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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

Once Owen and I are on our way, I ask him, “Why did Hannah send you? Why didn’t she come herself?”

“You’re welcome,” he replies.

Sigh. “Thank you for coming to pick me up,” I mutter.

“She sent me because she was busy with a flower crown that wasn’t coming together the way she wanted. She didn’t want to stop working on it.”

“Oh.”

We don’t say anything else for a while, and I hope it’s just the fact that I’m high that’s making me feel like Owen is radiating curiosity, like the air is literally pulsing with it, like—

“So, how’s Shallow Shane?” he asks lightly. “You two a thing now?” Gahhhh, I knew it.

“He’s not shallow, and we aren’t a thing,” I say coldly. Shallow Shane, whatever. Owen can just stop it with that. Nicknames are my thing.

“Okay,” says Owen.

More silence. Please let it last. I start to nod off.

“So what did you and Shane talk about?”

OH MY GOD. “We talked about Sabrina, actually. It was very enlightening. Shane is an interesting person, and very nice, and not at all judgmental, unlike some people I know.” I don’t know why I’m feeling so defensive, except I feel like Owen is passive-aggressively trying to shame me for liking Shane. “If I’m not allowed to be judgy about Brynn, you’re not allowed to be judgy about Shane,” I add.

Owen considers this and nods. “Fair enough.”

Thankfully, the rest of the ride transpires in silence. I even manage to get a little nap in.

As we head into the shop, Owen says, “Hannah’ll be glad you’re here. I’m only good for trimming stems and stuff.”

“Urrghh. I just want to go to sleep,” I groan, and he chuckles.

“I’ll bet.”

I scowl at him. Though at least we’re talking like normal people now.

“Hey.” Owen’s voice is more serious now, his face concerned. “Does it seem to you like she’s being unrealistic about how much this newspaper article is going to help? Like, I’m not even sure she’s planning on doing the sale anymore, and I haven’t been booking a lot of new consultations or contracts. Should we be worried?”

I’m so not feeling equipped to handle this right now. I shake my head. “I don’t know.” I pause, and then say hopefully, “Geoffrey said it was going to be a game changer.”

“Yeah. But what’s the game?”

I think about that. I had assumed that he meant our fortunes would be reversed—that this was going to help Heart’s Desire get out of debt and start making money. But if that were true, wouldn’t Geoffrey have said so?