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“No, he’s not,” I say. “And did you seriously just visit because of that?”
“It’s a perfectly good reason to take a long-haul flight. I don’t often get to laugh in his face for making a clusterfuck of a mistake.”
“There will be no laughing in his face,” Uncle Aiden says in a firm tone. “He knows his mistake, got punished for not considering the consequences, and he’s currently in the midst of finding solutions. No one needs your unnecessary gloating, Lan.”
“Thank you,” I say, inexplicably happy that Uncle Aiden is defending Eli. He might appear strict, but he and Eli share themost unique father-and-son relationship. It’s not a coincidence that my husband only goes to his dad for advice, even while he tries to score points for the sake of his stupid one-sided rivalry.
“But he’s never this clumsy, Uncle. Let me have my fun.”
“No.”
“Rest assured, I can annoy him in other ways.”
“Where’s Mia?” I ask.
“In the States. I only came for a few days.”
“Oh God. So we get you without a leash?”
“In my full glory, Barbie. Full glory.”
“Pass.” I stand up and smile at my parents-in-law. “I’m leaving. Night and good luck with the nutcase.”
Aunt Elsa walks me to the door and insists I take some food containers because she still believes I didn’t eat much.
I walk to the car she lent me for the ride home. I can’t reach their driver, so instead of going back and telling them that, I choose to drive it on my own. It’s been a long time since I drove anyway—since the day I ruined Eli’s car. Oops.
Lan slides in front of me with a devil-may-care smirk. He looks no different than a demon spawn under the driveway’s faint light.
“Now what?” I hike a hand on my hip, staring him down.
“If my ears didn’t betray me, I think I heard you defending Eli to Uncle Aiden.”
“How long were you there?”
“Long enough to doubt my own ears. You taking Eli’s side? I was honestly looking for clues of a parallel universe.”
“I was…only telling the truth.”
“Since when does the truth matter when it comes to your position about my cousin?”
“Since now.”
“Hmm.” He watches me peculiarly as he leans against the car and crosses his arms and ankles.
“What?”
“I’m contemplating whether or not to share a thought-provoking tidbit.”
“Is it about me?”
“Certainly. But seeing things in a new light, I’m not sure if it’ll do you harm or good.”
“If it’s about me, I’d like to know.”
“Are you strong enough to take it?”
“Since when do you care about that, Landon?”
