Face Time – Chapter 33

Laura

It rains the entire drive to the north of Seattle, and Lee talks a mile a minute the whole time, briefing me on his family and what I can expect from them. He seems exceptionally nervous, and I’ve never known him to be nervous. He was cool and calm on our first date, funny and endearing on most of our FaceTime dates, sweet, caring, and confident in my apartment in New York, but never nervous. His family must be more difficult than I thought.

“Jin is nice, I swear. Just really quiet. He may not say more than two words to you the entire time. But I’ve asked his wife, Mimi, to watch after you today…”

“You didn’t have to do that. I’ll be fine.”

“Trust me. It’s going to be a lot of Koreans speaking Korean.”

“Good practice for the rest of my life, I’m sure.” Lee glances sideways at me, and I smile back at him.

“Right,” he says, a small grin breaking through his nerves. He chuckles and shakes his head. “I’m not sure why I’m nervous for you.” He clears his throat and turns his attention back to the road, a little more relaxed now. I had to remind him that I easily took his invitation to Korea with my one condition. “Nari is just kind of an unhappy person. She hugged me for the first time ever yesterday. I don’t know what’s going on with her. You’ll like her husband, Daniel, though. He’s a nice guy. Don’t know what he saw in Nari, but whatever. My nephew, Chase, is sweet. If he likes you, he’ll cling to you… My mother?”

Lee drives in silence for a bit, changing lanes and not glancing over at me.

“Laura, I don’t want you to take anything my mother says personally. She wanted me to grow up to be the successful, high-powered lawyer like my dad, make lots of money, and marry a Korean girl from a good family.”

“Well, you accomplished two out of three.”

“She’s still pushing for Sandra.”

I shift in my seat, recrossing my ankles in the opposite direction. I had almost forgotten about Sandra, but I’m sure I’ll meet her today too, and my stomach twists thinking of all the possible things she could say to me. I need to buck up and defend myself, and my new relationship with Lee. I look down at my hands and play with the gold bracelets on my wrist. I only wore six of the twenty he bought for me, and along with my sleeveless black dress, I hope I’m demure enough. I’m glad I have my black cardigan sweater with me. The weather is cool and misty.

“Sandra’s not a problem.” My voice cracks, but I lift my head anyway.

“Seriously. These people… My family can be ruthless. Sandra will attend with her family, and, fuck, almost none of them are nice people, except for maybe the kids and Mimi and Daniel. You’ll see why I picked up and moved away.”

“Okay. Don’t worry. I have a thick skin. It takes a lot to grind me into the ground.” He glances sideways at me again, his eyebrows knitted together. “Honestly,” I say, covering my heart with my hand. “It took years of neglect and my brother’s death to break me. Rene played with me like a cat and mouse for months, but I knew when I’d had enough and stopped chasing him. I can handle anything.” I straighten up in my seat and square up my shoulders.

Lee shakes his head and sighs. “You surprise me with your strength every single time.”

“I surprise you in many ways.” Reaching over across the car, I grab the upper inside of his thigh. The car jerks, and Lee blinks his eyes at the road while laughing. “Don’t kill us, Lee.”

“I can’t believe you put the condom on me earlier.” He laughs again. “I’ve never had a woman do that.” I close my eyes and remember round two of sex this morning before we got breakfast. The whole morning was extremely satisfying.

“I can do it with my mouth next time, if you like.” I smile at him, my eyes compressing to slits, evil.

“Laura. Shit. I swear, you have the dirtiest mind.”

“Look who’s talking.”

Contented silence falls on us for several miles. When he pulls off the highway, I retract my hand from his leg and turn to look out the window. Up ahead of us, blinking red and blue lights of police cars twinkle in the misting rain.

“Oh no.” I lean forward and wipe the inside of the windshield with my hand. Everything is fogging up. “I hope we’re not blocked from making it to the funeral home.”

“Uh, that is the funeral home.” Lee takes his phone out of his pocket since we’ve slowed to a stop in a line of cars and dials on the speakerphone, the screen displaying Jin Park.

“Hello? Lee, where are you?” Jin’s voice echoes out of the phone. He sounds a lot like Lee.

“In a line of cars trying to get into the parking lot. What’s going on? We’re early even.”

“There are already a hundred people here. What are you driving? I’ll have a policeman direct you to where the family is parked.”

“A brand-new black Corolla with California license plates, about twenty cars from the driveway.”

“Okay. Be right there.”

Lee hangs up and sighs. “And another thing. I told you my dad was a lawyer, but I neglected to mention he was kind of famous around here for saving the environment and countless neighborhoods from becoming the wastelands of chemical companies.”

This day has switched me from being nervous to downright anxious. My head swivels from the line of cars to the police escorts and back to Lee. “Holy shit. That’s quite a legacy.”

He shakes his head at me with a sad smile. “He was just my dad.”

This is when, if I were a weaker person, I’d cry for this man. It’s hard enough to swallow back the tears right this moment, with the police lights blinking at us, the rain spitting on our car, and Lee’s own lack of tears. He must be crumbling inside but still not ready to let go. I unbuckle my seatbelt, get up on my knees, lean over and kiss him.

“He was a good dad,” I whisper. “He taught you everything he knows. He took care of you and your family, and he stood by you. He was the very best kind of person.” I kiss him again, then jump away guiltily at a rapid tap on Lee’s window. He rolls it down, and a policewoman in a clear, plastic poncho peeks in.

“Mr. Park? Let me get you out of this line so you can join your family.”