Page 59 of The Five Stages of Courting Dalisay Ramos

“Oh, we never cook,” Jenny says, sitting back down. “We always order in, don’t we, Jim?”

Jim nods, digging into his kale.

So that explains why the kitchen is spotless. It’s hardly ever used. Dalisay feels like she’s met a roadblock, but Evan still looks like he wants to crawl out of his skin. She tries again. “Can you tell me more about the Persian roots of your name, Mr. Saatchi? That region of the world is a bit of a blind spot for me. What does it mean?”

Jim shrugs a shoulder and says, “I’m not really sure, to be honest. Never something I’ve asked about.”

“You haven’t been curious? Like, tracing back your family tree?”

“No. Just never had the inclination to, I suppose. I think of myself as more of an American anyway. It’s not my culture.”

The Saatchis are so unlike her family.

Her surname Ramos means “branches,” a fact that was drilled into her brain at an early age. It’s almost like her parents were preparing her for appreciating the literal branchlike family tree, a way to remind her where she came from and be proud of where they are now. To hear that the Saatchis aren’t intrigued by the origin of their name is perplexing to Dalisay.

Her attempt at yet another conversation starter fails. But Evan swoops in, attempting a recovery.

“Dalisay’s family are all from Manila,” he says.

“Manila!” both his parents echo, impressed.

“We’ve always wanted to go there, haven’t we, Jim?” Jenny says and Jim nods in agreement. “It must be so strange, moving here. What’s your favorite thing about living in America so far?”

Dalisay thinks about it a moment and glances at Evan. “I can think of a few reasons I like it.” Evan’s mouth curls up and hers does too. “But I like working here. There are a lot of opportunities for me now.”

“That’s good,” says Jim. “Overnight is a highly competitive company.”

“Yes! Ireallywanted to work there. I didn’t think I was going to get the position when I applied. I was up against a lot of qualified candidates.” She reaches out and Evan takes her hand, smiling knowingly. “But I’m glad it all worked out.”

Jenny lets out an “Aw!” and smiles at them holding hands.

Jim grins too. “I told Evan when he first started there, it was only the beginning. He’d be crazy to quit. I’m glad I’m right about something.” He laughs deeply.

Dalisay remembers when Evan mentioned that his dad didn’t approve of his career at first as Evan’s smile drops a little, but Jim changes the topic this time, talking about wine, and Evan seems more grateful for the reprieve than she does.

On the drive home, Dalisay spends most of the time looking out the window at the passing countryside.

“My stepmom is well meaning,” Evan says, “but she can be a little oblivious sometimes. She says things that can come off a little insensitive. Not a little. And not even ‘insensitive,’ just racist. Like ‘demure.’ Shit, I’m sorry.”

“She must really like Becca,” Dalisay says, amused.

Evan huffs a laugh. “Sometimes I think she wanted me to marry Becca more than I did.”

Dalisay watches him for a moment, inspecting his profile. She can see through his smile that there’s a tightness in his eyes, so she has to ask. “Is this the champagne bucket incident?”

Evan stares ahead at the road, and nods.

“Did you really want to marry her?”

Evan goes quiet, as if searching for the right thing to say on the road signs. “Yeah,” he says, after a moment. “We were serious. No plans, or anything, but I … I thought I was ready.” He squints, as if shielding his eyes from the sun, and drags his teeth over his lower lip. “I got talked out of it.”

Dalisay doesn’t say anything. Evan takes one hand off the steering wheel and reaches toward her so she can hold it.

“Seriously, Becca is in the past. I promise. Jenny might not be over it, but I am.”

“I believe you. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t—”

“It’s okay,” Evan says, glancing at her quickly before returning his eyes to the road and taking his hand back. “Really. I didn’t mean to keep secrets, I just figured we’d talk about it later. But I guess there’s no point now. Becca and I broke up because she got a job in Boston, working at the aquarium. It was her dream, and she wanted me to move with her. And I was going to. I would have quit Overnight and moved across the country.”

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