Tangled Vines (10 page)

L
innea ran her fingers up Jet’s back, making them dance as they traveled the length of his spine. She smiled when he arched, knowing that he loved it when she tickled him. He acted as if he didn’t have an ounce of energy left after their lovemaking, and she thought it strange that she always felt the total opposite—as if she were so suddenly full of life she could move a mountain if need be. But Jet had to be brought back slowly, and she’d found that her soft touch on his skin was something he craved after their stolen moments together.

They’d laid out a blanket and made a place in the storage room away from the windows so they could be alone. Linnea had closed the store and told Nai Nai she’d be later than usual but would make it home in time for dinner. With the new demands of running her own business, she was having less and less time for Jet and knew he needed some attention. She grinned. Men—they were nothing but grown little boys.

As she told him about Peony’s latest antics, she massaged his shoulders, admiring how wide and strong they were. Her hand finally tired, and she stopped and lay flat on her back. Jet lay on his stomach beside her, quiet now.

A minute later Jet laughed softly, then flipped over.

“What?” Linnea asked. She hated when he didn’t let her in on his thoughts.

“I was just thinking of our first kiss.”

“So what’s so funny about it?” She could feel her face turning red. She remembered acting so immature and she wished he’d just forget it already.

“You only kissed me on the cheek and wouldn’t let me move in closer! I’d never had a girl do that before. I acted like it wasn’t a big deal, but I really was glad you did that.”

“Glad? Why?” Linnea asked.

“I was impressed.” He gave her a nudge with his elbow. “Most girls would melt at my feet, but not you—you practically jumped out of the car to get away.”

Linnea laughed. “Well, I
didn’t
know you well enough, and we parked on the street with about a million other people around. But can we please just forget about that day?”

She waited on him to agree but instead he stared at the ceiling, then took a deep breath.

“Linnea, I have something to tell you.”

He sounded so serious that Linnea propped herself on her elbows and looked at him. Was he going to break up with her? Her heart fell.

“What?”

“I’m jealous.” He spoke quietly, his eyes still glued to the ceiling above them.

She laughed and plopped back down. She knew exactly what he was talking about. “Oh, Jet. I know you are but you don’t have to be. Sky is just a friend. I swear it.”

“You say that but I know you go over to his store on your lunch breaks. I came by yesterday and Peony told me where you were. Again. Why do you spend so much time with him?”

Linnea hadn’t told Jet about the connection between Jet’s grandfather and her family. She’d also never told him about her discovery that Ye Ye and Nai Nai had a daughter taken from them. It was just so personal and she also felt guilty about reading something that wasn’t meant for her eyes. She still wasn’t ready to share all her secrets, even if she was in love with Jet. She wished she could tell him that her visits across the street had a purpose, but it was just something she wasn’t ready to talk about.

She sighed. “I don’t even want to take lunch breaks but Nai Nai says I need to get away from the store for at least an hour a day. And I love looking at all the antiques that Sky’s grandfather has. Most of the time Sky isn’t even there—if that makes you feel any better.”

Jet sat up, looking confused. “Then what are you doing when he’s not there? Why even go?”

“I talk to his grandfather and we play a lot of
xiangqi
. He’s quite good, you know.” She laughed softly. “But not good enough to beat me yet.”

Jet shook his head. “You amaze me, Linnea. You’re spending time with a decrepit old man when you could be hanging out with me.”

Linnea sat up, too. He was making such a big deal about things and she didn’t get it.

“Jet, you’re not around so much, either. You’re always working or off on some secret assignment you don’t want to talk about.” She didn’t want to make this into an argument but what did he expect her to do? Sit around and twiddle her thumbs until he was ready to come around? Sky was just a friend. She was building a relationship with old Lau. It was all very simple. As a matter of fact, she was just about ready to ask the old man to help her find her Ye Ye’s parents.

