“Wait till you try my sweets,” Lola Flor said, sizing him up. “Good-looking, but you need a little meat on your bones. Don’t you want to be strong like your brother?” She stood up without waiting for his answer. “Lila, help me serve.”

I followed her into the kitchen, dreading what was about to come. And sure enough . . .

“So, he’s a dentist? Good job. Means he’s smart and very stable.”

I made a noncommittal noise as I helped her set out the plates of various kakanin, sweet sticky rice cakes served with the coconut caramel spread she’d made earlier. On a separate tray, I laid out my thumbprint cookies as well as the mugs for the coffee and tea.

My grandmother watched me work, eyes narrowed at the cookies. After a beat, she asked, “He’s your new boyfriend?”

“What?” Even though I knew it was coming, the question startled me enough that I missed the handle when reaching for the electric kettle and burned myself on the hot steel. Running my aching fingers under cool water, I said, “Of course not, Lola, why would you ask that?”

“He wasn’t part of the restaurant cleanup, which means you invited him separately. Then he shows up with your favorite flowers. What am I supposed to think?”

The Calendar Crew came in at that moment, on the pretense of seeing if we needed help. Catching the last bit of what Lola Flor said, they all jumped in with their own observations.

“And do you see how he looks at Lila? Diyos ko, I think he’s in love already!”

“Never mind Lila. Do you see how Amir and Jae looked at each other? I sense a love triangle!”

“Hmm, a lawyer or a dentist. Both very good choices. I mean, since Lila decided my Marcus and Joseph weren’t good enough for her,” Ninang Mae added with a sniff.

All four of them stood in a semicircle in front of me, staring in a way that I could only describe as ravenous. Not for blood, but for some good ol’ tsismis.

I pulled a tube of antibacterial ointment out of one of the drawers and carefully rubbed some on my burnt fingers, avoiding everyone’s eyes. “Everybody’s waiting for dessert, so I think we should go back out there. Can you three please help me with the drinks?”

Ninang June winked at me as she picked up the teapot. “OK, but you can’t avoid the question forever. You know we don’t forget.”

With that slightly ominous proclamation, we headed back to the dining room, where everyone was chatting in twos: Adeena and Elena, Amir and Kevin, and Jae and Bernadette, with Tita Rosie piling extra helpings on everyone’s plates.

Ninang June sidled up to me. “Better move fast or Bernie will be the one with the doctor husband.”

Sighing deeply but somehow refraining from rolling my eyes, I set my tray of cookies on the table and started toward Adeena and Elena, then realized I should give them some time to get to know each other. I veered over toward Amir and Kevin instead.

“Hey guys, can I interest you in a beverage and some sweets?” I waved my hand toward the kakanin and coco jam thumbprint cookies. I poured Amir his usual cup of coffee with two sugars and a big glug of cream, then some Darjeeling for myself. “Kevin?”

Kevin looked intimidated by the array of sweet rice cakes in different shapes and colors. “Some coffee would be great. Black, please. And can I try a little of everything?”

“Of course.” I served him, then dished up some kakanin and several cookies to share with Amir. I was so used to sharing dishes with the Awans that I thought nothing of it till Kevin asked, “So how long have you two been dating?”

I choked on my tea. “What? We’re not dating.”

Kevin scratched the back of his head. “Sorry, I just thought it was real sweet that you know how he takes his coffee without asking him. And how you’re sharing a dessert plate.”

“Oh, well . . .” I glanced around the table and saw that we had everyone’s attention. My godmothers were all grinning, but both Adeena and Jae wore frowns.

Kevin tried to cover up his gaffe by gushing over the food. He popped a cookie in his mouth and said, “Whoa, these are fantastic! I better be careful, between Adeena’s drinks and your desserts, the two of you are going to put me out of business.”

Adeena responded, “That’s right!” at the same time I laughed, saying, “You have nothing to worry about there.”

We both stopped and stared at each other, trying to figure out how serious the other one was about what we’d just said.

