Chapter 8 Jo
Jo
We wake up tangled together. I feel weightless and untroubled. Drowsy, Hiroki nuzzles my neck and drapes a long leg over mine.
But now I’m awake enough to realize I’ve made a big mistake.
He plugged my phone into his charger. I pick it up to look at the time. There are six missed texts from my sister.
“Fuck! It’s noon! I’m going to be late for the party!” I pop out of bed and run to the bathroom. I wash my face and brush my teeth with one of the toothbrushes from a big Costco pack in the medicine cabinet.
Hiroki throws on jeans and a T-shirt, and of course, he looks amazing. “I can drop you off at your sister’s house. I’m heading there for the installation anyway.”
“There’s no time!” I dry my face and run my fingers through my hair. Hiroki hands me a hairbrush and I drag it through the snarls. “I have to be in Glendale in fifteen minutes!”
“We might make it if we leave now.” We both know that’s a lie, but I appreciate his optimism.
I’m naked. “What do I wear? Oh my God. This is so bad.”
“Don’t worry,” Hiroki says. “I know someone who’d be happy to lend you something.”
I feel a great honor when Mrs. Ota lets me borrow her bronze Lurex minidress and silver platform sandals from Terry de Havilland. I’m overdressed, but holy shit, what an outfit. I look like I’ve come straight from 1978.
Hiroki drops me off in front of Moonlight Rollerway. The parking lot is full, and a large group of middle schoolers is gathered at the front entrance.
I jump out of the cab of his truck, flustered.
“Hey, wait,” he calls. “I grabbed something for you before we left.” He reaches behind his seat and pulls out an old skating helmet. He hands it to me. “I know it probably clashes with your dress, but I would like you to wear it.”
I look at the helmet in my hand, and my heart does a funny little flip in my chest. I jump back into the truck and grab the front of Hiroki’s shirt. When I kiss him long and deep, he closes his eyes. I do too. His lips curve into a smile against mine.
“Will I see you later at Rowena’s house?” I ask.
“Yes. You can check out the finished piece,” he says. “Now go party. Tell the girls happy birthday for me.”
“I will.”
Inside, the party is already bananas. Kids are putting on skates and rolling out onto the floor in conga lines of pure chaos. They’re screaming and laughing, shrieking and tumbling over each other. “Stayin’ Alive” blasts over the speakers.
I spot my sister by the snack bar. She’s dressed in bell-bottom jeans and a poufy red blouse. Her hair is feathered dramatically like Farrah Fawcett’s. She’s setting out big bowls of candy and cans of soda, because what this crowd desperately needs is more sugar.
When she sees me, she raises a suspicious eyebrow. “When I told you to have fun, I didn’t mean have this much fun.”
I grin. “How can I help?”
I’m setting out some colorful paper plates and napkins when my nieces roll up to me and envelop me in a big hug.
Rose asks, “What do you think about our clothes? You brought us so much we had a hard time deciding.”
They’re wearing matching rainbow-striped knee-highs.
Rose is in a purple velour shorts and crop top set.
Lily is wearing a bright yellow pleated tennis skirt and a red tank top.
Their hair is long and straight, and they’re wearing matching rainbow headbands and big plastic heart sunglasses.
Rose wears an armful of jingling bangles.
Lily is wearing a big gold lion medallion.
“You both look amazing!” I shout, starstruck.
Rowena takes pictures of all of us together.
The DJ plays “Funkytown,” and the girls roll away to join their friends.
Like an annoying shadow, Thomas comes out of the restroom and walks over to my sister and me.
In the middle of all these fun outfits, he’s wearing a gray quarter-zip sweater with a polo shirt, jeans and plain leather sneakers.
It would be the perfect thing to wear if the party theme were Boring Tech Bro from 2013.
He waits until Rowena is talking to another mom to tell me, “Nice outfit. Are you auditioning for an ABBA cover band later?”
I stare at him.
He smiles. “I didn’t know they made dresses out of emergency foil blankets.”
I say nothing.
He tries again. “So. Rowena said you hooked up with the tile guy. We have a plumber coming later this week if you need help laying more pipe.”
I think about what Hiroki said about Thomas seeing me as a threat. In a neutral voice, I ask, “Why are you talking to me like this?”
He blinks, and I register his surprise. “You never could take a joke, Jocelyn.”
I stare at him again, trying to see him as a puzzle instead of as my dipshit brother-in-law.
If I wasn’t a threat, he’d ignore me or God forbid, treat me like a regular human being.
But obviously something about me gets to him.
Something about me needles him into being rude.
His loyalty to my ex? My face? I’m not sure what it is, but since I’ve always tried to be myself around my family, he must be bothered simply by who I am as a person.
And I’m not planning on changing who I am.
“Are you done?” I ask.
This time he has no comeback. He shrugs and shoves his hands into his pockets.
Rowena finishes putting out snacks and threads her arm through mine. “Let’s get our skates on and join the kids.”
Feeling lighter than I have in a long time, I grab my helmet. “Let’s do it.”
