The Professor Next Door (Cider Bar Sisters Book 3) Read online

  “But that’s not why we’re here.” Kelsey gave Nicole a hug. “We came for a surprise birthday visit!”

  Kelsey, like Nicole and Cam, had a white father and an Asian mother—their mothers were sisters. But Kelsey’s mom had lots of deeply problematic views, and Kelsey’s dad was the sort of racist who claimed he couldn’t be racist because of, you know, his Chinese wife and mixed-race children.

  Kelsey was currently not speaking to her parents.

  “Who is this?” With difficulty, Po Po took off her boots and put on the slippers that Nicole kept for her in the closet. Then she shuffled over to David.

  Oh, fuck me.

  Nicole had forgotten about her neighbor, who was seated at the breakfast bar and seemed unsure of what to do. If only she hadn’t invited him in, or had the forethought to hide him in the closet. But how could she have known it would be Kelsey and Po Po?

  Ugh, now there would be drama and family gossip.

  “You are Nicole’s boyfriend?” Po Po asked. Then, before he had a chance to answer, she said, “I am Nicole’s po po. What is your job? How much money do you make?”

  “Po Po!” Kelsey said. “You can’t just walk up to men and ask about their salary. You don’t even know his name.”

  “Ah, you are right. What is your name?”

  “David.”

  “It is nice to meet you, David. How much money do you make?”

  “He’s a professor,” Nicole said, “and he isn’t my boyfriend. He lives next door.”

  “Wah, you can’t be so picky. You are thirty-four now, yes? Time to get married and have a baby.” Po Po turned to David. “How many degrees do you have?”

  “Three,” he answered.

  “See, Nicole, he has more degrees than you. You will make smart children.”

  How mortifying. Nicole couldn’t believe she was subjecting David to this. He’d only tried to be neighborly by bringing her a birthday cake, and now he had to deal with an interrogation.

  Since she didn’t know what else to do, Nicole stuffed a bite of cake in her mouth while Kelsey helped Po Po sit down on the armchair.

  “What kind of cake is that?” Kelsey asked.

  “Ube,” Nicole said. “It’s really disgusting. You don’t want any.”

  “It’s disgusting? Then why are you eating it?” Po Po asked.

  “She’s being sarcastic,” Kelsey explained.

  “What is ube?”

  “Purple yam. Sometimes people confuse it with taro.”

  Nicole looked at the remaining half of the cake. She’d planned to eat one piece for a late-night snack and another after dinner tomorrow, but she supposed it would only be polite to offer some to her family.

  “Would you like to try it, Po Po?”

  “Yes.”

  “Remember,” Kelsey said, “the doctor told you not to eat too much sugar.”

  Po Po wrinkled her nose. “I don’t care. Grandchildren refuse to get married and have babies, what is the point in living as long as I can?”

  “Stop being dramatic,” Kelsey said. “Besides, didn’t you want to outlive Mrs. Dong?”

  “You are right, I cannot let Mrs. Dong win, but I will eat just as much sugar and meat. I will live from spite! Give me the cake.”

  Dutifully, Nicole cut the remaining cake into thirds, deciding to save a small piece for tomorrow. She handed plates to both Kelsey and Po Po.

  “Do you have any grandparents, David?” Po Po asked.

  “Not living, no.”

  “Ah, that is too bad. Where were your grandparents from?”

  “Korea. My parents came here in the seventies.”

  “You like BTS?”

  “Po Po, you don’t need to ask every Korean person if they like BTS,” Kelsey said, exasperated. “Mmm. This is really good cake.”

  Just then, Po Po stumbled to her feet. She pulled off her slipper and slapped the wall.

  “Was that another spider?” Nicole asked.

  Kelsey approached the wall. “There was no spider. That was just a piece of dirt.”

  “You are making me look bad in front of David,” Po Po said. “Why didn’t you tell him that I am tough, master spider killer?”

  Kelsey ignored her and turned to Nicole. “Have you watched our other TikToks?”