Amir swooped in to smooth over the situation. “Adeena and Lila have joked around about opening their own place someday, but we all know that’s a pipe dream, right?” He glanced over at his sister, noting her expression. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said in a way that meant, “Oh you know exactly what’s wrong.”

Amir was usually pretty attuned to people’s emotions, but his ability didn’t extend to his sister. Funny how one’s self-awareness went totally out the window when it came to family. “Really? Then why are you making that face?”

“This is just my face, Amir Bhai. Now drop it.” Adeena turned her back to us and resumed her conversation with Elena, who (bless her) continued talking to Adeena as if the whole exchange hadn’t happened.

“So, Kevin,” I said, desperate to change the subject. “Tell me about yourself. I don’t know much about you, other than your terrible taste in pastry companies. What brought you to Shady Palms?”

He played with the crumbs on his plate. “Not too much to tell. I was adopted when I was a baby by a family in Minneapolis, but my mom told me that my biological parents were originally from Shady Palms. Stopped by last year to try and learn more about them and just really fell in love with the small-town vibe. I was a barista back home, so when I saw the coffee shop going for so cheap, it felt like kismet. I was meant to stay here.”

I couldn’t imagine anyone falling in love with Shady Palms, but I understood the pull of reconnecting with your roots. I was lucky to have Tita Rosie (and I guess Lola Flor and the Calendar Crew) around to talk to me about my parents. “Were you able to find your family?”

“Sort of. They cut out years ago. But from what I learned, giving me up for adoption was the kindest thing they could’ve done.”

Ninang Mae frowned. “How could you say that? They were your family, doesn’t that mean anything? Anyway, who are your people? I probably know them.”

Before he could answer, Jae, who’d been trapped in conversation with a Bernadette on the prowl, leaned over toward us. “So have you always wanted to run a small-town cafe? Seems like a pretty big decision to make on a whim. I mean, there are coffee shops in Minneapolis, right?”

I smiled at Jae, glad to find someone who agreed with me. “Seriously. You’re not much older than I am. This is one of the last places I’d think to open a high-end cafe.”

Bernadette, pouting a little at losing Jae’s attention, said, “Who cares why he did it? Thanks to him, we finally have a cool place to hang out and get some decent coffee in this town.”

Adeena smiled at Kevin, but there was a tinge of sadness to it that I didn’t understand. “I’m glad that Lila is clearly wrong and there’s obviously a demand for a nice cafe here in Shady Palms. We’re lucky to have you. Especially after . . .” She shook her head. “Anyway, thanks to you I’m learning a lot. You must be the only person in town who provided something that Derek deemed worthy.”

Kevin shifted in his seat. “I don’t know about that. I mean, it’s not like I really knew the guy.”

“What are you talking about? He came in every day and would only let you make his drink.” She rolled her eyes at the rest of the table. “According to Derek, Kevin was the only one who could brew it right.”

Bernadette agreed, smiling down the table at Kevin. “I’m addicted to the drinks at Java Jo’s. Every other place in this town serves that cheap, burned sh—um, stuff, that doesn’t deserve to be called coffee. Or that gross instant junk. No offense, Tita,” she quickly added.

Lola Flor snorted. “We can’t all have such refined tastes as you, Little Miss Prinsesa. You go ahead and pay five dollars for a cup of coffee with a silly name that tastes like every other cup of coffee. Ridiculous.”

Tita Rosie shook her head at her mother, then asked Kevin, “What about your family in Minneapolis? Do they ever come visit you here?”

Kevin squirmed in his chair, probably wondering why dinner had turned into an interrogation. “Not really. It was just my adoptive mom and sister. And me. They’re both gone now,” he added, with a note of finality.

After that, it was hard to go back to the levity of the previous conversations. I tried to engage with Adeena and Elena several times, asking Elena to tell us about her family since Kevin shared about his, but Adeena kept boxing me out. Eventually, Elena and I both shrugged and stopped trying to force it.