After the party, after cake and Skittles and Cherry Cokes and four hours of nonstop roller-skating, the girls finally crash in the backseat of Rowena’s Land Rover.
Thomas took his BMW to go smoke cigars or kick puppies or do whatever rich guys do when their wife’s annoying sister is in town.
Rowena turns up the music a little and looks at me conspiratorially.
“What?” I ask.
“I have something to tell you.”
“Oh, God, you’re not pregnant again, are you?”
“No!” she says. “Not that. Listen.” She clears her throat. “The girls know this already, but Mom doesn’t. I’m trying to figure out how to break the news to her without her having a heart attack.”
My curiosity is piqued. “What’s happening?”
“Thomas and I are getting divorced. It’s been in the works for a couple of months.”
I’m speechless. My sister, finally free? I can’t wrap my head around it.
“We’re co-parenting,” she continues. “The girls will stay in the house. Thomas and I are in the process of getting our own separate places. We’ll take turns staying with the girls, one week on and one week off.
That way they can remain at the same school.
Be with their friends. Not have to worry about moving their stuff back and forth between me and their dad. ”
“Is that why you’ve been doing so much work on the house this past year? Landscaping, pool house?”
“Yes! I suppose I’m nesting on their behalf.”
“But how can you afford to get your own place too? How will you live?” I’m worried for her. I wasn’t prepared for life out in the world on my own.
She turns the music up a little more and glances at the girls in the rearview mirror.
They’re zonked. “I never signed a prenup, Jojo. I’ve saved half my allowance every month since I got married.
I got a financial advisor in secret about five years ago.
All that unspent shopping money added up, in the end.
My investment portfolio is strong, if you can believe it.
” She smiles to herself. “Thomas isn’t the only money wiz in this house. ”
“God, I’m so happy for you.” I reach over and squeeze her arm. “And I’m so proud of you.”
“Another thing—I want to invest in your store, Jojo. Whatever you need. Bills, repairs. I know it’s been a struggle.”
For the second time on this car ride, I’m speechless.
“I’ve always wanted to help you,” she says. “I’m in a position to do it now. You showed me what was possible. Let me return the favor.”
At the house, Rose asks me sleepily, “Do you want these outfits back?”
“Absolutely not,” I reply. “You wear them better than anyone else.”
“We love you, Auntie Jo,” the girls say in unison. They each give me one last squeeze before zombie-walking up to their rooms.
“What are you doing on Labor Day?” Rowena asks.
I put my cowboy boots back on and gather up all the clothes the girls didn’t want. “Labor Day? I’m celebrating the seventh birthday of my store. We’re having a neighborhood party with a DJ and some face-painting for the kids. Maybe a food truck. I’m not sure yet.”
“Rose and Lily always have a blast visiting the shop. Can we go?”
“Of course.” I give my sister a big hug. “I would love that.”
On my way out to Dottie, I duck into the pool house. “Hello?”
The pool house is small, with a changing area, some storage space and a restroom with a shower. There’s a window facing a brick wall covered in ivy. Light spills in from a skylight above.
Hiroki is on his knees, wiping excess grout from a mosaic set in the middle of the floor. He’s wearing kneepads, and his back is broad and hard through his coveralls. He’s tied his hair up again. Something about him kneeling on the floor makes me tingle inside.
“Is it ready?” I ask.
When Hiroki notices me, a smile brightens his entire face. I think I’d like to see that smile again and again.
“Come look.” He gets to his feet and brushes his hands against his thighs like he did when he first shook my hand. Could that have been only a day ago? It feels like longer, especially when he reaches for me and pulls me into a warm hug. “So, what do you think?”
The mosaic is made up of tiny perfect squares of ceramic and glass. Some of the tiles are iridescent, some are golden. Light from the skylight plays across the surface, and the tiles shimmer like water.
I step back. It’s a picture of a rose and a lily, their stems entwined.
Hiroki says, “Before I began the drawing, Rowena told me she wanted to create a piece of art that symbolized sisterhood. To remind her daughters of their bond, since she’s always cherished the one she has with you.”
I embrace him again. “It’s beautiful.”
Tomorrow, I’ll be back home in Long Beach, sorting inventory in my little store and trying to balance the books. But for once I feel like I’ll have some support. I will not feel so alone.
“It’s getting late.” Hiroki kisses my forehead. “Are you going my way?”
“I am.” A thrill runs through me. I don’t know where this is headed with him, but I know I am eager to find out. “Do you…want to spend the night at my place?”
“Yes. Very much.”
Patiently, Hiroki waits in his truck while I take a minute to get Dottie started. “It’s been a couple days. She needs some time to warm up,” I call out through my open window.
“No rush.” Hiroki flashes me a thumbs-up. “You’ve got this.”
Dottie coughs back to life, and for fun, I rev her engine. Hiroki follows me down the winding road out of the Hollywood Hills. As the sun starts to set, we merge onto the freeway heading south. With luck, we’ll be home long before dark.