Page 6 of The Other Side of Apart

A tiny dog sits on a porch swing. The front window curtains are wide open at 1 AM, like the house is watching for us. I pull into the driveway and cut the engine, putting my foot down, but we both just sit in the silence, our legs molded to the seat.

I stare at the house in front of us. We made it. Step one of together. No clue what step two is.

A garage door shudders open a few houses down and an electric car hums past us. I glance at the front door, flexing my toes in my soggy Adidas.

“I’m scared to knock.” Mei’s voice curls over my shoulder and into my ear and I hesitate, then nod. Fear’s the only thing I can expect right now—its claws have pretty much grown into me.

I shove the kickstand down with my heel and slip the key into my pocket. I’m gonna have to park the bike somewhere out of sight once we get our stuff inside.

Mei unwinds her arms, and I wait for her to slide off the seat before following.

“He might think it’s weird if we just hang out in his driveway.” I pull off my helmet.

Mei hangs it from the handlebars. “Marcus…are you?—”

“We’re finally here. Knocking on the door is the easy part.” I want to hold her in this in-between place—between what’s happened and what’s about to.

I shake my arms which are buzzing from the vibration of the road, and I rub the tension out of my neck. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, I turn toward the door.

Mei grabs my hand, and it’s so comforting and familiar. My palm is extra sensitive against hers, my mind rewinding to our time in the hut as we walk past a fountain circled by dwarf trees pruned into globes, a couple bronze statues. A faded rubber duck floating in a pot filled with rainwater. Definitely the right house.That’s something Guo would do. I wish for the thousandth time she was here.

The gray door reflects our shadows, and they’re as smudged as I feel, but I raise my free hand and knock.

“And here…,” Jerry says, sweeping open the door to the red cottage huddled under the trees in his backyard, “is your new place. For however long you need it.” He grins at us and nods. “My sister said it needed to feel like home, so I hope you like lanterns and silk pillows because that’s what Wen picked out.”

I scan the room, my bag strap cutting into my tense shoulders. Home? No Ansel Adams on the wall or giant flat screen TV or Dad’s stack of books on the end tables. No Dad.

Perfect.

And far from San Francisco.

Even better.

Just me and Mei.

“Wow. This is perfect. Thank you.” I say to Jerry, who’s standing by the door in his robe and slippers, his beaming smile just like Guo’s. “And bunk beds!” I turn toward the built-ins in the corner—puffy, orange comforters piled with red, white, and blue silk pillows. Dad would hate them. Unless Kenna wanted them.

I flick the thought away and smile at Jerry. “I always wanted bunk beds but never had anyone to share a room with. Until now.” Now, when I actually want to share my bed, there are two and a bruised, battered, freaked out Mei. I gotta keep distance between us; otherwise, the moment she gets close, my hormones will threaten to break the promise I made myself to give her space

“The bathroom’s just in there.” Jerry points to a door I’ll have to walk through sideways unless I want to get stuck. “Small for some of us.” He snickers to himself, just like Guo does when she makes fun of me in her most loving way. “But it will be safe here. My sister was insistent, and I never want to make her mad.”

I laugh. Mei says thank you, her voice soft and breezy like she just floated back into the room from somewhere else. “We really appreciate this, and we’ll make it up to you any way we can.”

Jerry nods and steps toward the open door. “It’s been a long day for you, so I will leave you to settle in. We can talk about hours at the restaurant and warehouse after you’ve had some rest.”

Help at the restaurant. Warehouse. In exchange for rent. I’ve never had a job or rent. I’ve barely been out of California. How did I get here?

Jerry blinks at me, then Mei, and back again. I jerk my head in confirmation. “Yeah. Perfect. We’re so grateful. We’ll help any way we can.”

He smiles, and Mei shakes his hand before he slips out of the cottage. She shuts the door, locks it, and turns around, back against it. Smiling, she bites her lower lip. “This is much nicer than the hut of despair.”

I tense because she’s driving me crazy looking at me like that. My mind is swirling with the memory of all of her pressed up against me at the hut. Then how she tensed. She said it was because she was cold, but I know there’s more to it.

Her gaze moves down my body, then makes a U turn and moves back up, and I swallow my thoughts which land in my stomach with a thud. The jolt helps me remember what she went through right before we left.

I dig my toes into my shoes to stop my legs from stepping toward her, pulling her onto the bed to finish what we started inthe hut. Instead, I turn to face the bunks, my whole body on fire. “I call top!”

CHAPTER 4

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