The Bride Test(15)

Odd was good. Odd was an opportunity.

Besides, she was odd, too. Just not as odd as he was.

“You’re very … open-minded,” she hedged.

He looked at her like he thought she was crazy, and she mentally kicked herself.

“Why do you park on the street when you have that?” She pointed to his garage. Judging from the size of the door, he could fit two cars in there. It didn’t make sense that he parked his nice car on the street. Not unless he had three cars, which she doubted he could afford based on the state of his yard and house.

Instead of answering her question, he let them into the house. She wondered if he hadn’t heard or if he’d purposely ignored her, but she let it slide. The inside of his house was stranger than the outside, with thick carpet that looked more like grass than his lawn, exercise equipment all over the main room, and fixtures and blinds from a different era. After setting her shoes on the floor, she followed Kh?i down a narrow hall, and the soft carpet fibers hugged her bare feet with every step.

He set her suitcase in a small room that contained a desk, sofa, and closet. When she noticed the old wallpaper, tears stung her eyes. Teddy bears, beach balls, dolls, ballet slippers, and building blocks. This used to be a child’s room. She touched her fingertips to the ballet slippers. Jade would love this.

“This is your room,” he said. “You’ll have to make do with the couch.”

“It’s nice. Thank you, Anh Kh?i.” She’d never slept on anything as nice as a couch in her life. She’d never owned a couch. But she didn’t mention any of that. She was sophisticated Esme in Accounting now. Esme in Accounting probably had a nice apartment with two or three couches and had never slept on a straw mat over a packed-dirt floor.

The lonely country girl inside of her looked at the big empty couch and felt homesick all over again. She wanted the straw mat, the dirt floor, the single-room house, and the sleeping bodies of her little girl, grandma, and mom. She was exhausted, but she didn’t know how she was going to sleep by herself.

“The phone on the desk is for you.” He pointed at the desk before turning to leave.

“Wait a little, for me?” She hurried to the desk and lowered a hand toward the shiny silver phone but curled her fingers into a fist before she made contact. It would be a shame to smudge the fancy phone with her fingertips.

“My mom said you needed a new SIM card, but a new phone is easier. If you don’t like it, I can probably exchange it for the larger model.”

But that would cost even more. “It’s new,” she said.

He stuffed a hand in his pocket. “Yeah.” He said it like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Can you return it?”

He frowned as he tilted his head to the side. “I don’t think so. You really don’t like it?”

She wrung her hands together. “No, I like it, but—”

“Then it’s not a problem. Just use it.”

A wave of anxious heat washed over her face, but she made herself say, “I’ll pay you back as soon as I’m working.” She hoped she made enough to pay for it. Back home, she’d have to save for the better part of a year to pay for something this nice.

“You don’t have to.”

She lifted her chin. “I do.” It was important he knew she wasn’t marrying him for his money. This had never been about money to her. If anything, she liked that he didn’t have as much money as his neighbors. They were a better match that way. She didn’t need a rich man. She just needed someone who was hers. And Jade’s.

He merely shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’m going to heat up dinner. Come out when you’re hungry.”

Her shoulders sagged. He didn’t understand she wanted to earn things herself. “I’m going to call home first, okay?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

As soon as he left the room, she carefully shut the door, unplugged the white charging cable from the phone, and sat on the couch, staring at her unbelievably fancy new phone. She hadn’t expected this at all. It was the best gift he could have gotten her, the absolute best. And he didn’t even like her.

He was strange and tactless and very possibly an assassin, but when she looked at his actions, all she saw was kindness. C? Nga had been right. Kh?i was good stuff. Very, very good stuff.

She’d memorized how to dial internationally from the United States before she left and dialed her mom’s cell phone number. Her mom picked up on the first ring. “Hi, Má.”

“Already, already, tell me everything.”

“First, how is Ng?c Anh? Can I talk to her?”

“She’s fine, excited to have a dad soon. Talk to me a little. How are things? Do you like him?” her mom asked.

“Yes, I like him.”

A pleased hmmmmm sounded on the line. “That’s good. What about his house? Is it nice?”

“I like it,” Esme said. “The room I’m staying in has pretty paper on the wall. If Ng?c Anh saw it, she’d like it. There’s a couch for me.”

“You’re not sleeping with him?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, Má, I’m not sleeping with him. Do you remember? He doesn’t want a wife.”

“That doesn’t mean he wants to sleep alone.”