The Bride Test(58)

“Are you okay?” Strong hands pulled her upright and smoothed over her head just to make sure.

Her phone continued ringing. “I’m fine. I just—the caller—maybe it’s Phil Jackson.” She winced. It wasn’t Phil Jackson.

Kh?i picked up her bag, and when he started to unzip the outer pocket where she kept her phone, she snatched it out of his hands.

“I’ll get it,” she said in an overly bright voice, but when she finally retrieved the phone, it had stopped ringing.

Guilt niggled at her belly. Judging by the number of rings, it had probably been Jade.

“Are you going to call back?” Kh?i asked, looking at her phone curiously.

She bit her lip. “Um, maybe later. I—”

The phone starting ringing again. Same ringtone. Her mouth went dry, and sweat beaded upon her brow. She clutched the phone to her chest.

She should tell him. Right now. Things were going well. Maybe he’d take the news in stride.

“It’s my mom,” she heard herself say through the pounding of her heart.

“You should answer. I don’t mind.”

But did he?

What if it was too soon? What if she ruined everything?

“I’ll talk in the other room, so you can work,” she said, losing all courage at the last second. She ran to her room, shut the door, and hurried to answer the phone. “Hello?”

“Má.” Jade’s unmistakable child’s voice came across the line, and Esme’s guilt worsened. What kind of mother kept her child a secret? She wasn’t ashamed of her girl, but having a child when she was so young didn’t look good. She already had so many drawbacks. How could she add another?

“Hi, my girl.”

“I called you because I miss you,” Jade said.

Esme’s throat ached, and her eyes pricked. “I miss you, too.”

“That’s all I wanted to say. Ngo?i said not to waste the phone minutes. Oh, and if they have horse toys there, you can get me one if you want. I love you too much. Bye.”

After the call disconnected, a sound that was half laugh and half sob coughed from her lips, and she buried her face in her hands. She had to tell Kh?i.

Soon.

But not yet.

? ? ?

On Monday, Esme was sitting in a booth after the lunch rush deliberating between two toy stores on her phone—one was a forty-five-minute walk away and the other was a half-hour walk away followed by a half-hour bus ride—when C? Nga marched in from the kitchens.

“Here, what are you doing all by yourself here?” C? Nga asked.

Esme scrambled to turn her phone off and hid it under her thigh for good measure before covering up with a smile. “Lunch.” She wished she’d told C? Nga about Jade in the very beginning.

C? Nga eyed the plate of eggrolls on the table. “Eggrolls again? Five days in a row already. You’re going to clog your heart to death.”

Esme shrugged uncomfortably. Heart clogging was the whole point, though she hoped it didn’t kill her. If she could manage high cholesterol and chest pain, she might be able to meet Phil Jackson as a patient. That was far better than calling him and hanging up when the call went to voice mail.

“Well, you’re still young. You should eat all the bad stuff while you can,” C? Nga said as she slid into the seat on the opposite side of the table. “Talk to me. How are you two? You seem happy to me.”

A smile spread helplessly across Esme’s lips. “I’ve never been this happy in my life. I hope I make Anh Kh?i—”

The bells jangled on the door, and Kh?i stepped inside, looking like he was about to rob the place in all his stealthy black clothes. Her heart jumped with giddiness, and she ran to him. He closed his arms around her immediately.

“Why are you here?” she asked. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? I can get you something.”

His response was a kiss that made her blood go warm and thick. “We had an offsite meeting today, and it finished early. I don’t need anything.”

“You come to see your woman, but not your mother. I see how it is,” C? Nga said.

There was a bite to her voice, and both Esme and Kh?i shriveled inwards. It was true. Kh?i disliked visiting his mom because she always sent him on errands. He’d come just for Esme.

Knowing not to surprise-touch him, she grabbed his sleeve and ran her fingers down to his palm, and he held her hand tight.

His mom sighed. “These two kids. Here, here, come sit.” She waved them toward the booth, and after they sat down, she pointed at Esme’s plate of eggrolls. “She’s been eating these all week. Do you have something to tell me?”

Kh?i considered the eggrolls, accompanying greens, and small cup of fish sauce with a blank stare. “She likes your eggrolls? They’re the best in town.”

“They’re the best in all of California,” C? Nga corrected before she switched her attention to Esme. “This is how women eat when they’re pregnant. Do I have a grandbaby on the way?”

Esme’s jaw dropped as both mother and son turned to face her. Kh?i looked like he was about to have the heart attack Esme had been aiming for. “No, I’m not pregnant, I swear.”

“Are you sure?” C? Nga asked with narrowed eyes. “You’re tired all the time.”