Page 42 of Too Much In Common
“So we’re a boring couple?” Her voice held no laughter.
“I meant it as a joke.”
“I know. Sorry. I just —” She paused.
Chris wondered if Tian was crying.
“—give me a second to go back to my room... I’ll explain. Oh, and tell me something funny.”
It was one of those moments when one knows a thousand funny things have happened, but they can’t find anything funny. “When I was five, I lost both my front teeth at the same time, and my brother kept making me say my name. Not funny, I know, but it is the best I am coming up with. Once when I was on a hospital visit with Mrs. Ogilvie, a kid asked me if I was one of the people they show on TV with the President. I once told a high school guidance counselor I wanted to be a stand-up comedian. Good thing he talked me out of it.”
Finally, a laugh. Followed by a sob and a door shutting. “Thanks. I needed that.”
“What is wrong?”
“My father called...” Tian described a conversation she’d had with her father and the dreaded C word.
Chris waited until she finished. “I gathered the other night that you and your father don’t speak much.”
“For my twelfth birthday, my dad gave me Brit. And asked my mother for a divorce, because Brit’s mom needed to be on his health insurance. I love Brit, but most teenage girls don’t want a nine-year-old surprise. Mom had suspected that Dad wasn’t faithful. Brit’s mom thought she was married to my dad all along. So it was kind of a mess. After her mother died, Brit came and lived with us permanently. I was a sophomore in high school by then. Mom had three years to drill into me I couldn’t blame Brit or her mom, so I took all my emotions out on Dad. It didn’t help that he moved on to wife number three and I gained a brother.”
“Wow, I can see why you would be angry.” Chris thought it best to keep listening.
“Since then, six women I know of have claimed to have children with him. Only two of them stood up to paternity tests. Wife three left him, of course. I assume in four or five more years, Brit and I will hear from our brother again. It is seriously messed up. Mom said number four just left him. I have twin half-brothers from her.”
“And your mom is taking care of him?” Chris repeated what she’d told him earlier, still not quite believing.
“Yup, that is my mom. If we were Catholic, I’d petition the Vatican to make her a saint. I don’t understand how they are still friends or how she can still like him.”
“I can.”
“What?”
Chris hadn’t meant to say that. It was too early in the relationship to have a tell-all, especially when she was a jillion miles away. He took a deep breath. “Two days before my wedding, I got a phone call from my best man. He asked me to meet him at an address. Long story short was I found my bride with a mutual friend...” The story was hard to tell. “They were only wearing their birthday suits and you can guess the rest.”
“Oy, that is bad.”
“I felt betrayed, obviously, but I still don’t hate her. I wouldn’t get involved with her again, but if she were in a situation where she needed my professional help, I could work with her.”
“How?”
“She had, and still has, many good qualities. And she had some bad ones. Like flirting with anything that breathes. I didn’t see that at the time. My friend had tried to warn me. Your mom knew your dad for a lot longer than I knew my ex. Still, we have some mutual friends, so for everyone’s sake, including mine, I decided to not make it a bigger deal. Anyway, I can understand how your parents could be friends.”
“But aren’t you furious?”
“At the time I was. Looking back, I’m glad we didn’t marry. Sorry, this is not a conversation for only a few days into knowing each other...” Chris pulled back the curtains on his window and looked over the Chicago lights. “There is so much hate in the world; I don’t want to contribute.”
The silence from the other end of the line continued long enough he wondered if they had disconnected; however, muffled sounds still came through the line, crescendoing into sobs. Crying women always made situations awkward. A crying woman on the other end of a phone line amped that up. Hugging was out, teasing a smile was out, waiting for a response was out, and there was zero chance at this point she’d change to a video call.
“Tian?”
“I...I’m fine. So. Much. Call. Later. Bye.” The line went dead.
He rested his head against the cool glass of the window. A new record. Three days from first kiss to the beginning of the end.
12
The best partof Hawaii was the number of distractions it offered. Tian kept most of her sightseeing plans in place. Reading on the beach didn’t happen. The beach part did, just not the reading—which was replaced by soul searching. Over the years, Dad had gone out of his way to be there for both her and Brit like graduations, her first flight, and sometime during the Christmas season. He’d only stepped back after Tian had told him to take a long taxi off a short runway, metaphorically speaking, of course. He was the only person close to her who understood the thrill of looking out of the cockpit window. The one dream he’d always shared with her. Even as a child, Brit, with her thick glasses perched on her nose, never wanted to be a pilot. Which was just as well since she only passed her driver’s license eye test with one eye.
