“We don’t eat out much. I work long hours at the salon and prefer to save money where I can. Restaurants are more of a special-occasion thing in our family. Plus, I’m a pretty good cook, if I do say so myself.” Winnie smiled, gesturing to the platter of jiaozi she’d brought. Her black hair and dark brown eyes contrasted with her daughter’s much lighter coloring, but they had the same sweet smile.
“What salon do you work at? I’ve been meaning to do something with my hair.” I loved my shiny black hair and had always worn it long and straightened, but months of neglect left me with split ends and a sense of blah that was new to me. Maybe it was time for a change. Or at least a trim. No need for anything drastic.
“I’m the owner and main stylist at the Honeybee Salon, but I also do lashes and makeup.” Winnie circled me, eyeing my hair. “Your hair is gorgeous but could use a little . . . refreshing. I’d love to get my hands on it.”
“Good luck with that. Lila’s kept her hair exactly the same since she was five. Tita Cecilia insisted on the two of them getting matching haircuts every year.” Bernadette’s smirk was replaced by a look of horror when she realized why I hadn’t changed my hairstyle in over twenty years. “Oh, sh—sorry.”
Katie, completely oblivious to what was going on, asked, “Who’s Tita Cecilia?” stumbling slightly over the pronunciation of “Tita.”
“‘Tita’ means ‘aunt’ in our language,” I explained. “She’s referring to my mom. She passed away when I was eight.”
Katie’s eyes widened. “Oh. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m sorry too, Ate.” Joy put her hand on my arm, the concern in her eyes sweet but discomfiting.
I forced a smile. “It was a long time ago. Don’t worry about it.”
Bernadette said, “Tita Cecilia loved beauty pageants. I’m sure she’s so proud that Lila won and is a judge now. She always said the point of being a beauty queen is giving back to the community.”
My mom had grown up in Tondo, one of the poorest areas of Manila. Her neighbors had all chipped in to pay the fees and other expenses it took to enter a pageant because they knew she had what it took to obtain the crown. After she won and moved to the U.S., she sent money and balikbayan boxes home every year until she died. Tita Rosie still sent a yearly balikbayan box, even though we had our own money problems and they weren’t her blood relations. I hadn’t thought about that side of the family in a long time.
As annoyed as I was that Bernadette was still talking about my mom and making me think about things I’d left in the past, the fact that she was, dare I say, comforting me was new and a little bewildering. We’d spent most of our lives looking for ways to compete and weak points to exploit. Maybe we really were becoming friends.
Then again, she knew how I felt about my mother and the way she’d phrased what she said could be a jab at me, trying to hint that even though I’d won the crown, I’d never given back to the community. Just because she felt guilty about my mom didn’t mean she wasn’t still pissed about me beating her.
“Thanks, Ate Bernie. I appreciate it.” I even added a little smile to show her no hard feelings, and that I totally wasn’t wondering if she was plotting against me.
“So your mom was a beauty queen, too?” Katie asked.
Maybe I shouldn’t have said I was OK with it. Katie seemed to think that gave her carte blanche to ask all kinds of questions, and talking about my parents was something I did not do. Which Bernadette knew. I shot her a dirty look but she just shrugged.
I sighed. “Yeah, she won a local pageant and had a shot at the Miss Philippines title. She didn’t win, but she did well enough to save money for her move to the U.S.”
“So then she met your dad here, right? Because beauty queens can’t be married when they’re competing?”
“Those rules depend on the competition, actually. She and my dad had been a thing back in the Philippines, but they broke up when he moved to Shady Palms with my grandparents. After she moved here, they were able to reconnect and got married a few months later.”
Against the wishes of my grandmother, I didn’t add. Lola Flor had held her only son in high regard and thought he could do much better than a small-time beauty queen. I could tell by the sighs both Joy and Katie were letting out that they found the story romantic.
“A second chance at love! Those are my favorite kind of stories,” Katie said. “I used to dream that my dad would come back to Shady Palms to win back my mom.”