“Pretty much any man who asks me out at my next job is going to be a dad,” I pointed out with a gentle smile.
“That is true,” she mused. “Do not date a married man. Or a man with a failed marriage. Or a man with children and no wife…”
“Thank you for the advice, Lihua,” I said, still smiling. Sometimes, I wondered if this was how things would have been with my own mother…if she’d chosen me over a life without responsibility.
Lihua patted my arm, and I felt the slickness of the oil still on her palms. “Just remember that you are out of college now and have a new job.”
I didn’t need her to tell me what she meant by that. My old excuse for not dating had been that I hadn’t wanted to be distracted from my studies. Then, when I graduated, it had changed to me waiting until I found a job in my desired field. Now, I was out of excuses.
“As soon as I get a boyfriend, you’ll be the first person I call,” I promised, even though we both knew that I’d tell Mai first. Lihua laughed again and returned to whatever client she was supposed to be massaging.
I didn’t think I’d be calling her anytime soon.
My shift ended right on time an hour later, and then everyone surprised me with a cake. I couldn’t hold back my tears, but at least these were good ones. The Jins had been so good to me since I’d met Mai. I was looking forward to my new job, but I would miss being around this pseudo-family.
I got home later than expected despite turning down Lihua’s insistence that I go out with everyone for drinks after we’d finished the cake. I wasn’t much of a drinker, even when celebrating, and besides that, I was behind on my job preparations thanks to taking Mai’s shift last night. And the fact that when I’d gotten home, I hadn’t been in any sort of shape to concentrate.
My apartment was in Ballard, only about ten minutes or so from work, and I’d been thinking about Alec the whole bus ride home. I couldn’t believe he’d had the nerve to ask me out after what happened. Did he think he could just get happy endings whenever he wanted?
I blushed at the thought, though it was more from the fact that I wondered what it would have felt like to wrap my hand around that particular part of his body than because I was embarrassed. Not that I ever had to worry about that again since he wouldn’t know where to find me, even if he had been inclined to look.
Seattle was too big a city to search for a single person.
I made my way up the stairs to my apartment and unlocked the door. Soon, I’d be able to dig into my real work, and I’d have something better to focus on than dates and happy endings that would never happen.
Before I’d taken two steps into the apartment, I heard strange noises coming from the living room ahead. I immediately picked up the baseball bat Mai and I kept next to the front door. I’d never had to use it, but Mai and I both had active imaginations. Ballard was a safe neighborhood, but that didn’t mean one-hundred-percent crime-free.
I made my way down the short entrance hall and then peered around the corner to the living room, ready for anything.
Anything except my roommate and her boyfriend having sex.
They were on the sofa across from the TV, in full view of anyone who happened to stroll in, both stark naked with Mai bouncing on Hob’s lap with enough enthusiasm to explain why neither of them had noticed the time or the front door opening.
I snapped my jaw shut and tried to remember how to make my feet work. I needed to get into my bedroom and pretend that I’d seen nothing. I knew nothing. I certainly didn’t know that Hob had his nipple pierced and clearly liked Mai twisting it when they had sex.
I would’ve made a clear getaway if it hadn’t been for the curse-it-all bat.
Hob’s cat-green eyes shot open when the hard wood hit the corner of the wall, and he let out a short little yelp of surprise when he saw me. I let out a stream of expletives that were surprisingly filthy and creative.
“Why’re youstopping?” Mai moaned.
“Lumen.” Hob’s voice was choked.
Mai stopped moving. “Did you just say my roommate’s name when we were…oh, fuck! Lumen!”
“I’m sorry!” I said, hugging the baseball bat and squeezing my eyes closed. God, my skin was going to turn permanently red at this rate.
“It’s our fault,” Mai said. I could hear her shuffling into some clothes. “Mama said she was going to take you drinking, and since you didn’t come back after your shift, we started watching a movie and…shit, I’m sorry. We got carried away.”
“Sorry, Lumen,” Hob added.
“It’s fine,” I said, trying not to think about how often they’d done that on our couch and how often I’d sat or slept on it. They had a perfectly good bed. And why hadn’t they at least leftsomeclothes on! I didn’t want to sit on the couch after Hob’s bare ass had been on it.
“Oh, honey.” I could hear her trying to hold back a laugh.
“I’m just going to go to my room, I think,” I said.
“No no, it’s fine, we’re fine! Why don’t you tell me about your last day? I should have been there for the going away, but I was waiting for Mama to text me when you were at the bar. We were planning on joining you guys there.”
