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So sweet in a tragic way. “Your dad’s a romantic.”
“He is. As a kid, I believed him. Of course, I now know he simply wanted me to know how much my mother loved me.”
“I like the romantic version.”
“I do too.”
chapter fifteen
~
THE CART LOADEDwith dim sum choices slides up next to our table. A young Chinese girl offers a delicate flourish of her hand toward the cart. “You pick.”
“Please choose for me, Zane. I have no idea what anything is.”
Zane makes his selections and the food is placed on the table.
He takes his time to explain what each one is. “These are dumplings with either shrimp or pork in them. This ischar siu bao. It’s barbecued pork inside a steamed bun. This ischeung fun. It’s rice noodle sheets filled with shrimp, pork, or beef, folded over and pan fried. This one iswu gok. It’s an intricately made lattice work of fried batter with a ball of mashed taro root, pork, and mushroom inside.Lo mai gaiis lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice with chicken, sweet sausage, mushrooms, and scallops on the inside. Choose your poison. They’re all delish.”
Are they? I swallow hard and hope I won’t be sick after experimenting with new foods. I decide to be daring and choose one of each.
Slowly, I take a small bite of each one while Zane watches my expression.
“Well?”
“They’re all really good, but the barbecued pork in the steamed bun is to die for.” To my surprise, I have a taste for this kind of food.
“Yes! I knew I’d make you a believer. Soon, you’ll be addicted like me.”
“Do they sell take out?”
He guffaws. “That’s my girl.”
I take another huge bite. “I’m hooked.”
“Sure, you can order take out. But they don’t deliver. You want some, you gotta come down here.”
I close my eyes as I chew. Amazing. “This is dangerous stuff.”
“Right?”
We’re silent for a while as we make fast work of our food.
I wipe my mouth with my napkin. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure. Anything.”
“Why don’t you call Debra mother? I mean, you were a baby when she married your father. She’s the only mother you’ve ever known.”
Zane sets down his chopsticks. “My memories are vague, but I remember moments of calling her mom, like Ryker did. She always corrected me and told me to call her Debra. I always knew there was a division between Ryker and me. Ryker was her son and I was not.”
“But she raised you, right?”
“No. She was Ryker’s mom and she took care of him. I always had a nanny. My father more than made up for it though. He poured all of his attention on me.”
“And that upset Debra.”
“Yep. She was always annoyed with me. As a kid, I was well aware of it.”
