Lisa
Wait, is that it? After ten years, all I get is a hello, goodbye without the actual words? I follow her with my eyes as she gets in her car and drives off. It's only when she turns the corner, do I turn back to the café and remember Jisoo's presence.
The smile on her face makes alarm bell in my head ring 'shit', over and over again. "So, you and my little cousin used to get it on huh?"
My jaw drops. Cousin? I knew Jisoo is married to a man, so I didn't think that Jennie was dating her, but they are related? How have I been friendly with this family for a few years now and never knew that she was related to my first love? I vaguely remember Jennie saying that she had a cousin called Jisoo all those years ago but what are the chances that I would meet her separately.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I gulp. Give me a burning house any day over dealing with this.
"Do you have time for a coffee, Lisa? I'm paying."
I do need to get into the café. "Why do I feel very nervous about the catch?"
She laughs, "Because you're a smart woman. Come on, I won't bite. The worst you'll have to deal with is a crying toddler."
Jisoo was correct, by the time we sat down, Jennie's daughter was still crying. At the table, Jisoo's two sons were sitting patiently.
"Oh no, I didn't know these two were going to be here." I say sitting down across from Josh and Jacob.
"Lisa. Did you bring the fire engine?" Jacob asks excitedly.
"Sorry buddy, I'm not in work until tonight."
Both boys make their disappointment known, they ask me every time I see them around. I spend a few minutes answering their questions about work before Jisoo calls an end to it.
"So Lisa, you were Jennie's first girlfriend." Jisoo states between shushing the still upset toddler.
"I'm not answering that without a lawyer present."
"Going to remain quiet on the subject huh? Just so you know, Jen came out to the family after her first year in university."
"I knew she'd find the courage to do so." I say softly while looking at the little girl who's just looked at me for the first time. She looks so much like Jennie; it hurts me to see tears on her face. I smile at her. The tears stop flowing as rapidly as she stares at me.
"She's had one or two girlfriends but as far as I'm aware, I'm the only person that she has told about her high school girlfriend. Whom... I'm assuming is you?"
"This is a conversation you should be having with Jen. I'm not saying anything and ending up in the middle of a family argument." When I finish speaking, I pull a face at Jennie's daughter that I always used to pull at Jen to get her to laugh. With my eyes crossed and tongue poking out. Next thing I know, a tiny giggle comes from the little one.
Jisoo was just about to speak when the laugh happened. "Did you just make her laugh?" she asks, pulling the little girl forward so she could see her face.
"Err, yeah?"
"I know that sounds like a stupid question but you don't know what it's like. Since Jen and Ella moved in with us last month, she has clung on to Jen relentlessly. You saw what she was like outside. It's like that every time Jen heads to work. She never lets Jen out of her sight. Me and the boys try everything we can but she usually spends the whole time upset."
That was a lot of information that she just gave me. Jennie and her daughter are living with Jisoo? Poor Jen. It must be so exhausting having a toddler on her hip twenty-four seven. What I notice as well is that there was no mention of a partner. Is Jennie a single mother? "Really? Do you mind if I try holding her a second? At least, you can actually eat your food then."
"That would be great, thank you." Jisoo says passing the little girl to me.
I hold her on my lap so she's facing me. "Hello sweetie. What's your name?" I ask.
"Ella." Josh says around a mouthful of food.
"Thanks." I wink at him. "Hi Ella, I'm Lisa. We're not going to have any more tears, are we?" I say, while using my thumb to wipe away the little drops on her face. "Can you show me your smile?" nothing but a bottom lip sticking out worryingly. "No, okay, what about if I do this?", once again I pull the face that always made Jennie laugh. Like mother, like daughter it seems, Ella giggles again. The boys also start chuckling at me. "That's better. Let's keep this up."
I spend the next ten minutes pulling up a variety of different faces all in an effort to make Ella laugh. Taking suggestions from the boys. Jisoo watches us all with a smile. Ella seems to have moved quickly past shyness and is poking my face. When she gets near my mouth, I pretend to nibble her fingers.
The crying little girl is no-more and if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed her possible of that behaviour. She was such a cutie. I bring the boys into play and by the time we all need to leave, Ella is a happy little girl again.
So why do I feel a strange pang when I drove away?
