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“My parents met in China. I was born just outside of Shanghai.” That much I had known so I nodded, but I noticed when he spoke of China, his vowels softened a bit. Almost like he remembered the accent from long ago and thinking of his early home brought whispers of the past back to his voice. “My father used to visit the Fujian Province with a buddy of his. His family—the guy’s name was Stan, by the way. He died a few years ago, but his family owned a factory there. Why my father came with him on that trip seems to be in regard to shady business dealings. He was clearly in China to fuck around.” Michael looked away for a second, his jaw tight in disapproval. “My dad had a wife and two children at home when he traveled. He married his high school sweetheart, and they had two kids by the time he turned twenty-one.”
I winced. Knowing your parents weren’t just human but were actually sort of bad people—or at least people who made very poor decisions—was rough. Even as an adult. Growing up with my father, I understood it more than most. “That. Sucks.”
“Yeah. It does.” He lifted his eyebrows, tilting his head in resignation. “My mother was from the area. She didn’t work at the factory, but her brother did. Anyway, they met. She didn’t know about his wife and kids. He would come and go from China, visiting whenever Stan did. I don’t know what he told his wife at the time about why he had to be in China so much. Her name is Philamena, by the way. It had nothing to do with hisbusiness, so I really don’t care to know. I’ve made it a point to be vague with them on this subject. I deal in truth and secrets, but I can’t handle theirs.”
I squeezed Michael’s hand. “I get it. I wouldn’t want to know, either.”
He sighed, squeezing my fingers back before stroking his thumb across my knuckles rhythmically as he spoke. “So, long story short, after about a year of that, he got my mom pregnant. He left like he always did and came back six months later to find herverypregnant.”
I could see where the story was headed. “Is that when she found out about Philamena?”
“Yep. Oh, and my mom waspissed.She’s not a wilting flower sort of personality. She told him to fuck off, basically. She explained he’d never see her again, or the baby—me—ever. And she meant it.”
Good for her.Obviously, it didn’t end up that way, but I wished I had her kind of backbone. “What happened?”
“He kept coming back, trying to see her, begging to see us. By the time I was two, he ended his marriage to Philamena. My mom still wouldn’t see him, though. I remember those years, but only vaguely. I met my father when I was four. By then, he was regularly there—every other month, basically begging her to marry him and come to the United States. He wanted us, but I think she met someone else.” He shook his head. “We moved stateside when I was ten. What a change that was! Suddenly I’m in Boise, Idaho, but for me, it might as well have been Mars. She refused to marry him and didn’t cave until I was twenty. His older two kids never wanted anything to do with us, so I grew up basically an only child here. My mom is tough. We love each other, although we rarely see eye-to-eye. My father and I…we can talk about sports and fishing, but that’s about it.”
I stared at him for a minute, letting the new information blend with everything I knew about him over the years. He was such a beautiful man, but the thing that really got me about it was it wasn’t just because of how he looked. Of course, the genes didn’t hurt, and the man somehow managed to get better looking as he got older. I shook my head, bemused. “You have spent your life creating safety and stability for people without it…because you valued your mother for making sure you always had it.”
He opened and closed his mouth. “I never thought about it like that. I suppose you’re right, though, Bridget. How do you always see things so clearly?”
I laughed. “I don’t. I’m always in a cloud of confusion.” It amused me to think I might have him fooled, though.
The doorbell rang. It took a real measure of self-control not to stiffen when I realized it meant they’d arrived. Maybe it was a good thing we were interrupted, though, since the conversation and comfortable setting seemed suddenly far too intimate. Michael gave me a look I couldn’t read before he walked over to answer the door.
Suddenly, my curiosity kicked in, and I found myself full of questions. What was he going to tell them happened to his shoulder? What was he going to tell them aboutme?
I got off the stool, guessing I’d find out shortly. His parents walked in as he opened the door, and each of them nodded to him before coming to sit down. It looked like they weren’t a huggy family.
“What happened to you?” his mother asked bluntly, then she pointed at his shoulder.
“I got hurt.”
That’s what he’s going to say?I wondered if it could possibly be a satisfying enough answer? I stared at his parents, trying to take them in and compare what he told me about them to thepeople they were today. Michael looked like his mother, with her dark hair and high cheekbones. Her eyes when they met mine showed that familiar steadiness I expected in Michael’s gaze. But he had his father’s height, too, and something about the shape of his face was also reminiscent of the older man’s.
They turned to notice me almost in unison. His mother looked between us for a second, her steady gaze seeming to peer into my soul. “Michael, who is the beauty standing there?”
“This is Bridget Radford.” He left them to walk over to me. “Bridget, I’d like to introduce you to my parents, Li Mèng yáo and my father Joe Sullivan.”
I put out my hand to shake theirs and then smiled at his mother. “You didn’t tell me your mother was so young, Michael.”
She lit up when I said that. It was only the truth, but I was happy to see it seemed like the right thing to say. His mother hadn’t embraced him, but she closed me in her thin, strong arms in that moment. “Oh, I am so happy to meet you. I had thought maybe…never mind. You are beautiful. Very young but beautiful.”
I didn’t know what to do with that compliment, so I simply smiled and hugged her back. “I understand you’re responsible for this incredible home. You found it for Michael, right? He’s been telling me about how you’re a big-time realtor in Boise. That has to keep you very busy. I’m always so impressed with people who can manage the kind of schedules most realtors have to keep. I think I’d be very bad at that sort of thing myself.”
“How is the river? Catch anything since you’ve been home?” Joe asked Michael, and I tried not to smile.They really do only talk about fish and sports.
Michael’s mother launched into a discussion on real estate, and I filled in the bits I knew from people I met in the industry. I tried to listen and found her animated and interesting, only I couldn’t stop catching Michael’s eye. Whatever he was thinkingwas lost to me again, hidden behind a carefully blank expression. Would I ever know what he was thinking all the time? Did Ineedto know?
His parents didn’t stay long,as he’d promised, which surprised me. For a two-hour long drive from Boise, they only remained an hour. Michael closed the door after waving goodbye, then abruptly turned to me, backing me into the wall. He breathed heavily, his grip rough at my waist, and his nose grazed against mine. “How did you do that?”
I swallowed, licking my lips. My breath rushed out of me, every inhalation filling my lungs with his tempting scent. I neither expected the aggression from him, nor my instantaneous and heated response to it. Small kisses and touches, even sleeping next to each other, were one thing.This is something else.
And I couldn’t say I minded the change. My heart rate increased, and I caught my breath when my sensitized nipples grazed against his chest. “What did I do?”
“Charm my parents. Usually, my visits with them are tense and awkward. You even got my father talking about food. How did you do that?” Again, he moved his nose alongside mine before pulling slightly away, a long and slow stroke of sensation followed by the absence of him.
I shook my head. I couldn’t think clearly, not with him so close. “I’m used to talking to strangers. I haven’t lived near anyone I know for some time, so I’ve gotten good at first meetings and introductions. It’s only later, when they know me better, that they would either decide I’m interesting and eccentric or someone they don’t want to know.”
