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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

“And I think you can’t go around letting everyone off the hook because ‘life is complicated.’ I get that she was afraid. But she shouldn’t have used Emily to protect herself. And she should have done something to make up for it instead of just pretending nothing ever happened.”

I don’t know why it’s so hard to understand. If you drag someone for being gay, you’re a homophobe. If you do it even though you, yourself, are gay—especially when you could just keep your mouth shut—you’re a hypocrite. It’s that simple. And, while we’re talking about defining actions, if you take unfair advantage of someone of a different race and cheat them out of everything they own, you’re a racist and a crook. Oh, but she feels bad about it. Oh, but he’s a nice guy. Oh, life is complicated.

Nope. I’m sorry, but none of that gets a pass.

19

LIFE IS COMPLICATED THOUGH. FOR EXAMPLE, there’s the Heart’s Desire mess. I get that the smart thing to do would be to sell the property. But it’s clear that the ethical, kind, and loving thing to do would be to choose family over money and help Hannah figure out a way for Heart’s Desire to succeed. The problem is that Mom only cares about what’s smart, and she hates that Hannah only wants what she calls “emotional gratification.” I wish there was some middle ground, but that has never been the way we operate.

I’ve been working in the back of the store most of the afternoon, ruminating on complications and family and what’s smart versus what’s emotionally gratifying, and I’m ready for a break. I poke my head into the front to see if Owen wants anything from Icicles when the bell rings, and in walks a little boy. He looks about six years old. I bet he’s hapa, or what Aviana used to call half-and-half when we were little; his face looks Asian, but his hair is light brown, almost blond, and his eyes are hazel. He has a cleft chin, which is something I always notice because I’ve got a cleft chin, and they’re unusual. A white woman appears behind him—his mother, probably. She’s model-thin and wearing jeans and high heels and the kind of pure white sweater that I would never trust myself to wear. She looks like a mom version of Taylor Swift.

“Look, Blake! Oh, these are just gorgeous!” she exclaims, click-clacking in her heels around the shop and caressing the blooms with a perfectly manicured hand. When she does, her sleeves fall back a little, and I can see what looks like a diamond bracelet sparkling on her wrist.