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Back This Time Will Be Different Save as PDF
Chapters (77)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. A Series of Screw-ups: The Chisaki Joan Katsuyama Story, Part I
  6. 3
  7. The History of My Beef with Brynn Foer-Preston
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part I
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part I
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part II
  20. 13
  21. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part II
  22. 14
  23. 15
  24. 16
  25. 17
  26. 18
  27. 19
  28. The Complicated History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Imaginary Relationship with Her Nonexistent Dad
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part III
  33. 23
  34. 24
  35. 25
  36. A Brief, Backward History of the McAllister Family, as Paraphrased from the San Jose Mercury News
  37. 26
  38. 27
  39. 28
  40. A Quick and Eerily Relevant History of Asians in America
  41. 29
  42. 30
  43. 31
  44. 32
  45. 33
  46. 34
  47. 35
  48. 36
  49. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part IV
  50. 37
  51. 38
  52. 39
  53. 40
  54. 41
  55. 42
  56. 43
  57. 44
  58. A Series of Screw-ups: The Chisaki Joan Katsuyama Story, Part II (Or Maybe It’s a Prequel)
  59. 45
  60. 46
  61. 47
  62. 48
  63. 49
  64. 50
  65. 51
  66. 52
  67. 53
  68. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part III
  69. 54
  70. A Note from the Author
  71. Index of Flowers and their Meanings
  72. Acknowledgments
  73. About the Author
  74. Praise for This Time Will Be Different
  75. Books by Misa Sugiura
  76. Back Ad
  77. About the Publisher

“Owen, okay, that’s super sweet of you, but I’m not in love with him or anything, so you can stop feeling protective or whatever. And I don’t need your approval or your protection.” I realize with a guilty start that I’ve had nearly this identical conversation with Emily about Brynn. I push that thought aside. I need to focus on what’s happening here, now.

Owen doesn’t respond. He starts hacking again, and I let the silence expand, because it feels good to know that he doesn’t know what to say. Finally, he stops hacking and switches to pushing the loosened dirt around. He says softly, “You’re right. You don’t need my approval. I don’t have any right to butt into your relationships, as long as no one’s getting hurt.”

“Thank you.”

He kicks a pebble on the ground. “I know I’m being a dick. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

He flips the hoe up, scrapes the dirt off the blade, and wipes it clean with a rag. Then he leans it against the shed and tosses the rag into a bucket. “I just. I’m kinda into you, Ceej. In case you hadn’t noticed. I guess I’m jealous.”

Well. This is a shocking turn of events. Inside me there’s a burst of something disturbingly sparkling and hopeful—nothing like the big, blingy exclamation marks that Shane inspires—but quite possibly better. It’s delicate, shimmering, achingly perfect. The thought of taking care of it freaks me out. And how dare he present it to me at the same time that he accuses me of ruining everything? So I crush it. “Oh, who’s petty now? Who’s obsessed with their own shit now? Is that what this is really all about? Anyway, you have no right to be jealous, what with all that flirting you’ve been doing with Sabrina.”

Owen looks stunned. “What even . . . are you talking about?”

Suddenly I realize that if I keep going down this road, I’ll look jealous, which I’m totally not. “Whatever. That has nothing to do with this, so forget it.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” Owen raises his hand to rub the back of his head, realizes it’s dirty from the hoe, and lowers it. “Well. I guess I’ll see you at the school board meeting, then. Hopefully it’ll go okay.”

He turns and heads into the house without another word, and leaves me standing there, rooted to the ground and unable to figure out what just happened, or what I can do to reverse it.

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