Page 132 of Shadowing You

“You can be right about everything,” his mother used to say, “or you can be happy. You get to choose.”

She’d told him that more than once, usually after he’d dug in his heels about something stupid. But what was wrong with being right? Being right made him happy.

Usually, anyway. This morning, Mom’s advice landed.

He’d been focused on defending his timing, his reasoning, his perfectly sound logic for not telling Mei Lin about Holly when she’d asked. But he hadn’t owned his misrepresentation of the truth.

Okay, fine. His lie.

He needed to ask for forgiveness.

Lord, help me get it right this time.

He turned and crossed the lounge to Mei Lin, who hadn’t moved from her seat. Her hands were folded in her lap, her shoulders straight. She seemed to hold herself like that—very still and very stiff—when she was upset.

The terminal door swung open, and a tall man in a heavy black coat stepped inside. The driver, probably.

Gavin waved Ethan and Mei Lin over.

“We need a minute.” Ethan didn’t wait for his father’s agreement, just moved to stand in front of Mei Lin, his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t reach for her. “Could I talk to you?”

She nodded, and he sat in the chair beside her.

“I should’ve told you about Holly at the hotel in…wherever we were. I can come up with a thousand good excuses for my behavior, but…I just didn’t want to. I didn’t want to admit that, while you were in prison, I was⁠—”

“Ethan.”

“I’m going to call her, I promise. But it’s Saturday, and she’s probably still asleep, and⁠—”

“Ethan.” She squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry too.”

He must’ve heard wrong. “For what? You didn’t do anything.”

“I overreacted. It wasn’t fair.”

Maybe, but… “I don’t understand. You were furious.”

“Jealous, I think.” The barest smile crossed her lips. “I shouldn’t have made it into something it wasn’t. I trust you to talk to Holly when the time is right.”

He was so confused. If Mei Lin wasn’t angry… “Then why are you leaving me?”

She slid her hand over his on the armrest. “I’m not leaving you. I’m asking for some space.”

“I’ve had enough space, Mei Lin.” He didn’t mean for so much emotion to fill his words. “I don’t want to be away from you.”

“I feel the same way,” she said gently. “But I don’t know who I am. Those years changed me. And they changed you. We need to know each other before…” She glanced down. “I think it will be easier if we’re not sharing a bed.”

He processed that. She wasn’t leaving him. She was attempting to move back into their marriage slowly. Which…could it go any slower? They’d been married for six years and he could count on two hands the number of times they’d been intimate. Felt slow enough to him.

“I see what you mean.” Sharing a bed was its own kind of torture if they weren’t going to do more than sleep. Even so, he wanted to be near her. “Lu Feng is still out there.”

She winced. “He doesn’t know where I am.”

“Until he’s in custody… Sweetheart, I won’t be able to rest if I’m miles away. Whatever house Gavin has set up for us, can we both stay there? I’ll give you all the space you want. I won’t push. But I can’t be across town.”

“I don’t want to think about him. I don’t want him to have any more impact on my life.”

“He will, though, until he’s caught.” Ethan softened his voice. “We can share the space. We’ll pretend it’s an apartment building, and we live down the hall from each other. We can have dates.”