Page 67 of The Five Stages of Courting Dalisay Ramos

“It’s an innocent question! I’m sure being a doctor, you’ll have all the men chasing after you soon enough,” Mom says, laughing.

Dalisay pinches her lips closed. She isn’t sure what to do, but their mom seems to be on a roll.

“Becoming a doctor is the most important thing. Being a married doctor is the second,” she says with satisfaction, as if she’s bestowing the table with great wisdom.

Nicole takes a deep, unsteady breath. Dalisay finds Nicole’s hand under the table. She’s nervous, her palm slick with sweat. Dalisay assures her with a squeeze.You got this, she means to say. Nicole squeezes back.

“Actually,” Nicole says. Everyone turns to look at her. “Claire is …” Nicole trails off and she sits up straighter and levels her shoulders. She holds out her hand for Claire and Claire smiles tentatively before taking it. They place their clasped hands on the table.

“Claire and I are dating,” Nicole says, eyes shining.

No one moves. Dalisay’s pretty sure it’s so quiet, they can hear a dog barking two blocks over.

“What?” Daniel asks.

“I’m gay,” Nicole says, lifting her chin. “It’s … I’m gay. Yeah.”

Everyone stays frozen, like she’s said a curse word. A second passes, and then another.

“But you don’t look gay,” Mom says. Nicole probably doesn’t know how to respond to that. Her mouth works uselessly. “You’re both too pretty!”

“It … it doesn’t work like that, Mom,” Nicole says. “I’m gay. I’ve known for a while. I’m telling you now.”

“But … why?” their mom asks. Nicole almost laughs in disbelief. She looks at Dalisay for support and Dalisay gives her hand another squeeze.

“You’re … Nicole, you’re not!” Their mom’s eyes shine silver with tears that are about to overflow.

Lola swirls her spoon in her dessert.

“I’m gay,” Nicole says again. Dalisay can hear the wobble in her voice. Claire holds Nicole’s hand so tightly, her already-pale fingers have turned white. The air feels staticky and full.

Dalisay can’t help herself. She leaps in, playing defense. “It’s okay, Mom. Nothing’s changed, she’s still our same Nicole.”

“But … who—What about—” Their mom has a hard time finding any words before she bursts into tears, weeping into her hands. She’s a blubbering mess as she gets up, rushing toward the bedroom. She slams the door behind her.

Daniel follows after her. “Mom, wait!”

Nicole’s face turns red from a mixture of fury, embarrassment, and hurt. Her eyes shine with tears, but she’s shaking so much, they can’t fall. She gets up and storms toward the front door.

Claire wordlessly runs after her.

Dalisay throws her napkin on the table and chases after Nicole but by then, she and Claire are already gone. The front door slams closed, ringing through the whole house.

Dalisay’s heart shatters into a million pieces. What an utter disaster.

“What’s going on?” Melinda asks, appearing from the hallway. She must have finally gotten Little Luis to bed and heard the commotion. “Where is everyone?”

Dalisay goes back to the table and squeezes the back of the chair. Melinda stands at the head of the table, taking in everything with a confused shake of her head and her palms up, waiting for an answer, but no one says anything except for Lola.

“Thehalo-halois delicious.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

The second Evan opens the door and sees her, his smile drops. Ordinarily she would be smitten with his flour-smeared cheek, but now all she wants to do is cry at the sight of him.

“What’s wrong?” he asks. He brings her inside and Tallulah runs circles around her, but Dalisay doesn’t even have the heart to greet the dog.

Anticipating what’s to come, Evan pours Dalisay a large glass of red wine and sits her down at the dinner table. It’s already set and ready, the pasta in a large bowl, but she hardly registers any of it. Over the next half hour, she tells Evan what happened with Nicole.

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