“What? It’s nothing secret, Linnea. It’s just boring. And I’m about finished with my internship. They’re going to give me a real job soon. And that means I can finally pay for an apartment. We’ll have a nice place to be alone. But are you going to have any time for me? Or do Sky and his old grandfather have all the reservations filled?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, they haven’t taken up all the reservations. There’s still room for you. But you know what? I might have enough soon to rent my own apartment, too. I want to see if the landlord will give me a deal for the rooms upstairs. I took a look yesterday and it’s really nice up there—or at least it could be with a bit of work. If I lived there, I wouldn’t have to take that awful bus ride twice a day.”

Jet was quiet.

“What? You don’t like that idea, either?” she asked. Lately she was beginning to think she could do nothing right in Jet’s eyes.

Jet stood up and stretched. “It’s not that I don’t like it—I just don’t know about you living all alone. I don’t know that I’d call it a good idea. Would you?”

Linnea did think it was a good idea. Actually, she thought it was a great idea. She loved her family but couldn’t wait to have some real independence. She’d always felt older than her years and living on her own had been a dream for a while now. If she’d been born into a normal childhood, she might even be off at college now. Yet fate hadn’t wanted her to take that route, so she wouldn’t change a thing, and anyway, she couldn’t imagine life without her Ye Ye, Nai Nai, and sisters. Even if she did wonder now and then what sort of family had given her up.

“Well, I don’t want to talk about it right now, Jet. I’ve got to get home. Nai Nai will be holding dinner and ready to box my ears.” She stood and picked up the blanket, snapping it in the air to loosen any dust.

Jet took it from her and dropped it on the floor again. He put his arms around her and hugged her.

“I don’t want to fight, Linnea. You’re just moving through life so fast all of a sudden. I miss that girl I met slinging tires on the corner and sketching in her tattered notebook. Sometimes I feel like even though I’m the one with all the connections to get ahead, you’re going to pass on by and leave me behind.”

Linnea was touched. Jet had never let himself be caught being so vulnerable. She also knew he was proud of her but she hadn’t known he was so insecure about her accomplishments. She hugged him back.

“Jet, I’m not leaving you behind. We can both reach success together. And it’s only because of you that I was able to do any of this! I haven’t forgotten that. I just don’t want to slow down and fall into the trap some orphans do. I won’t let society brand me as an outcast.”

Jet shook his head. “I don’t think that can ever happen. You are a born leader, Lin. It won’t be long that when people see you coming, they’re gonna move out of the way.”

Linnea hoped so. The fire in her to succeed and make everyone proud refused to be extinguished. She’d do it or die trying. And one of these days when she was famous or rich, she hoped her birth parents were watching and could see what they’d missed out on.

“Well, we’ll see about that. Right now if I don’t get my butt home, Nai Nai is going to see me coming and hide my dinner for punishment. This is the third night in a row I’ve been late.”

“I seriously doubt your Nai Nai would let you go hungry. More than likely she’d punish you by stuffing you
too
full.” Jet bent down and picked up the blanket to fold it. Linnea watched him and thought over the last year. For him she’d gone against everything she’d been taught and given him what should have been saved for marriage. She didn’t know if he understood what a sacrifice it was and how much it took for her to trust him enough to finally relent.

She didn’t regret it—at least not most of the time unless she thought about it too deeply—but how long would he stay interested in her, just a poor girl from the wrong side of the city? She knew she was prouder than she had any right to be, but she still resolved herself to put up a few walls to minimize the hurt if and when Jet found someone else more acceptable to date.

L
i Jin stared out the window at the passing scenery. She felt carsick but knew better than to voice her discomfort. She’d awoken that morning to Erik standing over her. He’d rushed her out of bed, demanding she take a road trip with him and his South African business partner, Obi. She’d argued but he’d pushed her around until she feared Jojo would hear them, and she finally relented. It was not like she had any choice. The only choice was whether violence was involved. She’d packed a small bag of snacks and a change of clothes quietly, her mind racing. Then she’d woken Jojo long enough to get him into the car, then urged him to go back to sleep.

Now the only thing she knew was they were on their way to Beijing and Li Jin was terrified. She knew it must have something to do with a shipment and she didn’t want to be involved. And she sure didn’t want Jojo around it. But now obviously Erik didn’t trust her to leave her alone for the time it would take him to go and return.

