The Expatriates

Margaret finishes her bath and eats a sandwich. She returns home to prepare for a dinner party that evening at Hilary and David’s house. She knew Hilary when they were children in California and remembers her as a chubby girl with an overbearing mother who lost a lot of weight one summer. Though Margaret didn’t admire Hilary’s determination, she recognized that she was “formidable.” They have a casual friendship as adults, sparked by Hilary reaching out after G disappeared.

At dinner, she and Clarke make small talk. They dislike David, who is often drunk, but the other party guests are pleasant enough. Margaret is grateful that she and Clarke still love one another since divorce is common among couples who lose a child.

Hilary lies in bed after the party, thinking about how boring it was. She feels sorry for Margaret and Clarke because of their loss. She is also angry because David left after the party to go out again, claiming he had plans with a friend. Hilary had to pretend that she knew about the plans and agreed to them and is now resentful and embarrassed. She knows that he is probably being unfaithful, and that is what Olivia wanted to tell her.

She thinks about other marriages that ended here. It is common for expat men to divorce their wives or be unfaithful. She remembers a friend, Tammy, whose husband started a second family with a young Chinese woman on the mainland. He divorced Tammy and refused to leave his new family. Everyone gossiped, and Tammy lost her social standing. Tammy weathered the storm and now seems happier, though she is no longer an immaculately coiffed housewife. Hilary thinks that Tammy might have the right idea—to live one’s life and stop caring about what the gossips say.

Mercy wakes in her room, where David is sleeping in her bed. They hooked up after he met her at the restaurant, and now she worries that he will be regretful or rude. She thinks about her experiences with the Reade family and thinks of herself as a careless girl with bad luck. She remembers that after G’s disappearance, the Korean police were exasperated with her Korean language skills. She left the Reades and stayed at a cheap motel for a few days before going home on her own, and she has not seen them since. She feels unable to confide in anyone, especially her mother.

David awakens, smiles at her, and asks what they should eat for breakfast.

Margaret and Clarke take their children on a trip to Thailand. It is their first vacation without G, and Margaret is reluctant to go. However, the beach is gorgeous, and Daisy and Philip are excited. The only hitch occurs at the airport when they are not allowed to board because their party is incomplete. Margaret confesses that she let their travel agent buy a ticket for G because she didn’t know how to explain what happened to her. Clarke is upset, telling her that he understands how she feels but that she is damaging her living children.

They reconcile at the resort, but Margaret is lost in her thoughts about the initial weeks of G’s disappearance. She lived in Seoul for months, allowing Clarke and the children to return to Hong Kong without her. She went to the police station daily and befriended the officers, buying them food and coffee. She also spent her days chasing down useless leads, like the exact pair of pants G was wearing. Eventually, she came home, realizing that Daisy and Philip needed her.

Hilary wakes up feeling awful. She takes some Advil and sends her driver to pick up her mother from the airport—she is visiting from California. She goes back to sleep and finds that David is still not home when she wakes from her nap. She worries about how to explain this to her mother because she does not want to discuss her marital problems with her.

While waiting for her mother to arrive, she logs onto an expat forum, where she spends a lot of time. She uses the pseudonym HappyGal and pretends to be a different person, reveling in the anonymity. Today, she is horrified to see that someone posted about her and Julian, criticizing her for treating Julian as something she is “‘trying out,’ like a ball gown she can return” (136). She unravels, worrying about the adoption, her reputation, her marriage, and her mother’s imminent arrival.

David takes Mercy to breakfast and complains about his marriage, confiding that he feels trapped by Hilary and her sadness. Afterward, he tries to get Mercy to open up. She tells him that she is not an “escape hatch” or an excuse for his bad behavior that he can blame later. Startled, he tells her that he knows that. She tells him that now, they can begin having a real conversation.

In Thailand, Margaret gets a massage while her children play on the beach with Clarke. She runs into Frannie, another expat, and the two families have dinner together. Margaret thinks how artificial the environment here is, where expats are treated like royalty by the local staff. After dinner, the children release floating lanterns over the ocean. Daisy excitedly tells Margaret that she made a wish, and Margaret feels devastated that G is not there with them.

While her mother takes a shower, Hilary waits for word from David. He finally emails to tell her that he is taking some time for himself and doesn’t know when he will be back. He also tells her that he will not make it home in time to accompany Hilary and her mother on their planned trip to Bangkok. Hilary worries about what to tell her mother but also feels a sudden sense of relief that the marriage is ending.