Chapter 18
A week later, I choose one of my favorite lunch spots for the big reveal—a swanky yet understated restaurant tucked into the back of a West Hollywood hotel that is so full of covert celebrities, the entire restaurant is made up of dark booths so people can remain incognito.
The Park women all turn on their phone flashlights to read the menu. I start by ordering French fries and a bottle of champagne for all of us and Sunny raises an eyebrow. “Cause for celebration?”
“I think so.” Even though I’ve had a week to process this, I’m still feeling nervous. Once I tell them, there’s no turning back. The Park women are just as—if not more—invested in this as I am. And even though this is what I’ve wanted, now that it’s here, the no-turning-back part feels daunting.
They all stare at me expectantly. Halmoni has her hands folded on the table in front of her, nails perfectly manicured a shell-pink. I look at each of them a second, feeling the bigness of the moment.
“I found Daniel.”
Emoni bursts into tears immediately. Sunny slouches back with relief, and Halmoni stays exactly where she is, not moving a muscle.
This is when our fries and champagne arrive, of course, and the server reads the mood immediately and disappears as soon as the last fizzy glass is poured.
“Tell us everything right this instant,” Sunny says as she picks up her champagne flute.
I take a sip of the bone-dry drink, not even bothering with a “cheers.” The glass is cold and my lip sticks to the edge for a brief second before I speak. “Well, in a weird twist of, er, fate, he’s actually Ellis’s boss.”
Halmoni finally speaks. “How did you meet his boss?” She is so damn sharp. I have never been able to get away with anything.
“I dropped him off at work one morning.” I let that hang there, making Halmoni sit in the discomfort of the revelation. Looking at her with a slight challenge.
Emoni clutches her chest. “Omo. Uh-oh.”
“I need more than one drink to get through this,” Sunny mutters.
“Okay, that’s not important,” Emoni barks, waving her hand. “Tell us about him!”
I take a golden fry and swirl it in the ramekin of ketchup. “He’s around my age or older, and he owns a landscape architecture firm. He’s adopted and grew up in England. He’s very attractive and athletic and, so far, exactly the kind of guy I have imagined myself being with.”
“Wait, how do you know all this about him already?” Sunny asks, also not one to miss anything.
“Because I happened to bump into their entire firm while they were on a work retreat. They stayed in the same exact location as me in Joshua Tree last week.”
“Last week?” Sunny asks. “You’ve been sitting on this information for one week?”
“Also, interesting how you happened to go to the exact same location,” Halmoni murmurs. “Nothing is a coincidence.”
“I am aware,” I say, eating another handful of fries. They are salty and delicious. “Anyway, I haven’t seen him again, but I thought I should let you all know.”
“What about Ellis?” Emoni asks. “Was he on that retreat, too?”
Being raised in a complete matriarchy humbles a person. “Yes. I made it clear that there was no future for us.”
Emoni nods her head. “Poor guy. But necessary.”
“Very necessary,” Halmoni says, finally eating a French fry. “You did the right thing.”
I know it, but it hasn’t felt right all week. “I’m just not sure how to approach Daniel in a way that isn’t going to be heartless to Ellis.”
Emoni rests her small hand on mine. “You’re a good girl, Cassia. You always were.”
“Yes. But you barely know Ellis, you don’t have to be this careful about his feelings,” Sunny says. “He’s a twenty-eight-year-old hunk, he’ll be fine.”
Something about that stings and I’m glad when the server returns to take our lunch orders.
After the orders are put in, Emoni then holds up her glass and says, “Cheers to Cassia, here’s to the start of a beautiful love story.”
“Our most important match yet,” Sunny says with a smile.
We drink to that.
Halmoni smiles, too, her eyes shining. “You’re in for a wonderful journey, my Cassia. And I have some ideas about how to approach Daniel.”
“You do?”
She takes a sip of champagne. “Of course. I do run a matchmaking agency after all.”
“We’ve got to make it seem natural,” Sunny says, tapping her fingers on the table, deep in thought. “A meet-cute.”
“A what?” Emoni asks, her face scrunching up.
“You know, the cute way that people meet in romantic comedies,” Sunny says. “Like, how J.Lo meets a man while getting her shoe stuck in a grate.”
Emoni is so confused. “What? Why not just the regular way, like a date?”
“No, no,” Halmoni says. “This is a more delicate situation because of Ellis. We have to make it seem like an accident.”
“Like a real accident?” Emoni says. “How many times can we make Cass get hurt?”
I wince. Yes, I did actually already have a movie meet-cute with Ellis. “No, we’re not gonna go that far, guys.”
“No physical injuries necessary,” Sunny says through a mouthful of fries. “Maybe something related to plants. These men seem to love their plants.”
“Oh, maybe they can meet in the Huntington Gardens!” Emoni says with starry eyes. I suddenly get this nightmare image of Daniel and me bumping into each other at the Japanese Gardens, an Asian couple farce.
I wave my arms. “No, no weird meet-cute setups.”
“But you have to do something,” Emoni says, the stars in her eyes replaced by something more cunning.
This is the Emoni who haggles at both the farmers market and Neiman’s.
The Emoni who once, while getting mugged in New York City, took off her sandal and whaled on the mugger on the head so many times that pedestrians had to stop her.
Basically: This look terrifies me and I glance at Halmoni imploringly.
She gets the hint. “You are all thinking less simply about this. What do we do? We are a matchmaking agency. How do we match people? At our events. When is our next event?” She looks straight at me.
I smile. “The summer event at LACMA.”
“There you go.” Halmoni sits back and eats a second fry, the matter settled.
Sunny nods. “Okay, now all we have to figure out is how to invite him in a way that seems natural.”
“This is not a group project,” I say, swiping some fries. “I’ll figure that part out on my own, thanks.” Our food arrives and everyone blessedly tucks into their lunches, the Eye of Sauron off of me briefly.