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“Yes, and Winchester Academy includes loweryearstoo. So I don’t see why it matters.”
“The high school is a separate building on the grounds,” Caitlyn said. “Don’t you remember from the tour a few months ago?”
“No.”
Becca stifled a laugh in her peas and carrots. Cecelia likewise cracked a smile.
“Then…” Caitlyn crossed her utensils on her plate and shook her head. “Do you like your room so far, Cece?”
Although everyone called Cecelia the same nickname she had since she was a baby, Caitlyn did it with such gentle, feminine affection that it threw Rebecca off guard every time. Especially if her old room was mentioned in the same passing.
“Yeah.” Cecelia cleared her throat. “I mean, yes. I like having a bathroom.”
“Rebecca redecorated it herself for your arrival. Where did you get the bedspread again?”
“IKEA, believe it or not.”
“Oh, can we go to IKEA?” Cecelia asked. “I’ve never been.”
“You’ll get lost in there,” Jane said. “It’s worse than Disneyworld for losing your children. You’ll get sucked into some Swedish contraption, then what? There goes your arse.”
Caitlyn, who had picked up her fork, slapped it down again. “What has gotten into you?”
“Nothing, love!”
As usual, Becca redirected the dinner conversation. “I remembered that your favorite color was dark pink. If you want something else, though, let me know and we can take you to pick something out. A girl needs to have a comfortable bedroom to get through high school.”
“It’s fine. I like it.”
Becca was pleased, but only because she had sacrificed a lot to give her by-proxy niece a comfortable place to stay.
I feel for her…Privileged as she was back in Hong Kong, it couldn’t have been easy to be Cecelia Lam, the oldest child of the wealthy Frank Lam and his younger, more frivolous wife Lilian. Neither paid much attention to her, absorbed in their separatelives and hyper-focused on what kids offered as personal accessories more than people.Lilian tries, but…She was self-absorbed. Even when she started taking more interest in her oldest daughter’s blossoming personality, it was probably too late. Cecelia had internalized everything that made her lacking (or too much) and was ready to escape the whole spectacle that was being old money in Hong Kong. Most of the Lams and Wongs were educated in England, and that included Jane, who attended both boarding school and Cambridge.She jokes she’s more English than Asian.God knew her English was as equally native as her Cantonese.
But Cecelia was keen on studying in America. As it so happened, Aunt Jane lived in New England, home of such lauded private day schools like Winchester Academy. It took two years to sort out the details, but once the plans were in motion, all that mattered was securing Cecelia’s student visa and housing – with Jane, of course.
“Now, we don’t know when we’ll be moving…” Caitlyn said later on during dinner, “but we’ll have plenty of notice.”
“I hope you’re not moving because of me,” Cecelia said.
Everyone else at the table looked at her as if they couldn’t believe such introspection after two days of travel. “No, no,” Caitlyn assured her. “We’ve been meaning to buy something for a while. This was the impetus we needed to start looking. Truly, we meant to move earlier this year, but we have yet to find what we’re looking for.”
“That’s right. We’re a picky bunch,” Jane said.
More like we ask for too much.Four bedrooms, preferably with each having their own en suite bathroom. A large living area and a dining room big enough for dinner parties. A chef’s kitchen. Large outdoor entertainment area. Oh, and it had to be relatively close enough to the office to cut down on commute time.Good luck!Becca, like Caitlyn, had been scouring realestate listings and had their agent on speed dial. Even though they looked at apartments, condos, and single-family homes, there was something wrong with everything.Either too far away or too small.With three grown women and now one teenager staying there possibly until she was eighteen, well! They needed lots of room!
And Becca was more inspired than ever. She wanted her own room again.
She only felt that harder after she finished helping Caitlyn with the dishes and got ready for bed. While it wasn’t out of the ordinary for her to ask Caitlyn to use her tub when she wanted to take a proper bath,havingto use Jane’s when she wanted a simple shower was still new.
As it was for Jane as well.
“Ah, bloody good, there’s a naked woman in my shower.” Jane, dressed in her pajamas, came into the bathroom to brush her teeth. “I’d ask to join you, but I’ll enjoy the show.”
Becca glared at her through the glass pane of the shower door. “You’re nuts if you think you’re getting any tonight.”
“What? Whynuts?What do nuts have to do with anything? They are good protein.”
Becca wasn’t falling for her girlfriend’s usual deflection when questioning American slang. “Not only am I tired after everything we did today, but I’m PMSing. You know I don’t get in the mood when I’m about to start my period.”
