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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

Frank’s daughter Michelle (a.k.a. Mimi, a.k.a. Mom) wins the McAllister Scholarship, which pays for her MBA at Stanford.

June 10, 2002

Mimi takes a job with McAllister Venture Capital and has a huge fight with her father (Frank) and her sister (Hannah) about whether she has betrayed the family to make money for the greedy, soulless McAllisters.

June 13, 2002

Frank Katsuyama has a heart attack and undergoes triple-bypass surgery. Hannah blames Mom.

June 24, 2002

Frank suffers a second heart attack and dies. Hannah continues to blame Mom.

July 2002–present

Hannah takes over Heart’s Desire. Mom gets pregnant and has a baby (me). Mom rises through the ranks of MVC and becomes the first woman and first woman of color to make partner at one of the most successful, powerful venture capital firms in the world. CJ Katsuyama (me again) wonders how you can be proud of someone and disappointed in them at the same time.

14

HANNAH HAS BEEN UNCHARACTERISTICALLY snippy at work all afternoon. She chastised Owen for not handling the arrangements with proper care as he loaded them into the delivery truck, and now she’s mad about the flowers we’re preparing for tomorrow’s wedding. She grumbles and mutters to herself as she wraps a pale green satin ribbon around the stems of bunches of blue hydrangeas, the savagery in her voice a bizarre contrast to the gentleness with which she handles the blooms. “Out of season, unlucky, I don’t even know why I took this one on.” She tucks the end of a ribbon into the bouquet she’s working on and brandishes a pearl-headed pin at it, as if to stab it. “She wants larkspur in the main arrangement, CJ, in addition to the hydrangea. She insisted. ‘We met in Larkspur!’ she said. Like that even matters. Why would you start off your marriage with symbols of frigidity and infidelity? No wonder it’s pouring rain outside.”

There’s no arguing with Hannah when she’s like this, so I make some assenting noises and keep working.

She nods at the table arrangements I’m doing. “Could you try to be a little more careful, Ceej? That one’s a bit sloppy, and it has to be perfect. You’ll need to do better on the next ones if we want to keep getting business.”

I thought I was being careful. “Sorry,” I say, stung.

Hannah must hear something in my voice because she puts the hydrangeas down and comes over and plants a kiss on my cheek. “No, I’m sorry, sweet pea. You’re doing fine work. It’s just that this bride is a monster, and I’m letting her get to me. It doesn’t help that she reminds me of your mom.”

I’d been trying to forget about last night. That’s one of the things I love about this place: I lose myself in my work. Though maybe not for much longer.