Page 45 of Just Another Meet Cute

“Are you sure she’s not going to kick my ass as soon as she sees me?” I asked Linh for the tenth time as we lingered outside Aunt Sarah’s office.

She hitched the giant box in her arms a bit higher.

“Yes, I told you already. The safest place is at work so she can’t make a scene.

Every time I need to confess something, I come to her office.

It gives her time alone to simmer, but she’s too busy to obsess over it.

And by the time she comes home, she’s usually okay.

Even her coworkers know to distract Mom for me after I leave. ”

Despite my fear, I smirked a bit. “You do this pretty often?”

“Often enough.” Linh grinned for a moment before nodding toward the glass door in front of us. “Now, can you open the door before my arms fall off?”

Shifting the two bags of lunch boxes to my left hand, I grabbed the door and yanked it open. The heel of my foot held it open as we ducked inside. “How do you manage this each week?”

“This is the biggest order I’ve ever had. Must be the truffle flatbread I messaged everyone about. I hope they’re not disappointed because I’m not providing any refunds. I already ordered a new knife set for myself.”

She marched into the giant office and plopped the box onto the receptionist’s desk. “Hi, Ms. Susan. I’m here with the lunch boxes.”

A curly-haired woman popped up from her seat and let out a heavy sigh. “Thank goodness! I was late this morning so I skipped my breakfast, and that smells so heavenly. I’m probably going to inhale it all right now.”

With a wink, Linh reached into the box for a lunch box marked with a smiley face. “I know. I made your flatbread extra doughy and cheesy. And I included some strawberry shortcake that I made the other day.”

Ms. Susan looked like she was about to cry as she snatched the box from Linh’s hands. “Bless you, sweetie.”

Linh continued to unpack the boxes and waved a hand toward an office on the right. “Mom’s in there. Harper might be in there with her. She temps during the summer. Just say that Ms. Susan needs her to fax the case file. That’s code for her to give you some privacy.”

“Are you sure you don’t need help? I could pass out forks or even—”

“Will you go? You’re wasting this opportunity.” Linh shoved me forward when I continued to stand there.

Letting out a couple of deep breaths, I tiptoed toward Aunt Sarah’s door.

This was pretty much the last place I wanted to be.

But like I knew I had to forgive Mom—and how I had to give Dad a chance—I knew I also had to fix our relationship with Aunt Sarah, no matter how much I wanted to run away.

I was trying this new thing where I actually talked to people instead of assuming things.

Knowing all this didn’t make it any less terrifying.

Aunt Sarah hung up the phone when I knocked on her office door. “Hey, Aunt Sarah, are you busy?”

With a shocked expression, she twisted in her seat to look out the door behind me. “What are you doing here?”

My legs were shaking like Jell-O. I gently placed the lunch box on her desk and slid it forward like a peace offering. “I’m helping Linh with her delivery today.”

Her eyes narrowed a bit as though she saw right through the ploy, but she accepted the box. She didn’t open it right away, though. She moved a couple of folders and paperwork around on her desk before turning to stare at me, waiting for me to continue.

Wondering if I should sit in the seat across from her, I shifted from one foot to the next. “I also wanted to say that I’m sorry. For … the other night. I didn’t mean for it to get out of hand. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“You already apologized that night. The rest is between your mom and me.”

Jeez, she wasn’t making this easy at all. “I know, but I still wanted to say again that I am sorry.”

“Okay.”

And that was it. Okay. Nothing else to continue the conversation. And definitely no apology on her behalf—although I wasn’t really expecting one.

While I searched my brain for a subtle way to bring up Mom again, Aunt Sarah was the one who spoke up first. Her eyes studied the polish on her nails. “Where are you both staying?”

“Waldorf Luxury.”

To my surprise, she snickered. “Your mom’s been dying to stay there for ages. I should have guessed that she would use this fight to go there. Even when she runs away, she runs away in style.”

“Mom didn’t run away.” I cleared my throat. “I mean, we left, but we didn’t run away.”

Her brow rose, but she didn’t argue with me. Instead, she clasped her hands on the desk in front of her. “I didn’t mean to say all those things, you know,” Aunt Sarah said before shaking her head, “Well, I did, but that’s not how I meant it to come across. How I wanted to end things.”

Taking that as a sign of encouragement, I sat down on the chair in front of her and she didn’t stop me. She continued studying her nails like the polish color was fascinating to her.

