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My high school was in Ada, right in the middle of Indian Country.
Chickasaw Nation bb!!
Not when you were “Indian,” apparently. Something we could call ourselves but rubbed us the wrong way when non-Natives tried to foist the inaccurate label onto us.
Oklahoma City Community College,
whatchu know about o triple c?
What made the coffee so stellar? It wasn’t the price, but it had the best view of the prettiest building in downtown Oklahoma City—the First National Center. BancFirst Tower was taller by a few floors, but that building was an ugly rectangle. Devon Tower was super tall and new, and looked like aliens lived in it. The First National Center was stunning—it might as well have been the Empire State Building with its vintage art deco glamour.
awe, I know where all of these are
I crossed my legs at my ankles as Queen Clarisse Renaldi taught me when I was a kid. If dorky Mia Thermopolis could be a princess, then I could get hired here.
Sage was great with it and usually fixed whatever popped up, so I didn’t spend my entire paycheck at the mechanic, but he was currently sitting in jail and wouldn’t be out for a couple of months. So…
Oh!
I-35 south was clear
Lies
He’s just clean, Ember, get it together.
“This is Oklahoma, we all need the money.”
I was a recovering poor person, and a well-loved, decorated workspace meant stability, longevity, and steady income. I hungered for it. Cute family photos would be an added bonus.
Okies and our love for our own.
amen
“Bricktown,”
Hey ms. Bricktown
learned that Martin, Nick, and Ryan all went to OU and were part of the same fraternity. They had a very strange bromance going.
real
we all had to watch training videos on how to spot phishing schemes and avoid them. They were more interesting to watch since one of the videos was made by Danuwoa.
oh girl is down bad
I’d never had a serious boyfriend or anything. I usually just had elaborate crushes on guys I had hardly ever talked to and created a false reality in my head about why the relationship never worked out. It was safer that way.
to be everything for everyone, and as exhausting as that was, it also defined me.
I was dependable, and I showed up for those I loved. That had to count for something in this life.
I opened Teams, typed in Danuwoa’s name, and wrote him a message.
in teams???
I loved driving out to the country. Honestly, I missed living in the country. There was a lot of criticism about Oklahoma. I’d heard it all my life. It was flat. There were tornadoes. There was nothing here. Yes, it was flat, but driving on these country roads, you could see the expanse of the plains. The tall grass, the wheels of hay for cattle. The red earth wet from the rain. It smelled fresh and clean. It was quiet and peaceful. This was what Oklahoma really was. Beautiful.
That was the problem with hope. It created expectations, and when they weren’t met, you were left feeling crushed.
“Besides, I have a boyfriend.”
GIRL STFU AND STOP LYING
The photo Mr. Stevenson hated currently in the deck was Colin Kaepernick kneeling on the football field, essentially the same thing Tim Tebow did, but one meant a lot more than the other. One was a white man praying, and the other was making a stand against systemic oppression.
snapped a selfie in the mirror for Joanna, then jiggled the lock to leave. It was stuck. I pushed the lock over and over again, leveraging all my strength. It wouldn’t budge. I was locked in a tiny bathroom.
one time my mom got stuck in an airplane bathroom and now she refuses to go to the bathroom on planes
“That’s my girl,
ahhhh
“You’re blushing, so I know you like me,” he said smugly.
Men in Oklahoma said a lot of things and made a lot of promises in the comfort of a bed, but with real-life pressures, were these promises real?
I won’t lie anymore,
i really dont believe you
“This bracelet is very cute. The blue would match the dress you wore when I first met you.”
… a sub plot romance?
Ember Cardinal, you are a liar.
I know we were all thinking it but feels like something we wouldn't say in a meeting
when I finally get to where I am headed, it’s going to mean something to everyone around me. I will be something. You will just fade away, blending into the sea of mediocre men who have come before you.”
You’re lucky, you’re a part of something much bigger than yourself, and you have a history that goes back beyond this country. You were born into it.”
“Forced proximity works, I read about it all the time.”
I started singing Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” like in the movie Say Anything.
Youre kidding me rn
Fry bread was sizzling on the stove,
WHAT I WOULD GIVE FOR SOME FRY BREAD
but I had to study for my midterms.
mid terms are wayyy before thanksgiving
On the day we Indians saved the pilgrims.
This story started as a question: Why are there no Native American rom-coms?
Thank you to my Berkley family, also known as the Berkletes, for their shouts of support and answering all my questions as I’ve navigated the publishing waters: Emily Henry,
I knew I loved her
And lastly, thank you to my daughter, Isme. This whole journey has been for you. I hope you never read this novel, but when you are fifty and really want to, I will give you a heavily redacted version. I love you forever, my tenacious, silly, brilliant little girl. You were the catalyst to get me to write again. It took me writing about a girl who was a liar to rediscover my truth as a writer.
I’ gonna cry