  “Not yet,” Nicole said.

  “Too bad I was not wearing my cutest outfit when I killed the spider.” Po Po returned to her seat. “You should have warned me!”

  “How was I supposed to know there was a spider?” Kelsey asked.

  “You did not plant it there for me to kill?”

  “Of course not. It was a coincidence.”

  “Show them the other videos.”

  Nicole, David, and Kelsey crowded around the armchair and watched some videos. There was one of Po Po demonstrating how to make wontons, and another of her sharing tips for how to get the bill at the end of the meal.

  Nicole hadn’t expected David to stay, but he did.

  “Do you want me to leave?” he murmured as he carried the empty plates to the kitchen after Po Po had made sure there were no crumbs left. Wasting food was a horrible crime to her.

  “No,” Nicole whispered. “You’re welcome to stay, but don’t feel like you have to. I expect they’ll be leaving soon anyway since it’s almost Po Po’s bedtime.”

  “What are you whispering?” Po Po asked. “Love words?”

  “I told you,” Nicole said. “We’re not in love.”

  “Hmph. I see the way you are looking at him.”

  Po Po’s eyes must be deceiving her.

  “I will give you advice,” Po Po said. “It will cost you one dollar.” She held out her hand.

  Nicole laughed. “Why don’t you put the advice in a video instead?”

  “Why won’t you pay a dollar for good advice? Fine, I will give it for free. He is a nice man and he brought you birthday cake. You should date him! He looks at you the same way.”

  “You know, maybe you should get your eyesight checked again.”

  “You are wrong!” Po Po raised her finger in triumph. “I went to the eye doctor only two weeks ago. Kelsey took me. Eyes are fine.”

  “That’s a slight simplification of what the optometrist told you,” Kelsey said.

  “Why you using big words?”

  “Come on, Po Po. We should go. It’s getting late, and I think Nicole and David were in the middle of something.” Kelsey winked at Nicole, and Nicole rolled her eyes.

  “I forgot about Nicole’s present,” Po Po said. “It’s in the hallway.”

  Kelsey opened the door and brought in a balloon that said “Merry Christmas.”

  David laughed quietly, and Nicole nearly jumped. She hadn’t realized he’d been standing behind her.

  “Why did you get me a Christmas balloon?” Nicole asked.

  “Because it was cheaper than birthday balloons,” Po Po said. “Fifty percent off. If you pay me for my advice, then next time I buy you birthday balloon.”

  “I wish I’d been filming this,” Kelsey said.

  “Yes, maybe I would get a virus again.”

  “Go viral,” Kelsey corrected.

  “David, do you want me to get a virus?”

  “No,” he said, “I want you to stay healthy so you can bring Nicole another Christmas balloon for her next birthday.”

  “Will you buy another purple cake?”

  “If that’s what Nicole wants, then yes.”

  He was humoring her grandmother, and it was rather sweet, actually.

  Po Po and Kelsey left a few minutes later, and Nicole pulled a bottle of white wine out of the fridge.

  “I need a drink,” she said as she grabbed a glass. “You want some?”

  David shook his head. “I don’t drink. Terrible Asian glow.”

  “My sibling can’t metabolize alcohol properly, either. But if you don’t mind, I’m going to indulge.”

  “Don’t feel bad about drinking around me. Besides, it’s your birth
day.”

  “I can make you some tea?”

  “No, I should be going, and you said something about plans for a bath.”

  Nicole found herself feeling a touch forlorn. She’d rather liked having him here.

  She had a sip of wine. “Sorry my grandma was asking all those questions and assuming we were together.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Nicole.” He smiled at her before heading to the door.

  He was going to leave, and she’d be all alone again.

  “Want to come over later this week?” she asked. “We can order food and hang out, nothing big. But I don’t have any friends in the building, and you’re right next door.”

  “I’d like that.”

  They exchanged numbers, and then he was gone.

  Nicole took her glass of wine and padded down the hallway. She set down the stemless wineglass on the edge of the bathtub and started running the bath as she stripped off her clothes.

