11
Present Day
“—dy! Meddy!” Ma’s voice slices through the room, shattering my sleep.
“Wha—？” I mumble, blinking and grimacing at the bright sunlight. Is it morning already? I feel like I could easily sleep for a whole week. “What time is it?”
“Time to go. You get up now. We need move body and then go to pier.”
The events of last night come back in a dizzying, sickening rush. Jake, the car crash, the—oh god—the body. I bury my face in my hands. It wasn’t a dream. It really did happen. I really did kill a man, and my family helped me move the body.
Ma bustles in and puts a glass of juice in my hands. “I make herbal tea for you. Wake you up. Cepat, drink.”
I do as she says, too tired and dazed to argue, and I hate to admit it, but she’s right. The TCM drink, whatever she’s put in it, does perk me up a little, sliding hot and bitter down my throat. I finish it and have a shower, and by the time I’m dressed in my usual all-black photographer outfit, I feel more or less human and ready to face the gruesome task that awaits us. I send a quick text to Seb, my second photographer, to make sure he’s ready for the day. He’s supposed to get to the resort an hour after I do, to take pictures of the groomsmen while I handle the bridal party. Seb replies with a thumbs-up emoji. I pack my gear in the car before driving to Big Aunt’s bakery with Ma.
As soon as we walk in through the back door, it becomes obvious something’s wrong. Big Aunt and Second Aunt are already there, and they’re snapping at each other in Indonesian, so deep into their argument that they don’t even look up when we walk inside.
“Oi!” Ma has to yell above their voices. “Sudah! Done, stop! Stop arguing, what is it?”
Second Aunt scoffs and releases a laugh that sounds more like a cough-sob. “You tell them,” she says, glaring at Big Aunt. “You tell them what happened.”
Dread is like a stone deep in my belly, hard and jagged. I try to swallow, but my mouth is a desert. Whatever Big Aunt’s about to say, I don’t want to hear it.
Big Aunt’s voice comes out hushed, trembly. “Xiaoling and the mover came early. And—”
I’ve never in my life heard Big Aunt’s voice falter, but now it does.
“And they took the cooler!” Second Aunt crows. “You should’ve come earlier so you could supervise, but you didn’t.” Her eyes are bright with triumph as she turns to us and says, “She overslept.”
Big Aunt doesn’t meet our eyes as she mumbles, “I was so exhausted after last night that I slept through my alarm.”
Ma and I stare in dismay at the spot where we’d pushed the cooler to last night, and sure enough, it’s empty, all three coolers gone. It strikes me that this is bad news for all of us, including Second Aunt, but not even such catastrophic news is enough to distract her from the rare opportunity of rubbing Big Aunt’s nose in it.
“So irresponsible,” Second Aunt says. Big Aunt bristles visibly.
“I’m irresponsible?” she hisses.
Ma jumps in between her and Second Aunt. “Okay, sudah, cukup.” She flaps her hands for a bit. “You better call Xiaoling now, quickly!”
“I already did. She said the coolers have all been loaded up to the yacht.” Big Aunt sighs. “She sounded so happy and proud to have done everything without my help. Aduuuh, gimana ya?”
“We’ll go to the pier now! Maybe the yacht hasn’t left yet!” Ma cries.
It’s left. We’re told this after we arrive at the pier, sweaty and out of breath from running from the parking lot.
“But hey, no worries,” the hotel—what’s the correct title here, yacht organizer?—says. “There’s another one coming in about five minutes. You ladies are early. The one that left fifteen minutes ago was just cargo, right? You’re not scheduled to travel for another half-hour,” he says, checking his tablet.
“We like to play it safe, get places early,” I wheeze. “So, um, what happens to the cargo once it gets to the island?”
“What cargo you got?”
I exchange a glance with Big Aunt. “Um, cakes, mostly. There’s the giant wedding cake and, um, a bunch of other desserts.”
“Okay, that stuff will go straight to the kitchen. We’ve got orders to put them in the walk-in fridge. Sound good to you?”
I nod weakly. “Perfect.”
“How everything go?” Big Aunt says. “Go okay?”