I date Mat, I’d be the good girl following my parents’ wishes. But in order to do so, I’d have to put up with the boy who told his father that I was dying to see photos of the tea leaves he took on his trip to Shanghai. All one thousand of them.
“If you don’t agree with Mama,” I try again, “why don’t you just tell her?”
He pulls into the lot in front of my high school. It’s early enough that there’s only a handful of cars parked in front of the red brick building and smudged stone pillars. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
He sighs. “I shouldn’t be telling you this.” He turns off the ignition, along with the air conditioner, and the interior of the car is suddenly too quiet. “Mama never wanted to restrict you girls from dating in high school. She only enforced the rule as a concession to me.”
My jaw drops. What is he saying? The only Mama I’ve ever known turns inside out like a hand puppet. And since wearing clothing inside out is a signal to the spirits that a person has passed, she would not be happy.
“I don’t understand.”
“Mama didn’t marry me until she was in her mid-thirties,” he says. “That might not be a big deal here in America, but in Thailand, she was considered positively ancient. Let’s just say her family gave her a hard time.”
I believe it. My relatives are boisterous, loving…and very, very direct. If they considered Mama to be on the shelf, then they would’ve reminded her, day and night.
“She didn’t want you girls to suffer the same criticism. And so she was inclined to let you date in your teens. But I insisted. She agreed to try things my way.” His fingers toy with the raised, stitched seam of the steering wheel. “But then it backfired.”
He looks up, his eyes quiet and thoughtful behind his glasses. It’s what I love most about Papa. He may be socially clueless and fixated on his articles. But he is a good person, with a thoroughly kind heart.
“Now, it’s only fair for me to try out her way.” He lifts a hand and cups my chin. “Indulge her, will you, Winnie? All she wants is for her daughters to be happy. Because that’s the only way she’ll find peace for herself.”
I nod slowly. Mama never talks about the past, before she had children. You’d think she sprang into being the moment the twins were born. She’s always made her priorities clear: a mother first. A doctor second. A wife somewhere below that.
Her own needs, her own wants and desires? Nonexistent. After all she’s given me, the least I can do is go along with this scheme.
“Fine. She didn’t really give me a choice in the matter, but okay. I’ll do it. I’ll date Mat.”
Relief and panic simultaneously war over his face. “Good,” he says unconvincingly. He reaches past me and opens the passenger door. “Because your first date is after school today. We’ve arranged for Mat to drive you home.”
Chapter Six
I hurry across the neatly clipped school lawn, my mind racing. The sun is bright and booming, unseasonably warm for this late up north. But I’m too distraught to even appreciate my skirt, printed with cat heads across a burgundy fabric, unreasonably cute given my recent winter wear.
I have a date with Mat. After school. That’s less than seven hours from now. I thought I had way more time to prepare for a forced entrapment with him. Such as a week. Or a month. Maybe even never.
In a car, no less. What were my parents thinking? They must not have heard the rumors about Mat and Delilah Martin at homecoming. She lost her hoop earring, and he climbed in the back seat to help her search for it—for an hour.
Clearly, Mama was drawing inspiration from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, which we watched together recently. I know how her mind works. Noah Centineo drove Lana Condor to school and back. Ergo, all teen dates should begin with one party schlepping around the other. Of course, in the movie, Lana was a bad driver. I don’t drive only because I don’t have access to a car.
Still, how bad can the date be? It’s only a twenty-minute ride from here to my house. Add in the pleasantries—or ugly-tries, as the case may be—and the whole thing will be over in less time than an episode of Never Have I Ever.