No, I didn’t have my surf school, but I had Han. And I had to tell him, “You’re worth all the money I paid too.”
We laughed some more. And kissed some more.
“Maybe you should come to the party,” I said after my sister interrupted our makeout session with a “what’s taking so long” text. “Mika might hiss a little, but I’m going to miss you if you’re not there.”
“I feel the same way,” he let me know with a gentle look. “But our situation with Yaron and Kuang Jr. remains unresolved. And I’ve got a meeting scheduled with Chen.”
I understood, but we pressed a few more smooches into each other’s mouths before I finally forced myself to get out of the car.
I waved to Bui, who was parked a few spaces down and would be driving me home after the party.
“Finally!” my dad teased when I arrived to join him and his army buddies at the picnic tables. “I thought you’d stay kissing on your husband of yours until the party was over.”
“Hush, Terrence,” Mom chastised. “You remember young love.”
Bill shook his head at me. “Brad’s still disappointed he let you get away. He’s really going to be kicking himself when I tell him you went and got married.”
I laughed and reminded them, “Okay, this day is supposed to be about Dad!”
It was a lovely event. Perfect weather without a hint of rain. After the rest of their buddies left, Dad even asked—and by asked, I mean ordered—Bill to join him for a walk on the beach—something I don’t think he’d done with anybody in ages. Luckily, even though we were only permitted to stay for a couple of hours, no one came to unseat us when our time came and went.
After their walk, Bill cornered me again for a conversation while I was taking all the party trash to one of the bins. “So your Dad told me to leave you alone about it, but as your would-have-been dad, if I hadn’t lost that coin toss and my son hadn’t then proceeded to be so stupid, I’ve gotta ask, you really happy with this guy?”
“Yeah, I’m really happy,” I promised him.
“Good, good…”
Music floated over to us, and Bill and I turned to see Albie teaching my mom how to do the “Old Town Road” TikTok dance.
She was game but kept adding traditional Filipino folk dance moves between the ones her grandson was teaching her.
“No, Grandma, not like that. Like this!” Albie insisted, trying to get her to stop, even as he laughed.
I laughed, too. But Bill didn’t. He just watched her, appearing completely magnetized.
I frowned, and I thought about how he’d always treated me like a daughter, down to being willing to sell me his surf school at a steep discount.
And a realization suddenly hit me, so shocking I said it out loud. “You’re waiting. You’re waiting for him to die so that you can be with her.”
Bill stared at me, then immediately shook his head. “No, no…Terrence is one of my best friends. And those two work. The best guy won. That’s what I said to your dad on the beach.”
But the fact that Bill didn’t even bother to act like he didn’t know what I was talking about told me I was right…and gave me another epiphany about why Bill was suddenly unable to take his eyes off my mom after that long walk with my dad.
“Oh, my gosh, he’s trying to control this. What happens to mom after his death—that’s what you and Dad were talking about for so long.”
Horror filled Bill’s gaze at my words, “Are you some kind of witch or something? How did you know?”
“No, but I know my dad,” I answered with a wry glance toward the man clapping and bopping his head side to side to “Old Town Road.”
“Plus, he stans This is Us, big time, so of course he’d ask you to Miguel all over this. To be there for her after he’s gone.”
Bill shook his head, and it looked like he was going to deny everything again. But then his eyes filled with tears, and he said, “Only as a friend. A relationship—yeah, of course, I would want that. But I wouldn’t push that agenda on your mom. Not unless she wanted it too. I told your dad that.”
I nodded. And I guess I was a lot more grown-up now than I was a year and some change ago because I found myself answering, “She will. Eventually. When she gets over the guilt. She likes you.”
Bill let out a watery laugh. “That’s what your dad said too. He said that was why he was having the conversation with me beforehand so that I could tell her we’d already talked about it—when she’s ready. I won’t say anything until she’s ready. I promise you and your sister that.”