The car hit a bump and Li Jin protectively cradled Jojo’s body to keep him from falling off the seat. He lay sleeping with his head in her lap, his arm draped over her legs. They’d been driving all day and he was wiped out. Now he slept soundly and in his sleep he looked younger than he was. She pushed a strand of hair away from his eyes, in case he woke. She was still seething that Erik had called him a bastard. She’d never forgive him for that.

He had warned her to snap out of her pensive mood but she couldn’t. He could force her to be there but he couldn’t make her talk. When she’d retreated from the conversation Erik and Obi continued to chat in the front seat and left her alone with her thoughts. The words from the day before would not stop playing in her mind. Her son might not have a father, but he was far from being a bastard. The truth was, Jojo’s birth was the catalyst that had turned her life around. He had given her a reason to keep living.

They passed a field of wheat, and something about the orderly lines and waving stalks reminded her of the land around her last foster home—the place where her son was created. To be honest, it wasn’t so much a foster home as simply a shelter offered to her in exchange for her hard work. After leaving the orphanage at sixteen, she’d ended up on the streets and barely avoiding plenty of dangerous situations. She’d made some friends—albeit ones of the wrong crowd—and had couch hopped around when she could, and huddled in strange places when no one would open their home to her.

Two years later, after one particularly cold week walking the streets, she’d ended up back at the orphanage to talk to Director Wu. It was a humbling moment. She knew if she didn’t find a secure place to live, she’d soon be forced to do things she didn’t want to just to survive. She could see now how so many of those she’d left behind had resorted to becoming pickpockets and thieves.

She’d shown up dirty, broke, and starving. Though it was the last place she’d ever thought she’d run back to, Li Jin asked if she could stay there and earn her keep, but the director told her she had a better option. She could send her to a foster family near
Suzhou. Because of the wife’s poor health, the family was no longer willing to foster children but needed some help keeping house and working its small farm. Later she found out the woman was the director’s sister and over the years had been given the benefit of many children in and out of the family’s home for free labor. This time the family wanted someone older—and Li Jin fit the bill. She didn’t know it then but agreeing to that offer would change her life forever.

Erik turned and cleared his throat, jarring Li Jin back to the present. She looked around and saw that they were slowing down to go through a highway toll stop.

“Li Jin, should we stop and let Jojo use the bathroom? We’ve still got a ways to go.”

Li Jin looked down at Jojo and shook her head. Without meeting his eyes, she answered, “He’s sleeping soundly. I think he can wait.”

Obi glared at her in the rearview mirror. “You tell me if the kid needs to go—this isn’t my car and I don’t want any accidents!”

“Dude, he’s ten. He’s bathroom trained, all right?” Erik laughed and fiddled with the radio. Sounds of a popular pop song filled the car. Li Jin zoned it out and went back to her memories.

After a twelve-hour train ride and a frightening taxi trek out of town and into the country, she’d arrived at her new foster home exhausted and hungry. They’d put her to work immediately, without even a chance to rest from her trip. Once settled, Li Jin didn’t mind that she was soon taking care of all the cooking, cleaning, and even grocery shopping. She had a room of her own. Even if it was sparse, it was more than she’d ever had, and she was cooking
and eating
three meals a day. It was hard work but she was glad to show her appreciation of being off the street by taking over all the woman’s chores. The woman was older, at least fifty, and she suffered from severe arthritis. Li Jin felt sorry for her and was glad to finally be needed. The father was gone working most of the time and Li Jin saw more of his dirty clothes that she washed and ironed than of the person who wore them. Everything was fine until their son came home for a visit. He had a name, but Li Jin would never utter it. She wouldn’t even allow herself to think it.

Right away she’d tried to ignore the warning signs she got from the son and put her suspicions to her few years on the street and always having to watch her back. She thought she must be paranoid. Only a few years older than she, the son was in his last year of college. With his fancy clothes and expensive mobile phone he was spoiled; there was no doubt about that. Li Jin even had to cook better foods and more meat while he was there. Mostly he ignored her, treating her like an invisible slave but bragging to his parents in her presence about his life at school and his stellar grade point average, his plan to work as an engineer and buy an apartment in a big city. With his grandiose declarations he made it clear he had a future that she’d never reach, and he wanted her to know it. With his visit Li Jin had been moved out of the house to sleep on the covered porch. She didn’t really mind it, other than the relentless mosquitos and the chilly mornings, which she took in stride. She knew she’d be able to move right back inside as soon as the son left.

