useless.
She rolled her eyes. “How would I know? East End isn’t what it seems to be.
Everything is about to collapse. Like this newspaper.
I thought I was working at a pretty stable place.
Small, but one I could really write long pieces for, and now it turns out it could go under without some major advertisers.
Subscriptions have fallen. We need more readers; the paper needs more financial support.
I shouldn’t have given up my job in Boston.
” She put both hands on the edge of the table and leaned back. “Where the hell is Paul with my drink?”
Just then my phone rang, startling me, and I spilled coffee on myself.
It was Channing calling to say the camp had called.
Edison and Austin were missing their swimsuits.
Could I bring them immediately? “We’re heading back, but it’ll take a while,” she told me.
I left right away. It was my fault they didn’t have their suits since I’d packed their backpacks that morning.
I would have liked to talk more with Ames, plus say goodbye to Paul, but Channing said it was almost time for the boys to swim and I had to hurry.
When I explained why I had to run, Ames just said, “I get it. Cousins,” and ate what remained of the pastry.
I remembered Channing’s words about Kent knowing everyone and everything that happened in East End when I drove into the town park’s lot with the boys’ swimsuits on the passenger seat beside me.
Kent was dressed in a suit, standing with a group of other people in similar attire by the building where I had dropped the kids off earlier.
As I neared him in the Ahns’ SUV, he jogged over.
Massive disappointment was the only way to describe the expression on his face when he discovered me behind the wheel.
He jerked his head side to side as he peered around me, stared a bit too long at the coffee stain on my chest. He seemed to think Channing was in the car somewhere, hidden from sight.
“What are you doing here?” he said.
“Can you excuse me? I’m in kind of a hurry.” I grabbed the swimsuits and was about to open the car door, but he wouldn’t move away.
“Is she sick?”
I pictured her in Minjae’s little red car and assured Kent she was fine.
“Does it have to do with her health issues? Until you told me, I didn’t know,” he said.
Did I look guilty for telling him a lie? I said quickly, “I’m going to be late. Can you please let me out?”
It was 11:20. I could just imagine the boys’ anxiety rising as they waited for me. Kent wouldn’t move. I pushed the door open, forcing him to lurch back just in time. I felt his eyes on me as I ran toward the camp office.
A large group of children sat by the pool, talking and laughing, pushing and hugging each other, sometimes at the same time. Austin was sitting on a bench by himself. He had his arms around his knees. “Austin! Hey!” I called to him. He didn’t react.
A woman wearing the purple T-shirt of the town camp stepped in front of me.
“Parents aren’t allowed until pickup,” she said sternly.
I waved the swimsuits in front of her. She showed me her clipboard, and I pointed out the names of the two boys, after which she took the suits from my hand and refused to deliver them until I started walking away. I had to turn my back and leave.