BooksBarbecue
Back Parachutes
Chapters (93)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Forty-Four
  47. Forty-Five
  48. Forty-Six
  49. Forty-Seven
  50. Forty-Eight
  51. Forty-Nine
  52. Fifty
  53. Fifty-One
  54. Fifty-Two
  55. Fifty-Three
  56. Fifty-Four
  57. Fifty-Five
  58. Fifty-Six
  59. Fifty-Seven
  60. Fifty-Eight
  61. Fifty-Nine
  62. Sixty
  63. Sixty-One
  64. Sixty-Two
  65. Sixty-Three
  66. Sixty-Four
  67. Sixty-Five
  68. Sixty-Six
  69. Sixty-Seven
  70. Sixty-Eight
  71. Sixty-Nine
  72. Seventy
  73. Seventy-One
  74. Seventy-Two
  75. Seventy-Three
  76. Seventy-Four
  77. Seventy-Five
  78. Seventy-Six
  79. Seventy-Seven
  80. Seventy-Eight
  81. Seventy-Nine
  82. Eighty
  83. Eighty-One
  84. Eighty-Two
  85. Eighty-Three
  86. Eighty-Four
  87. Eighty-Five
  88. Author’s Note
  89. Acknowledgments
  90. About the Author
  91. Books by Kelly Yang
  92. Back Ad
  93. About the Publisher

My mom sets down her tea. “Then why isn’t he here?” she asks.

Ouch. As I reach for a sushi roll with my chopsticks, my mother remarks to take off the rice, I don’t need the carbs.

“Your arms are looking big,” she says, studying me. “Have you been swimming?”

I ignore her, popping the whole piece in my mouth and chewing loudly just to spite her. We talk briefly about Tressy and how Snowy, my dog, is doing, eventually getting to the sensitive subject of Dad. She reaches a hand across the table.

“He didn’t mean it,” she apologizes for him.

I roll my eyes. I feel the tears gather in the back of my eyes at the memory of that night. I waited for forty-five minutes outside the restaurant after he left, crying in the wind, before my Uber finally showed up. “Mom, it was horrible.”

“I know, honey,” she says. “I’m so sorry.” She says she gave him an earful when he got home, and he felt really bad.

I ask her how things are going with her and Dad.

“Good,” she insists. “I told him if I ever catch him cheating again, I’m out of here.”

I nod. Good for her, although it’s probably not the first time she’s said that.

She reaches for an edamame. “Sometimes I think if I hadn’t met your dad at such a young age, maybe I could have had a life of my own.”

“It’s not too late, Mom. You’re only thirty-seven.”

My mom laughs as she peels the edamame. She hands me the peas and asks me about school. I tell her about the mini revolution I started, fighting to get my English teacher suspended for writing that obnoxious email.

“You’ve always been feisty. I think you get it from your father,” she says with a wink.

As I smile back at my mom, it suddenly occurs to me that I’ve spent two and a half months away from my parents.

“I’m so proud of you, Claire,” she says as she waves to the waiter for the check and gives me back my phone.

“Thanks, Mom,” I say.

“And I’m sorry not to meet Jay. He is an amazing catch.” She holds up a glass of sake to me.

As we toast to my amazing new boyfriend, I try not to think about the fact that at this exact moment I literally have no idea where he is.

Fifty-Two

Dani