Page 84 of The Five Stages of Courting Dalisay Ramos

Dalisay nods.

Lola beckons her. “Come. No use sitting there like that.”

Dalisay rises and readjusts her skirt, taking the stairs one step at a time as Lola shuffles around the kitchen and gestures to the island for Dalisay to sit as she pours her a tall glass ofsago’t.

“The boy has left?” Lola asks. She tips her head, lifting her nose, like a queen might when surveying her domain.

“Yes,” Dalisay says. “He’s done enough for today.”

Lola puckers her lips and sighs. “I see. I guess he can regrout the bathroom another day.” Dalisay can see right through Lola. Her grandmother can try to maintain appearances all she wants, but Dalisay knows that Lola likes Evan. She can pretend to be hard and curmudgeonly, but the truth is hard to mask.

Dalisay wraps her hand around the cold glass and takes a sip. The sugar is even sweeter when she thinks about tomorrow.

“You are going for a walk at the pier?” Lola asks. Despite her age, Lola’s hearing is as sharp as a fox’s.

“Yes,” Dalisay says. It’s customary for the couple never to be left alone until all Five Stages are complete, but of course,if anyone asks, Dalisay and Evan just happened to run into each other. That’s all. “I don’t imagine I’ll need an escort.”

“Yes, indeed I don’t think you will. That boy has manners, I will give him that.”

“He does …,” says Dalisay. “He really is special.”

Lola’s eyes dance a little and she puts the remainingsago’tin the fridge. “We can’t help who we love,” she says. “But the special ones do make it a lot easier, don’t they?”

Dalisay smiles at that.

“Are you ready to take him back?” Lola asks.

Dalisay takes a deep breath and another sip of hersago’t.She thinks she is, but does she deserve it? Does she deserve him? She can’t answer, at least not at first, and twists her mouth thoughtfully, tapping on the glass with her finger. “I didn’t think it was possible.”

“What happened between you two when you first met?” Lola asks. She brings out a cutting board and a chef’s knife and begins slicing ginger roots into even sticks.

That is a question no one’s asked her yet. Even Nicole didn’t press when Dalisay admitted she and Evan were breaking up.

“There were …” Dalisay searches for the right word. “A lot of differences. It felt like we were speaking two different languages sometimes.”

Lola nods, scooping up the sticks of ginger and putting them into a bowl. Already, Dalisay knows she’s going to be making her famousarroz caldosoup, a chicken and rice comfort food. She’s always made it when someone is feeling sick, or down, or in need of a boost. Dalisay wonders if Lola knows that she needs that extra kick of confidence.

“It’s difficult dating someone from another culture.” She crushes cloves of garlic with the flat edge of her knife and expertly peels the paper shell in two moves. “I wish there was a simple guide, as simple as the Five Stages, to walk you through it. I loved someone before your grandfather. I gave up too easily,” Lola says. “I said things I didn’t mean, said things because I was afraid. I walked away and that was it.” She pauses mincing the garlic and pinches her fingers around her golden necklace, a pendant of two hands holding one another.

Dalisay squeezes the glass a little tighter. After all that’s happened between them, it would have been so easy for Evan to walk away from her forever, never look back and wonder what could have been. He didn’t give up on her, and she … she might have given up on him a little too readily. Like Lola, Dalisay could have easily lived with her regret, but now she has a chance to start over with Evan.

Lola continues, “I was so ready to find faults in our relationship. It was as though if I could somehow find the things that would break us apart, it would be easier to justify how it would end. I thought I was protecting my heart, but I should have trusted it.” She shakes her head slightly and gets back to prepping the ingredients.

Dalisay made that same mistake. But Evan still came back. He broke down her walls, and maybe it’s time she used a sledgehammer to help finish the job.

“No one knows when they’ll fall in love,” Lola continues. “But when it happens, you must take it, grasp it with two hands, and trust it completely. There are no hard-set rules, no maps, no compass. Love is love and that’s all it needs to be.” Lola’s dark eyes crinkle when she smiles. “Are you in love with him?”

Dalisay nods, certain. Her father’s words ring true:Remember where you’re going.And it’s finally time she goes for Evan.

Pier 39 is more of an outdoor shopping mall than it is a pier. It almost reminds Dalisay of the markets in Manila, especially with how packed it is. The sun is bright, and the sky is blue, and she nervously smooths out the pleats of her skirt as she walks through the crowd. Ringing bells from the arcade and children’s laughter rise up against the honk of a tourist boat ready to depart. Seagulls call overhead and sea lions basking on the rocks below bark as if in response. The smell of fries and burgers overtakes the briny sea air, making her stomach growl. She forgot to eat anything today, spending way too much time deciding what to wear. Her anxiety always gets the better of her. She looks at every face, searching for the one that means the most to her, but so far she hasn’t seen Evan.

He’s late. Only by a few minutes, but still. He’s always punctual, especially with things that matter to him. She should have seen him by now. Anxiety coils in her gut. What if he decided not to come? What if he changed his mind about her? What if he came to his senses and realized she wasn’t the one for him? Too many good things have been happening. Oh no, she’s catastrophizing again—

Then, she sees him, and she can finally breathe.

He’s in line at the ice-cream vendor, smiling and talking to the cashier who hands him two cones, one cookie dough and the other, she notices with a smile, chocolate covered in sprinkles. He remembered her favorite.

Evan steps out of line and turns, only to look up and see her. His smile grows wider.

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