For Valentine's, so Jerome and I would have a chance to spend time together, Mom and Dad closed the diner for the whole day.
They invited the neighbors along to a hot-spring resort.
After all, everyone knew I'd trailed after Jerome Gilbert for six years.
What no one knew was that we'd been dating in secret for three.
Today was the day we'd agreed to go public.
It took real effort to squeeze half a day off out of my boss, and by the time I got to the resort, everyone was already in the water.
I tugged at the swimsuit Jerome had given me, my face a little warm.
The moment I stepped into the spring, though, I caught the awkward look on my parents' faces.
Daisy Gilbert, flushed and beaming, spoke up.
"Joanna Harding's here? Perfect timing. Jerome says he wants to introduce us to his girlfriend!"
The words had barely landed when Jerome came walking over, holding Lola Henson's hand.
"Look how well these two go together, ha."
"I hear you were all in the same class in high school? What a small world."
Jerome didn't look at me. He kept an arm around Lola as they came down into the water.
"Let me introduce her. This is my girlfriend, Lola."
The girl leaned shyly against his shoulder, and Mom gave a stiff smile and squeezed my hand.
Watching how close the two of them stood, I held Mom's hand and lifted the corner of my mouth.
"You're right, ma'am. It really is a small world."
"I've actually started seeing someone too. I'll introduce him to everyone tomorrow."
1
The second I said it, Jerome's brow furrowed.
A moment later my phone screen lit up.
【Don't do this. Tomorrow won't work. I told you, now isn't the time to go public.】
【I'll explain about Lola tonight. Don't be difficult.】
Difficult. Not the time.
I watched him casually drape a towel over Lola's shoulders.
Through the waterproof pouch, the words on the screen went blurry.
Mom's hand tightened around mine, worry in her eyes.
"Sweetheart, when did you start seeing someone?"
Daisy Gilbert's smile only widened.
"Kids these days have minds of their own. They don't tell us anything in advance!"
"How long have you known each other?"
I forced a smile.
"Not long. Two months."
Jerome visibly relaxed and shot me a soothing look.
The phone lit up again.
【That's more like it. Good girl.】
I didn't respond. I just looked away.
"Oh, that's wonderful! You're both of an age for it too. This is a double blessing, really."
"Back in the day, Joanna used to chase after Jerome and propose to him, saying she wanted to marry him!"
"Mom!"
He rarely cut in, but this wasn't to spare me the embarrassment.
"Lola's right here."
Lola giggled behind her hand.
"It's fine, Jerome. I don't mind."
"After all, the two of us did silly things like that back then too."
"And Joanna's got a boyfriend now, so she won't take that old joke to heart. Right?"
I nodded like it was nothing.
"Right. It's all in the past."
Jerome's face darkened for an instant.
Watching Daisy Gilbert fuss over Lola, my parents quickly made an excuse about being tired and took me back to our room.
The moment the door closed, Mom's eyes went red.
"Sweetheart, don't put on a brave face. So he has a girlfriend. We just won't like him anymore, that's all!"
Dad patted my head, trying to cheer me up.
"That's right. There are plenty of fish in the sea. Your old man will find you a good young man tomorrow!"
Listening to the two of them worry over me, my nose stung.
"Dad, Mom. I really don't like Jerome anymore."
I couldn't stand to see them, at their age, still having to swallow slights for their daughter's sake.
"You... don't tell me what you said out there was true?"
"Mm. I'll bring him home for dinner tomorrow."
Dad, thrilled, said "good" three times in a row.
Early the next morning, we said our goodbyes to the Gilberts.
Mom smiled radiantly in front of Mrs. Gilbert.
"Oh, I know, I know. Joanna, this child, never says anything until the last minute."
"Exactly, so the two of us have to head back early and get things ready!"
Watching her walk away, I felt something I couldn't quite name.
Jerome was always saying we had to avoid suspicion, so in everyone else's eyes, I'd become the little tagalong stuck to his side.
Even my parents were careful around him.
Then that day came, when I heard Mom arguing for me at the mouth of the alley,
and all at once I was just tired.
The woman there, cracking sunflower seeds, said I was desperate to marry, that I was after a rich husband.
And that Jerome looked down on me.
"Their family runs some cheap little breakfast joint, and they want to marry into the Gilberts?"
Mom, always so gentle, went red with anger and stood there trading insults with her, grocery basket still in hand.
Jerome was standing right beside me the whole time, and said nothing.
He unlocked a shared bike for me, the way he always did.
"Ride it over. Don't let anyone see you."
I stared at him, and the whole thing just felt absurd.
"If we're not going public, then let's break up."
He froze for just two seconds, then laughed.
A helpless kind of laugh.
"I mean it."
His face darkened a little, and he told me to wait until Valentine's.
I said nothing. I just pushed the shared bike into his arms and walked forward to meet my mother.
After that day, neither of us reached out to the other.
This meeting was something my parents had swallowed their pride to arrange.
And it was the last chance I'd decided to give Jerome.
I opened my phone and sent Kenneth Maddox a message.
【Come to my place for dinner tomorrow.】
