Chapter 34

The happy hour specials at Minato Sushi are legendary, not just for the drinks but for the sushi rolls too. Sol puts in some extra effort getting ready for her date there with Franklin. She’s wearing her yellow sundress with the full skirt that makes her feel like a 1950s movie star. She had picked the perfect day that week to wash her hair so her waves would be defined but not too puffy.

She meets him on Friday before the improv show, and he greets her with an extra-long hug and a kiss on the lips. Their first kiss. It’s just a peck, but it does tell her that he’s trying to take the relationship somewhere. Sol is glad to be out on a date and hopes it goes well. Her life as a single person is great and full and fulfilling, but she does long for a romantic relationship too. She doesn’t feel like she needs it, but she definitely wants it. Even after years of dating different people, she still has hope at the beginning of each new relationship. She has an idea in her head of her ideal man, but she also tries to be realistic that each of these men are actual people who are more complicated than an ideal.

As they eat their edamame appetizer, Franklin gives her a play-by-play of a complex work situation, and finally asks for more details about her trip. She tells him about how Shyla is so happy to have a sister and how she has such an outgoing and chatty personality. Sol tells him about how Shyla looks like her dad because his family has such a strong family resemblance, but that she looks like Janice. She pulls out her phone and starts showing him the pictures from when they first met and were taking pictures in the garden.

“Wait, is that her?” he says. “Your biological mom?”

“Yes, that’s her. Don’t you think I look like her? I even saw some pictures from when she was younger, and it’s like I’m her twin!”

Sol looks over at him excitedly and is surprised to see the puzzled look on his face and hear him say, “Wait a second, is your mom black?”

“Yeah, she is. I was surprised, but you know people are always asking me if I’m mixed or Latina or whatever, so I guess it makes sense.”

Franklin just stares at her.

“What?”

“So my girlfriend is black?”

“Um, first of all, I wouldn’t say that I’m your girlfriend, and second of all, I would say ‘biracial’ but yes, I just told you that.” Sol can feel herself starting to get upset, but she tries to keep her voice level. She eats a sushi roll and drinks some water.

“You know, there’s a reason that those dating apps ask you what your race is,” Franklin says.

Sol looks up, hoping he’s not going where she thinks he might be going with this. “Oh yeah, what reason is that?”

“So you know what you’re getting.”

Sol hears his words, and it’s one of those situations she knows she will look back on and think of a better answer. But she can’t just leave that out there. She stares at him for a few seconds before she can respond. “Franklin, I’m not a product in an online store. I’m a person. I’ve been updating you on what’s been happening with finding out about my biological mom. So do you have a problem with my mom being black? Does that change what you think of me and how you feel about me?”

Other people in the restaurant glance over, and Sol tries to keep her emotions in check. But inside, it’s a storm. She can feel her face getting hot, and her heart starts beating faster. She hasn’t even really processed the new information about her identity yet, and now here is this guy she’s been dating telling her that it changes things for their relationship.

“Yes, actually, it does. I put ‘white’ for the ethnicity I wanted on my profile because that’s the ethnicity I wanted.”

“Okay, then I guess we’re done here,” Sol says as she pulls some cash out of her purse, leaves it on the table and walks out as calmly as possible while inside she’s blowing up. Franklin doesn’t follow her, and she manages to make it outside with only knocking one chopstick off someone’s table with her purse.

On the drive home, Sol goes over and over the conversation in her head. On the one hand, she’s glad she doesn’t have to wonder whether she should continue dating him. She knows. She’s reminded of that quote from Maya Angelou—something like “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” Franklin had said several little offensive things over the one month they had been dating, but she kept giving him the benefit of the doubt. She feels rising frustration at herself for doing that. Why don’t you trust your own judgment? Why can’t you believe that there can be a good guy out there for you instead of putting up with things like that?

Sol calls Thea and tells her what happened. Thea tells her to come right over. Sol makes a U-turn and heads to Thea’s house.