Page 14 of The Other Side of Apart

“I bet you will.” Marcus smirks and sits back in his chair. He crosses his arms over his chest, wiggles his eyebrows. “I fully plan on letting you take care of me tonight.”

I bite my bottom lip to keep a straight face. “Can I start you off with something to drink?”

“A nice, tall glass of Mei-Z would be perfect.”

“Sir, I’ll ask you to leave if you can’t behave yourself.”

“Thisisbehaving myself.”

I clench my jaw to keep from smiling, eager to keep up the banter so I don’t have to think about how to tell Marcus about Nick. “Are you ready to order?”

“Definitely. Easy. It’s my favorite thing at this restaurant. Like, I honestly can’t get enough of it. Crave it all day every day.”

“Ah. Sweet and sour pork. Great choice.” I tap a few buttons on the tablet, my focus decidedly on Marcus in my peripheral vision.

“I don’t think she’d appreciate being called that. And she’s wayyy better than sweet and sour pork, and I consider myself a connoisseur.” He smirks. “Besides…tonight, I’m looking for something a little…spicier, maybe?”

I lean closer, my lips on his ear. “Pantry’s empty…”

“Ooh.” He turns his head toward me, our noses touching. “The pantry would be the perfect place for me to tell you my news. And then celebrate it.”

His words stomp through me, kicking up dust from the news I got earlier, but I breathe in through my nose and slide into the chair across from him. He’s practically buzzing, his knee bouncing, fingers fidgeting with his watchband. I lean toward him. “Do you really have news?”

He smiles and nods. “Yeah. Big news.”

“You’re pregnant.”

“I thought I’d just eaten something funky but…yeah. And you’re the father, Mei. I didn’t know how else to tell you, so I’m just saying it.”

“But I’m not ready to be a father.”

“I’m fifty-eight weeks, so too bad because I’m about to give birth to some seriously big news.” He leans back in the chair, puts his hands over his stomach, spreads his legs and pretends to push.

I laugh again, then stop. “Wait—in all seriousness, why aren’t you at work? Don’t you work swing tonight? Did you get fired? Don’t give birth to that news, please.”

“Nooo, but I might after this because I got the news and couldn’t wait until 1 AM to tell you. So I left.”

“What is it?” I ask, his excitement nudging my curiosity and hope.

He leans forward, his chair legs landing back on the floor. “I got in. Back in, actually.”

I frown, searching his face for clues. “Back in where?”

His smile spreads, his eyes lighting up. “Stanford. I got back into Stanford, Mei. Just got an email. And I got my scholarship back. They still want me. Next week, for pre-season.”

Marcus’s excitement rolls toward me, lifting me out of my chair, and I lean over the table until our faces are inches apart. “Are you serious?!”

“So serious, Mei. Like unbelievably, dead serious.” He presses his forehead against mine and takes my face in his hands. “Life could not get any better than it is right now—we’re together again and now Stanford.”

Stanford.

Realization settles after the explosion of news, and I feel the blood rush from my face. Stanford is close to San Francisco. Too close. Mama’s news murmurs through my mind, and my stomach drops away from it, pulling my smile down with it until Marcus frowns at me.

“You okay?”

“Yes!” I blurt, plastering a smile back on my face and sitting back in my chair. I have to pull it together. He can’t know. “Just really surprised. This is…sudden, but so exciting!”

“Crazy, yeah? I can’t believe it either. Our whole life is about to change. Again. But for the better. We’re outta here next week!”

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