“Your mom was always the risk-taker between the two of us,” she suddenly said.

“When we were small, she would ride all the roller coasters and run off to her new classes even though she didn’t know anyone.

She even got her license before me and ended up chauffeuring me around for two years before I got mine.

And she went to college out of state while I stayed at home with your B á . ”

Not sure what brought this up, but I nodded as she continued.

“You don’t know what it was like when your mom suddenly came back home.

Pregnant. Scared. She didn’t know what to do or how to handle things.

I’ve never seen her that way before. She was totally different.

And I had to be there for her. For once, I was the big sister who took care of things. Who took care of her . Both of you.”

I scooted forward until my butt was on the edge of my seat so I could touch the surface of the desk. Even though our hands were two feet apart, I felt like I could reach out and touch her. “And you did. You’re more than an aunt to me. Half the time, you’re like another mom to me.”

The edge of her mouth twitched. “Well, someone had to discipline you. Your mom and B á spoiled you too much. Both you and Linh. They always made me the bad guy.”

I shrugged but couldn’t deny it. When I was a kid, whenever Mom gave me candy or permission to watch TV, I always looked at Aunt Sarah first to make sure it was okay. It was instilled in my brain to have her approval. There was a reason she still terrified me even now.

“When your dad came back, I was scared of your mom was going to get hurt again. Of her making another mistake. Especially now that we had you, too. There was too much to care about. So, I pushed him away until he left. But this time your mom went with him.” Aunt Sarah rubbed at her eyes like she was fixing her contacts, but I could see that her fingertips were damp with tears.

“And I was angry at him, but mostly at her for abandoning us. For leaving our family and everything we did for a man who had already left her before. It’s like we didn’t matter to her anymore. ”

I longed to tell her that he wouldn’t. That he never left us in the first place, but I couldn’t. That wasn’t my secret to tell.

Seriously, I was pissed at Mom for not telling Aunt Sarah the truth from the beginning. This wasn’t Aunt Sarah’s fault. Sure, she complained about Dad and was super rude to him, but she had plenty of reasons to be. But maybe if she knew, then things would be different for them. For us.

I never realized how alike we both were. What Aunt Sarah said out loud, I held on to in my heart. And we both were scared of accepting that our lives were different and refused to let Dad in. It was easier to stand aside than to have that faith like Mom that everything would be fine.

Unable to help myself, this time I leaned forward and grabbed her hand.

Her fingers were slightly moist, but I held on until she looked up at me.

“I know what you mean. I’ve been mad at my parents all year for making us move and for leaving our little family.

And I missed you every day. You. Linh. B á .

You were my family. You guys were everything I had, and I didn’t want to go. ”

Aunt Sarah finally smiled. “It’s been hard for everyone. I know your mom is happy now, but sometimes I wish that your dad had never come back.”

“Me too. But no matter how mad I get—or how alone I feel sometimes—Dad makes Mom really happy. And I’m grateful for that.”

“I suppose I should be, too,” she admitted with a grumble. “And he isn’t as bad as I imagined. But he still has a long way to go to prove that he’s good enough for our family.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s up to the challenge.”

“We’ll see.” Aunt Sarah made a face and turned her chair away. “I have to go back to working now.”

She started shuffling through stacks of papers like she had already forgotten I was there. I waited for another minute or two before getting to my feet. Guess we were done.

Before I could leave though, she spoke again without even looking up. “Tell your mom to come home. There’s no use wasting all that money on a hotel when I have a perfectly good house for her.”

My fingers curled on the back of the chair I had been sitting in. “And my dad?”

Her breath was uneven, but she nodded her head. “I can’t let my family stay in a hotel. Your Bá would haunt me forever.”

Knowing how much effort it took for her to call Dad family, I wanted to give her a hug, but knew I shouldn’t since she was at work.

Instead, I settled for two thumbs-up as I grinned like an idiot.

“I’ll go back to the hotel and pack for Mom myself if I have to.

We’ll even pick up some dinner tonight.”

As I got to the door, Aunt Sarah glanced up at me.

“Oh, by the way, tell Linh that we’ll be getting a new intern next week and she won’t be faxing any case files for Ms. Susan anymore.

In fact, I’m going to start locking my office door when your cousin comes.

” A brief smile crossed her face. “She’ll have to find another way to confess crimes to me from now on. ”