Page 105 of Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice

“Is that who I think it is?” Alec looked up from his phone, his eyes wide.

I looked up from mine, the bewilderment in my eyes matching his. “I think so.”

“Why is your mother returning the money I paid her? What does she want this time? And why now, after almost a year?”

I shook my head, equally confused. “Maybe she’s paying you to leave me again. Or payingmeto leave you this time?”

Just then, his phone trilled, and my mother’s name and number flashed on his screen.

Alec frowned, making no attempt to answer it. “Why is she calling me?”

“Because she doesn’t have my new number.” I gestured at the phone. “Pick it up. And by the way, I’m not here.”

He answered the call, muttering a cautious “hello.” The dragon dancers had now moved farther down the street, followed by the crowd, the drumbeats slowly fading away. Both Kim and Jenna had drifted toward the stalls on the sides of the road, so there were fewer people around us.

I watched as Alec spoke on the phone. A rainbow of emotions played across his face as he answered in clipped one-and two-word answers. The call didn’t take long, ending after five minutes.

“Well?”

He didn’t answer for a while. When he finally looked at me, his eyes were dazed. “That was your mother.”

I nodded, impatient. “Yes, I know. What did she say? What does she want?”

“That wasreallyher.”

“Come on, babe. Tell me something I don’t know.”

Alec stared at the phone in his hand, still looking shell-shocked. “She’s giving us back the three million dollars I paid her.”

My eyes widened. “What? No, no, no. Call her back, tell her we don’t want the money, because I’mnotdoing whatever it is she wants us to do.”

“She’s not asking us to do anything. She said we could keep the money. It’s ours.”

“Yeah, right. And I moonlight as a superhero during my lunch breaks. No, seriously, what does she want?”

Alec shook his head. “Nothing. Said she’d heard about our engagement from Eric. It’s her wedding gift, and her angpao for the Lunar New Year. No expectations, no demands, nothing. Hard to believe, but that’s what she said.”

“That’s it?No, that doesn’t sound like her. Are you sure you spoke tomy mother?”

“Believe me, that was her.” He handed me his phone. “Call her back, if you don’t believe me. Ask her yourself.”

I shook my head. “No, not now. Are you sure? And she wanted nothing in return?”

“No. Absolutely nothing.”

We were both silent for a few minutes, trying to process the news.

“She did say, though, that I wasn’t who she had in mind for you, and how she’ll never, ever think I’m good enough to marry a Pang.”

“Okay, nowthatI can believe,” I said. “That definitely sounds like my mother.”

Alec sighed and pulled me into a hug. “But she knows we’ve loved each other since we were young. And that you’ve made your choice. As long as I look after you, and you’re happy, she’s not going to stand in our way. But she said she’ll never accept our relationship or acknowledge me as a son-in-law.”

A big dollop of sadness flooded through me, at her stubbornness, at losing my parents. But there was also the tiniest flicker of hope, and relief, because maybe not all hope was lost.

Because knowing my mother, this gesture was extraordinarily significant.

“Do you want to call her?” He tightened the hug. “I don’t know what’s gotten into your mother, but maybe she’s not as cold-hearted as we thought she was.”

I was quiet as I considered it. Perhaps one day I’d be able to make peace with her, and she could finally accept Alec.

Accept us.

But that day wasn’t here yet. We still had a long way to go.

“I will. But not right now.” I looked up at him, then stood on my tiptoes and gave him a kiss. “Because right now, all I want to do is just enjoy us.”