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“My mom is hoping the entire neighborhood notices how devoted her children are to her.”
Vivian blinked at him and he winced. “I’m sorry. That was a terrible thing to say.” His second of the night. “Between Mom and work and…”
“And me.”
“Yes, and you, I’ve not been sleeping well.” Somehow, even just her presence in his apartment for those short weeks she’d been there had improved his sleep.
Imagine what sharing a bed with her would do to your energy levels.
She placed a hand on his arm, the caress seeping through the wool of his winter coat and under his skin. Sharing a bed with her wouldn’t help him sleep better. He shouldn’t even be thinking such things.
“It’s okay.” Vivian gave his mother an indulgent look. “I know that your mom would be pleased you came even if Healthy Food was empty and she was sworn to secrecy not to tell anyone. That doesn’t mean she’s not happy everyone will notice.”
The affection in her voice gave him pause. He’d assumed his mother had changed her opinion of Vivian because of the grandchild and the help she’d been providing at Healthy Food, but he’d underestimated them both. Vivian squeezed his arm, and he wondered what else about her he was underestimating.
“Your wife has been quite the success at Healthy Food, eh, Karl!” The smack on the back jolted him forward. The guy paying Vivian for his dinner had been a couple of years behind him in high school and now worked at Midway Airport as a baggage handler. Karl couldn’t remember his name. “I always expected your future wife to wrinkle up her nose at living in Archer Heights and now you’ve got one helping out your mom at Healthy Food.”
Jessica had wrinkled her nose up at living in Archer Heights. And she never would have worked at Healthy Food. She’d liked the glamour of Chicago living and hadn’t been interested in a house in a middle-class, ethnic neighborhood. At the time, he’d agreed with her. Now he had the sneaking suspicion that he’d underestimated his neighborhood and community. He was underestimating a whole hell of a lot of people recently.
“Here’s your change. See you tomorrow,” Vivian said with a wave.
“You seem to be fitting in well,” Karl said when his wife turned back to face him. Better than I thought you would. How awful to have thought that.
She shrugged. “There have been a couple remarks about my obvious lack of Polish heritage….”
“Let me know who said things and I’ll—”
“You’ll what?”
Silence. Not knowing what he’d do from his office building downtown was an uncomfortable and unusual feeling.
“I’ve heard worse, and I’ve heard it from you.”
He looked around, but Healthy Food had emptied. The only table occupied was in the back, where two cops were surrounded by empty plates and would probably be here until their radios went off or his mom kicked them out.
Her words bit into his skin. “I couldn’t care less which country your ancestors immigrated from, or if you’re Catholic.”
“I can’t do anything about being a Chinese-American, rather than a Polish-American. You questioned my character.”
You nearly committed a felony. “Vivian, I…” He didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t apologize or wave off his words without sounding false. Because they would be false. Because he wasn’t sure what he thought about her character anymore, only that he wanted to know more about her. Uncertainty was not a feeling he was comfortable with.
Worse, even if she confessed that she had actually cheated the casino for her father, he would still want to know more about her. Still want to touch her. The desperation with which he wished she wasn’t pregnant, wasn’t working at Healthy Food and wasn’t taking care of his mother was physically painful. Her entrance into his life had been like a jolt to everything he believed in. If only he could expel her from his world….
But then he’d miss her jasmine perfume.
“That’s what I thought.” She looked more disappointed than angry. How to tell her all the emotions rolling inside him? How her presence both relaxed him and put him at odds with himself?
