pacing around in his tiny work space while bellowing on the phone. He had on a short-sleeved, collared black shirt. What the heck?
“You said a couple of weeks!”
Pause.
“No, Mom, I heard you right. I even put it in my calendar the day you told me.”
Pause.
“Yes, it’s problematic because I work. And I took the wrong week off. And I’ll be in New York then, because I THOUGHT YOU WERE COMING IN TWO WEEKS.” He noticed me standing there and I saluted him with my “World’s Best Grandma” mug. He smiled weakly.
“Well, don’t worry about that now. I’ll cancel my trip, or maybe you can just get a hotel and borrow my car or something if I can’t get a refund.”
He muted his phone. “My parents are coming soon. Sorry. I’m just annoyed because I might not be in town while they’re here!” He closed his eyes and a sigh escaped him. “Did you read my email? I’ll stop by later.”
“Yeah, sure.”
He held a finger up. “No, please don’t fly to New York to meet me there, I’m going to a bachelor party.” He whispered to me, “I’ll catch you later.”
Turned out that Nolan’s crazy relationship with his parents rivaled mine. Watching his situation spiral reminded me to call my parents when I got back to my office. It had been a while. Mom answered on the second ring.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Melody? Where are you?” I really hated it when she asked that. Did it really matter where I was?
I sighed. “I’m at work.”
“Why you call?” Her raised voice made me even wonder why I bothered to call, ever.
“I wanted to check in and see how things were going. Were you busy or something? And why do I sound echoey?”
“You on speakerphone. I am making kimchi and my hand have hot pepper and garlic and shrimp paste. We have church picnic next week and I making kimchi for everybody.”
“Wow, are you making it in the sink? Where do you have enough room for all that cabbage?”
“I make it in bathtub.”
“You’re marinating the kimchi in your bathtub?”
“No, michyeosseo!” She let out an exasperated sigh.
Michyeosseo. “Foolish.” She was making kimchi in a bathtub, and I was somehow the crazy one.
She explained, “I making kimchi in baby bathtub.”
What?! “You bought a baby bathtub for this?”
Another sigh. “You need to try listen! I find your old baby bathtub in closet and I clean and wash it. It is perfect size for making kimchi.”
I didn’t want to continue this discussion about making kimchi in a makeshift basin that I most certainly had pooped in as an infant twenty-six years ago. Who was the foolish one now?
“Anyway, I called to check in and make sure you weren’t getting any more weird calls from online stalkers.”
My dad shouted, “We are fine, no problem.”
I sighed with relief. “Oh, that’s good to hear!”
“You don’t sound good. Like you have froggy voice. You okay?” my mom asked.
I hesitated. “I’m okay.”
“You sound bad,” Mom said.
A hushed Korean conversation took place between my parents. They’d gotten better at putting their hand over the phone receiver. My dad shouted into the phone, “Okay, Melody, we decide we coming to visit. You sounding terrible.”
Oh, hell no. “It’s okay, Dad. You don’t have to come. I’m so busy with work. If you come another time, maybe after my game launches, I’ll have more time for a visit.”
My dad huffed, “No, we go there to make sure you eating.”
Mom added, “But not too much or you get too fat.”
A meeting reminder chimed on my computer. “Don’t worry about it, I’m eating. I need to go now. Important meeting. But glad to know that you guys aren’t still getting harassed.”
“No one call us anymore for you. Don’t worry for us,” Dad assured me.
“Good. Don’t worry about me, either.”
THE BOARD MEETING recap was excruciatingly dull. Ian had advised us to not multitask just in case some board members would be videoconferencing in, and he didn’t want anyone looking disengaged. Yawning, I tried to keep my eyes open while the finance team flipped through dozens of pie charts and line graphs.
Ding!
Five minutes later. Ding!
I snuck my phone out of my pocket and read the messages.
We hold plane ticket for trip to Seattle, we want to buy. Nashville to Seattle nonstop!
Okay we not hear from you so we go ahead and buy. No refund ticket. Can you find us hotel if you can’t fit us?
Shit. Mom and Dad were coming to visit.
I glanced up and saw Nolan looking straight at me from across