I feel Darren stiffen beside me. Is it my imagination or did a chill just fall over us?

Sharon turns to me. “So, tell me more about public health. Besides pandemics, what else does it involve?”

“A lot. Everything from food to hospital care to environmental health to racial inequities. I could go on and on.”

“You sound passionate about it. You must be a good student.”

She raises a brow at Darren.

“‘Unlike my son’ is what that look means,” Darren says to me.

“Grades aren’t as important anymore,” says Mr. Liao. “As we can see from Darren’s success.”

Sharon doesn’t seem to want to talk about her son. She looks past us and says with a grim curl of her lips, “I see that Elaine is here.”

“Of course,” Darren replies. “She’s the bride’s aunt.”

Elaine spots Darren’s mother. “Is that Sharon Lee?”

She comes over and drips with obsequiousness. “I thought you couldn’t make it.”

Sharon looks to Darren. “Something came up, and I had to be here.”

Elaine turns to Darren, too. “You aren’t at the rehearsal dinner.”

“Why aren’t you at the rehearsal dinner?”

“I thought I left my clutch out here. I guess I should go look for it.”

Yes, you should, was the look Sharon gave her. After Elaine leaves, Sharon says, “I should go check into my room. I have one of the cliffside villas. It was nice to meet you, Bridget.”

“It’s nice that your mom could make the wedding,” I comment.

“Yeah.”

I can tell something else is on his mind, but I don’t want to pry. At least not all the time.

The following day, we get to do the touristy stuff like visiting the Big Buddha, a giant statue atop Mount Nagakerd; Wat Chalong, a colorful Buddhist temple; and Jungceylon, the shopping mall that Amy wanted to go to. Although the mall is impressive, with a fountain that one might find in Vegas, I prefer the street markets in Malin Plaza or Bangla Road.

When we get back to the resort in the late afternoon, JD convinces Darren to go golfing with the groom and a few others. I decide to take my laptop to a lounge chair by the infinity pool to work on a grant application. It’s not easy getting into work when there’s such a majestic view in front of me, but I eventually turn on my computer. Being old, it has a battery life of only one hour before it needs recharging, so I need to crank.

“Hey.”

Looking up, I see it’s the guy from the restaurant.

“Hi,” I say cautiously.

He sits down on the lounge chair next to me and extends a hand. “Joseph Mok.”

I shake it. “Bridget.”

“So you Darren’s girlfriend?”

I don’t think I’m in official girlfriend territory, but for some reason I don’t want to say otherwise to Joseph.

“We like each other,” I reply. I’m curious to know what happened between the two of them. “How do you know Darren?”