Li Jin looked at the back of Obi’s head as he drove and realized that he was about the same age as the son was back then. She wondered why he wasn’t in college and how he had gotten a visa to be in China. All she knew was that he and Erik had come to China at the same time, but they were at least a decade apart in age. Something about the dispassionate way Obi treated Jojo reminded her of the foster son. He’d carried that same cruel look. Especially the night he came to the porch and took what wasn’t his to take.

First she’d put on her tough street act but he’d seen right through that. When he kept coming at her, she’d begged and pleaded with him but to no avail. He was strong and ruthless and had left her battered and scarred. It was the first time she’d been raped, and she’d never forget how he rose from her pallet and told her to have his breakfast ready early the next morning, that
he had plans for the day. She’d huddled in the corner, the blanket wrapped around her, trembling from shock. He’d stared at her as if he’d done nothing out of the ordinary, even as if he was entitled to what he took. She’d left the house that night not only without the innocence she’d guarded carefully for so many years, but also without her faith in humanity. With only the clothes she wore and the invisible scars she’d carry forever, she never looked back.

She had known she was pregnant right away. Even before she had begun to show, her body felt different—heavier and special, as if it held a secret.

She was ashamed to admit it now but she’d considered abortion. But she was thankful it was an option quickly discarded. Nine months later in a tiny hostel, the three girls who unfortunately shared the room with her then had to help her through childbirth. That was when she’d laid eyes on Jojo and her lost faith in humanity had been restored.

She’d searched his tiny face so many times those first few months, trying to imagine if he looked like his maternal grandparents, the people she’d never known. But it didn’t matter—she finally had a connection to another human being in the world. They belonged to each other and no one could take that away. After all her months of worrying that she wouldn’t love him, that perhaps like her own parents she wouldn’t want her baby, she’d been relieved to find that instinctively she was a fiercely devoted mother, and that Jojo brought her a peace she had never known could exist. She just wished she could find a way to give back to him all that he had given her. She was trying. That was all she could do—just keep trying.

Li Jin focused on the darkening sky out the window and reached up to wipe away the lone tear that traveled down her cheek. For nine years she had found a way to keep her son safe,
most of the time even with a roof over his head. It hadn’t been easy as a young, single mother in a country that would hold your sins against you forever, but they’d survived. Without the help of anyone, she had raised an intelligent and compassionate little person.

But she’d not done so well this time. She and her son were headed somewhere that her gut told her wasn’t a good place. Just how bad it would be—she didn’t know, but she’d soon find out.

Li Jin woke when the door she leaned against was suddenly opened and she had to grab the seat in front of her to keep from toppling out of the car. She looked down and Jojo was still sleeping with his head on her lap. Erik waited impatiently from outside the car, hissing at her to get out.

“What? Where are we?” she asked, trying to clear the fog from her mind. The sky around them was pitch-black, so she knew it was late.

Erik pulled at her arm. “Leave Jojo sleeping—you and I have to make a little trip inside. We’ll be right back.”

Li Jin struggled to wrench her arm from Erik. She wasn’t leaving Jojo anywhere, but especially not out here with Obi. She looked around and saw that they were parked behind a few taxis, at the curb in front of a strip of bars. Even though it was late, judging from the noise and carrying voices, the nightlife seemed to be in full swing. They’d obviously made it to Beijing, despite an accident on the highway that had caused them to spend two hours inching forward.

Around them the music bellowed out of the buildings, creating a circus-like atmosphere. Li Jin looked behind them and saw an arch over the street with the words
Sanlitun Road
engraved across it. A few feet from their car, a trio of men staggered around, the two on the outside obviously trying to guide the middle one down the sidewalk. All of them looked drunk, but the guy in the middle was wasted. Farther down, Li Jin saw a few little street girls, holding flowers they’d try to sell to the bar patrons as they left for the night.