Page 79 of Dangerous Rhythm

“Why not?” Curtis asked.

“They’re trees.”

He shrugged. “They might just be that—trees. They didn’t change how I feel about you. I’m still as in love with you right now as I was yesterday.”

thirty-one

“What did you say?” Lina stared at the man, grinning down at her.

“I love you, Lina,” he said, enunciating each word clearly for her.

“You’re not serious.” She didn’t know why that was the first thing that came out of her mouth. Curtis said the damnedest things. For all she knew, he could turn around and say, “Just kidding!”

The man laughed—full-belly laughed—at her. The crowd started turning to see what shenanigans were happening.

“That’s your response to my declaration of love?” Curtis said as he tried to curb his laughter. “I may joke about everything, but this is the one thing I wouldn’t joke about.”

“What? Am I supposed to believe you fell in love with me in the two weeks we’ve been stuck together?” she retorted, though her heart expanded with stupid giddiness.

Curtis ran a gentle hand over her hair. “Try four years.”

“Four years?” Lina laughed. “Now you’re totally pulling my leg.”

“I think I fell a little in love with you the day you dropped the bomb in my green room.” A corner of his mouth rose in a tease. “And a little more each time you failed to ignore my attempts to make you laugh, each time you bailed me out of sticky situations.”

“But you never…” The laughter died. “You were with other women.”

“I didn’t think you would welcome my attention. And truthfully, I don’t think I was the right man for you back then, either,” Curtis added. “Yet, each time you showed up in my life again, something inside me shifted and started humming to your vibe.I've been waiting for you, Lina."

Lina couldn’t believe her ears. Nor could she believe her eyes as she stared at the man looking at her. There was calm longing in his eyes, instead of the passion she’d gotten used to. There was a steady conviction in the way he smiled at her, instead of his usual playful grin. And there was patience in his touch as he waited for her to digest his words.

A few feet behind Curtis, Lina saw her mother and Aunt Siu Lin watching them with hope and encouragement on their faces.

Don’t waste another minute of your precious life.

But Lina, for once in her life, froze. In front of all these people, her family, with all these beautiful flowers around them, Curtis had told her he loved her and she fucking froze.

She felt herself being reeled into a hug like an iceberg dragged by a tugboat.

Curtis whispered against her hair, “You don’t have to say anything if this doesn’t feel right for you.”

There was a trace of disappointment in his voice, but he added, “I just needed you to know how I feel.”

After a few beats, he turned to her family with his usual big smile. “What else to see here?”

They all knew she hadn’t responded to Curtis’ declaration, but they all hid their disappointment well. The men started chatting and led Curtis to a different part of the market. But before he detached himself from her, Lina caught his hand.

“Curtis…” she started, but didn’t know how to express herself the way he did. She just looked at him, hoping he didn’t misunderstand her silence.

Curtis winked at her. “I know.”

“Hard luck, huh?” Daniel patted Curtis on the shoulder.

“What do you mean?” Curtis glanced at Lina’s brother as they walked past vendors selling new year snacks, from wicked-looking roasted squid to yummy sticky mochi rice cakes smothered in sugar and crushed peanuts. If he wasn’t so stuffed, he’d want to try everything.

Daniel looked back, Curtis assumed, at his sister, who was walking with the ladies. “My sister can be unfeeling sometimes. But we, as a family, are not very verbal with our emotions.”

“Lina isn’t unfeeling. She feels deeply, but she bottles it up when it gets to be too much,” Curtis said. “I put her in a spot. That was my error.”

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