The Stand-In(20)

He hesitates. “Fangli wants you to stay.”

“Then knock it off,” I say to his reflection. “Otherwise I go out that door and she’s left on her own.”

His perfect lips thin but we hear Fangli greeting Mei in the other room.

“Your choice, movie star,” I say, channeling the new Gracie. “Also, you’re a dick for thinking that working at a regular job is reaching lower than being an actor.”

The tension between us rises, and I think he’s going to call my bluff. I drop the dress and reach out for the handle of my suitcase as Fangli comes in. “You came,” she says with relief.

That tone of utter exhausted gratitude must be what changes Sam’s opinion because he leans in to me. “We’re getting to know each other.”

Fangli looks from his warm face to my confused one. Because I’m not an actor, I haven’t been able to adjust to the new Sam in seconds.

“Let me change and we’ll talk,” she says.

When she leaves the room, Sam moves away and we face off again. “Be civil,” I say. It’s hard to not try to keep the peace, even after a fight. “We need to work together.”

There’s another long silence and then Sam simply turns and leaves. I watch him go, wondering if I’ve won this round. I think I did and I get back a tiny bit of the pride Todd whittled away.

I go back to the closet before a thought stops me dead.

Did Sam Yao, the Sam Yao, call me pretty?

***

True to her promise, Fangli is soon back in my room. Her face is scrubbed clean and she wears a huge bathrobe that drags behind her like the train on a gown. She could attend the Met Gala as is. I’ve sorted through the clothes again and noticed they come in several categories: Major Event, Very Fancy, and Regular Fancy.

“Do you like them?” She points at the wardrobe.

“You must like shopping. Is that one of the things I’ll need to do?”

She looks honestly shocked. “I don’t go to stores. They send people to me.”

We stare at each other. “How do they know what you want?” I ask.

Fangli shrugs. “They bring the collection. I like to pick my own garments. Otherwise a stylist would create my looks.”

“Right.”

She comes over and picks up the same dress I’d been holding when Sam came in. “This is my favorite.”

“Me, too.” We smile at each other.

“Claudie at Chanel designed it for me after I signed on as their brand ambassador. It’s one of a kind.” She sounds utterly guileless, and despite myself, I burst out laughing. I think I like Fangli.

She sits down on a chair and crosses her legs in a manner I know I’m going to have to replicate and will find difficult. “I thought we’d chat tonight, get to know each other. I ordered dinner.”

“Thanks. Umm, how was your day?” I pause. “I don’t know much about what you’re doing in Toronto besides acting in a play.”

“All things you should know.” She settles into the chair and I groan inwardly. She’s so fucking graceful, goddammit.

Fangli talks for about an hour as I make notes and nibble on the smoked salmon salad that arrives. It has distractingly good deep-fried capers. She’s here in a play that’s showing on King Street. Operation Oblivion is a World War Two historical drama, and as she talks, I can’t believe I’ve never heard this story before. Apparently there was a group of Chinese-Canadian volunteers called Force 136 recruited for dangerous special missions in Asia.

“This was not covered in my history class,” I say. I think through the dates. “Chinese weren’t even allowed to vote in Canada then.”

“As part of their training, they had to swim with fifty-pound packs,” says Fangli. “Very few of them knew how to swim because they were banned from most Canadian pools.”

Although Force 136’s recruitment happened on the other side of the country, the story follows Sam’s character as he finds one of the first recruits, who is dying in Toronto, and falls in love with Fangli, who works in a Chinatown restaurant.

“Don’t you usually do movies?” I ask. “And shouldn’t those roles go to Canadian actors?”

“Yes, they should and we’re only here for part of the run because Sam is friends with the director and he thought it would be good publicity. We both started in theater back in China.” She recrosses her legs. “I love being on the stage, so it was a nice break. Being in front of an audience is a different experience.”

“I can see that.”

“Do you act?”

“I did in school.” I shrug. “It was only for fun.”

“You enjoyed it?”

“Loved it.”

Her smile lights up her face. “Then you understand why I’m here. How is your practice coming along?”

I take a deep breath. “Take a look.”

Grabbing a pair of heels out of the closet, I pop them on and take a few steps before I stop, smile, and wave. Fangli’s eyes open wide.

“Do it again.” It’s Sam, from the door. I do it again, a little more self-conscious now that he’s here. A lot more.

“It looks strange.” He frowns. “Not like it needs practice but wrong.”