  When she stepped into the bathtub, a few tears slid down her face.

  It actually hadn’t been a bad birthday. She was glad she’d been stuck in the elevator. They hadn’t been stuck that long, and she’d gotten to talk to David. And though she wasn’t big on surprise visits, she was glad Kelsey and Po Po had stopped by. She’d rather enjoyed her grandmother’s teasing, even if she wouldn’t admit to it.

  In truth, Nicole Louie-Edwards was lonely.

  Her only real friend at the office was on maternity leave. Nicole spent most of her workday on the computer, then returned to an empty apartment.

  She did like being alone sometimes, and this lifestyle had suited her for years. Besides, she had her family, and she saw her friends every week or two. She brought a guy back at least once a month.

  However, in the past several months, she’d occasionally found herself wishing to come home to someone at the end of the day.

  Remember Calvin.

  Yes, there was a reason Nicole had switched from relationships to hookups, and that reason was Calvin Zhang. They’d lived together for two years, starting when she was in grad school. Being with him had swallowed up her identity.

  But who was Nicole Louie-Edwards? Did she even really know?

  There had been a few different phases in her life, and they felt like completely different people. In high school, she’d been the good student, the nerd with few friends. Now she was...what?

  The sexy, lonely career woman?

  She’d been happy with her life for so long, but now, things had changed.

  It felt as if she was entering a new phase in her life. One in which she apparently cried in the bathtub with a glass of wine on her birthday.

  Perhaps she should move and look into getting a roommate. She considered living with Rose and Sierra—there was enough room in that old house, wasn’t there?

  At the same time, she didn’t really want to deal with roommates. She liked having her own space, and much as she loved her friends, would it be weird to live with them now? Did they only know one side of her?

  Then again, what did she even know about herself?

  She liked being alone at times, but she also enjoyed socializing.

  She liked sex, shopping, travel, and ube cake...

  Tears were still streaking her cheeks, and there was an aching loneliness in her chest, but she managed to smile as she thought of David showing up at her door with the cake. It had been so unexpected.

  Did he...like her?

  She immediately dismissed the possibility.

  Besides, it wasn’t as if she wanted him to like her in that way, though she still had the perverse urge to break someone’s heart. For someone to say they were choosing her, rather than letting her down because they were choosing someone else.

  Well, she’d see David on Friday. That would be a nice break from her regular routine.

  She sipped some more wine and tried to empty her brain.

  After all, it was her birthday. She shouldn’t cry.

  * * *

  David slowly put away his dishes and cleaned the counters.

  He thought of Nicole, having a bath. And of how meeting her grandma and cousin had compared with meeting Steph’s family.

  It was silly to compare. Steph had been his wife; his girlfriend at the time he’d met her family. Whereas he’d only spoken to Nicole for the first time today.

  But her grandmother had thought he was Nicole’s boyfriend, and she’d teased them—but she’d also seemed to approve of him.

  That was a pleasant change.

  It was part of the reason he’d stayed tonight, even though he’d felt a bit awkward.

  If he got married again—and he hoped he would, because marriage did suit him—family was an important consideration. Never again would he agree to smile politely around bigoted in-laws. Steph hadn’t shared her parents’ views, but she’d only half-heartedly stood up for him.

  Anyway, it had been an enjoyable evening. Nice to socialize outside of work for once. And he liked Nicole even more now, and she wanted to have dinner on Friday.

  Not a date, but that was fine. He could use a friend.

  The friends he’d had in Toronto had fallen into two groups: people at the university, and people who knew him through Steph. He didn’t talk to the latter group anymore.

  He’d never seriously considered moving back west after the divorce, though. A tenure-track position wasn’t something you easily gave up, and he did like Toronto. And now he owned this one-bedroom condo, with its little den that served as his office, and spent much of the weekends alone here.

  He’d enjoy a few hours a week with Nicole.

