The Year of Cecily by Lisa Lin
This is the year of Cecily Chang.
San Francisco attorney Cecily Chang is ready to tackle the New Year head on, so she creates a list of resolutions guaranteed to reboot her life—right after her dutiful visit home to Sunset Park, Brooklyn, for the Lunar New Year. Cecily prepares to face her critical, meddling mother, nosy relatives, and the chaos and drama family togetherness brings. At least the food will be delicious. This holiday, Cecily vows to remain calm—as long as she doesn’t see him.
Jeffrey Lee deeply regrets how he ended things with Cecily ten years ago, but he felt it was best for her at the time. When he runs into her again during the New Year, he sees it as a sign. Now a successful screenwriter, Jeffrey is determined to win back Cecily’s heart.
But Cecily doesn’t believe in signs or second chances and embraces her new resolutions. This time, Jeffrey won’t give up—and he’s convinced he can write them a new Hollywood happy ending.
Having escaped the madhouse, Cecily dutifully made her way down the street to the Lee residence. She knocked on the door and was greeted by Jeffrey’s younger sister Bethany. She was dressed in a soft blue sweater and jeans, with a bandana pulling her hair back.
“CeeCee!” Bethany exclaimed as she enveloped Cecily in a hug. Despite herself, Cecily couldn’t prevent a grin. She’d always had a soft spot for Bethany.
“You’re home for the weekend?” Cecily asked. Last she heard, Bethany was a senior at Columbia, majoring in biochemistry.
“Yep. Where else would I be?” Bethany readjusted her bandana. “Mom needs all hands on deck for the cleaning.”
Cecily made a face. “My mom’s planning a top-to-bottom deep cleaning today too. I’m on bathroom duty. She’s also grumbling because she needs to take me to Walmart later to buy new clothes. But you can’t fight tradition.” She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. It was a New Year tradition slash superstition to clean the house top to bottom, get a haircut, and buy a new outfit. It was all about out with the old, in with the new and generating good luck and a fresh start for the Year of the Pig.
Bethany had no response, just blew out a breath and looked at her expectantly.
“Oh, right. Is Jeffrey around? I need to speak to him.” Speaking of the devil, he appeared behind his sister in the doorway.
“If you’re here to pay me for the Uber, think again.” He crossed his arms, and a stubborn look came over his face.
All right. If he was going to be a hard-ass about this, then so could she. She had plenty of experience dealing with difficult clients.
“It’s out of my hands, Jeffrey. You know that I can’t go into the New Year unless I settle all debts. You wouldn’t want me to start the Year of the Pig with bad luck hanging over my head, do you? You really want that on your conscience?” She gave her most innocent look and blinked disarmingly.
Jeffrey just scowled. “You always were a spoiled brat when it came to getting your way,” he muttered.
Cecily took immediate umbrage. “How dare you!” Such an unfair accusation. Besides, how did he know? They hadn’t seen each other in ten years. Maybe she had her moments, but didn’t everyone?
Jeffrey just raised an eyebrow. “Who was the one who told our moms I scalped her Barbie doll when she really was the one who decided to give it a haircut?”
“Really with that? I was five years old for God’s sake!” Seriously.
An implacable stare from him. “Did you or did you not get a new doll for your birthday?”
“To be clear, the statute of limitations for that has come and gone,” Cecily sniffed. “Not fair for you to throw that in my face now. It’s been thirty years, and I doubt your ability to accurately recall the event in question. Besides, whether or not I got a replacement Barbie doll is irrelevant to the current discussion.”
“And I was the one who got spanked for something I didn’t do.”
She continued to glare, and so did he.
Bethany just looked at them back and forth like she was watching a tennis match. “You two are weird,” she decided with a shake of her head. She walked away and disappeared back into the house.
Jeffrey ignored her. “But if you insist, it was sixty dollars.”
As Cecily dug through her wallet and purse, he added nonchalantly, “Oh and just so you know, Guillermo gave us a four and a half star rating.”
Her head snapped up and she stopped searching for the money. “Why didn’t we get five?”
“You were always so competitive.” He chuckled. He leaned against the doorjamb and put his hands in his pockets.
“Well, why didn’t we get five? We did nothing wrong,” she insisted, with her hands on her hips.
“Go ask him,” Jeffrey suggested, his lips twitching.
Cecily frowned and went back to her purse. Finally, she scrounged up thirty dollars and thrust it at him.
“There you go.”
“Glad I could help you start the New Year with a clean slate,” he drawled. “Happy now?”
She raised a warning brow. “You’re lucky I didn’t ask for a receipt.”
“Your faith in me is touching.
Lisa has been an avid romance reader and fan since she read her first Nora Roberts novel at the age of 13 after wandering the aisles of her local bookstore. Lisa loves that romance has the power to inspire, and believes that HEAs are for everyone.Lisa writes light contemporary romantic comedies with a liberal dash of snark and banter. She enjoys delving into the complexity of Asian and immigrant family experiences, and celebrates female friendships in her trademark dry, witty style. As an Asian-American author writing own voices Asian American stories, Lisa hopes that her books will show the diversity of the Asian-American experience, and the importance of every reader being able to see themselves represented on the page.
Having grown up in Pennsylvania and helping out at her parents’ restaurant, Lisa has never bothered to learn to cook. She has two liberal arts undergraduate degrees and a J.D, and in her former life she was an intern, then Legislative Assistant for a PA State Representative. She also worked as a paralegal at a boutique law firm. Lisa is a politics junkie (don’t get her started on the wonder that is The West Wing!), indulges in naps whenever possible, and believes Netflixing in her pajamas and ordering take out qualifies as the perfect weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment