Lunar Love (37)

Chapter 10





Six days and one very important match later, I claim an empty seat under a palm tree wrapped in twinkle lights and set my tray of dumplings and cup of boba beer onto the sticky table. I drag the metal chair a foot to the left along the concrete ground until I have a clear view of one table in particular across the courtyard. I keep my sunglasses on, even though the sun has already started to set.

“Do you have eyes on the targets?” Alisha asks, her voice booming through my earbuds.

“Rat and Dragon are now seated. I repeat, they just sat down,” I say quietly, feeling like an undercover agent in a spy movie. Why haven’t I been doing this for all of my clients’ dates?

Lines of people form in front of food trucks, dessert booths, and the beer garden outside of the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, the backdrop to this year’s Dumpling and Beer Festival. Laughter fills the air as families, couples, and fellow singles hunt down dinner and taste test delicious beer flavors like matcha and mango.

I bite into my mac and cheese dumpling and prepare to witness sparks flying. Across the courtyard, Bennett and Harper toast their beers and dig into their dumpling assortment and pile of mochi waffles.

“I hope they like each other,” I say into the headphone microphone. “He needs to fall in love.”

“You combed through the entire database and thought through each of their traits. I think they’re going to like each other,” Alisha says reassuringly.

“They’re both entrepreneurs and share a similar work ethic. She has big ideas for the future, and he’s resourceful enough to support them. She’s interested in food, he’s creative with his food pairings and is actually a decent cook—”

“This is according to the sushi he made you on your date, right?” she asks dramatically.

I draw hearts into the condensation on my beer glass. “It wasn’t a date, Alisha. It was research.”

Alisha snickers. “Uh-huh. Whatever you say. Speaking of research, Harper doesn’t know you’re there, right?”

“No! Neither of them do. I just want to make sure everything goes smoothly for them. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he realizes how wonderful she is.”

I watch as Bennett and Harper smile politely at each other. Harper laughs at something he says, and I become acutely aware of how she’s angled her body toward him.

“They’re sitting awfully close for a first date,” I mumble.

“That’s a good thing, remember?” Alisha says.

“Yeah. Yes, definitely. Of course,” I repeat like I’m trying to convince myself. “There’s usually some warm-up time involved, that’s all.”

“You’re good at what you do. You’ve already warmed them up. Now it’s game time,” Alisha says, slightly distracted. On the other end, I hear the opening song of My Best Friend’s Wedding in the background.

I nod to myself. “Right. We’ve got this in the bag. By the end of the night, he’ll be swooning.”

Harper drops her fork, and Bennett reacts before she has a chance to, picking up the utensil and standing to grab her another one. “I wonder if he’ll throw himself on the ground for her, too,” I mumble. At the thought of him doing that for Harper, my breathing becomes shallower.

“He did what?” Alisha asks, humming along to the movie’s song.

My heart thumps hollowly. “He was a gentleman, that’s all,” I say, not wanting to give more life to a kind gesture that probably meant nothing.

The crinkle of a plastic bag cuts the first part of Alisha’s sentence off. “—hope she’s into him. From the way you described him, he sounds intense. Now that I think about it, though, he could’ve reacted to the article a lot worse, so maybe he’s not so bad.”

I take a sip of beer through the wide straw, a mouthful of tapioca coming up with it. “He’s not a bad guy. Besides, he’s our enemy. Not hers.”

“By the way, have you talked to your Pó Po yet?” Alisha asks.

A group forms around a table to cheer on a dumpling-eating competition. “Not yet. I need more details first. He could be messing with me. Trying to get into my head.”

“That’d be a bizarre way to do it, don’t you think?” she says.

I narrow my eyes in Bennett’s direction. “This guy’s capable of anything.”

I lean onto my elbow to see around a family who has stopped to huddle in my line of sight. When they finally move, Harper’s alone at the table. I scan the crowd and find Bennett paying for more dessert at a booth.

“I wonder if he’ll scrape the frosting off that cake, too,” I say. Instead of going back to the table, he turns in my direction. “Uh, let me call you back.”

“I’m a big boy. I don’t need a babysitter, you know,” Bennett calls out to me as he approaches. He slides a plate of matcha cake across the table. “I brought you this. Thought all your sleuthing might make you hungry.”

“That was unnecessary,” I say, my mouth watering. “How did you know I was here?”

“I sensed a disturbance in the Force,” he jokes. “You only sat next to one of the few decorative palm trees and are wearing sunglasses at night. You might as well have strapped a neon light to your chest that blinks, ‘I’m discreet!’”