  She’d given him that one slightly flirtatious look, but otherwise, there had been no sign she was interested, and he gathered she was just a rather flirty person, who looked equally lovely in both a skirt suit and pajamas.

  No, she seemed to want to be friends, and so that’s what he’d do.

  And next time he heard noises coming from his neighbor, he’d make sure none of his rocks were in danger, and then he’d hurry out to the living room.

  Or have a cold shower.

  Chapter 5

  To Nicole’s distress, she was unable to have dinner with David that Friday. She had to stay at work to finish something up and didn’t get home until late.

  Saturday was busy, which was good. No opportunity for crying in the bathtub again.

  “Here, take the last shrimp.” Po Po placed it on Nicole’s plate. “And tell me why your boyfriend isn’t here.”

  “You have a boyfriend?” Mom screeched. “Why didn’t I know?”

  Cam looked at Nicole and chuckled. They were probably happy the relationship inquisition was off them for the moment.

  Cam had recently started dating Tessa, and Nicole had hoped that Tessa would join them for Nicole’s birthday lunch at her favorite Chinese restaurant in North York. Alas, Cam had claimed they didn’t want to upstage Nicole’s birthday by combining it with a meet-the-parents event, even though that wouldn’t have bothered Nicole one bit. She very much wanted to meet Cam’s new partner.

  Nicole, Cam, Mom, Dad, Kelsey, and Po Po were clustered around a table in the large restaurant. It was always busy here on the weekends, full of Chinese families eating together; theirs was one of the few tables conversing almost entirely in English.

  In such restaurants, Nicole often found herself searching for the white people. There were usually a few, but they were definitely in the minority. In situations where almost everyone else was white—like, say, back in undergrad—she looked for the Asian people.

  Po Po was now regaling everyone with the exciting tale of how she’d met Nicole’s new boyfriend, a professor who lived next door.

  “We’re not seeing each other,” Nicole clarified. “In fact, I’d only met him for the first time an hour earlier, when we got stuck in the elevator together.”

  “How romantic,” Cam said. “Like something out of a rom-com.”

  Nicole raised an eyebrow. Cam was real
ly lovey-dovey these days. Must be because of Tessa.

  “Or like a horror movie,” Nicole said.

  “But you made it out safely, and without any snakes eating your brain—”

  “Thanks for that.”

  “—so clearly it wasn’t like a horror movie.”

  “How does this thing work?” Po Po had snuck Nicole’s phone out of her purse and was tapping her index finger all over the surface.

  “What are you doing, Po Po?”

  “I will send David a text message and invite him to lunch. Your building is not that far, so I think he can get here in ten minutes.”

  “David is a friend, and there’s no need to invite him. He already celebrated my birthday by bringing me cake.”

  “He brought you cake?” Mom spoke as though this was the most shocking thing.

  “Mm-hmm.” Nicole reached for the scallops. “Po Po, can I please have my phone back?”

  “No.” And with that decisive word, Po Po slid the phone under her butt.

  “You’re sitting on my phone!”

  Sitting on things was actually a special technique of Po Po’s. It was her favorite way of making sure nobody could grab the bill from her, for example.

  “Fine, fine.” Po Po handed over the phone.

  To Nicole’s horror, she realized her grandmother had, after all, managed to make her phone do something.

  “You butt-dialed David!” Nicole exclaimed. “Po Po!”

  Since David would know she’d called, she might as well talk to him. She lifted the phone to her ear. He answered, which shouldn’t please her, but it rather did.

  “Hello? Nicole?” he said.

  “Sorry, my grandma stole my phone and accidentally called you.”

  “I called him with my ass!” Po Po said gleefully.

  “I wish I was filming this,” Kelsey muttered.

  On the other end of the phone, David chuckled. “Say hi to your grandma for me. I’ll see you next Friday, okay?”

  Nicole ended the call and looked around the table.

  “Is he coming?” Po Po asked.

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I didn’t ask him.”

  “Give me the phone! I will butt-dial him again.”

  Cam was doubled over in laughter, damn them.