Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
Mei: I can see you through the blinds, but you can’t see me. You clean up nice, Marcus Miller. Can we be married yet?!
M y head snaps up when the back gate swings open, and I shoot to my feet, standing in front of the evidence like I can hide the Just Married streamers I made out of an old t-shirt and a Sharpie. But Johnny strides through the gate, a smirk on his face. “Never thought I’d miss that gorgeous face as much as I have.” He stops and throws his arms out. “Bring it in, loser. Bring it in, bring it in.”
When my brain catches up to what’s happening, I jog across the yard and pull him to me for the first time in our friendship. We pat each other hard on the back, and a lump swells in my throat, so I slap him harder. “What are you doing here?”
“Got recruited.”
“Did you save some love for me, Marcus Miller?”
I pull away from Johnny and watch Guo teeter through the gate, smiling so big I can see all her teeth. I scoop her into my arms and lift her off her feet, my eyes stinging.
“When Guo told us what was about to go down,” Johnny says beside us, “she said she could use a couple of witnesses, and there was no way I was gonna miss this. I just want you to know, I dropped a fairly hot second date so we could leave for the airport at six AM to get here in time. Six AM, Miller.” He gets in my face. “If that doesn’t prove my love for you, there’s nothing that will. Hope Mei Li knows she comes in a solid second place to me.”
Johnny and I laugh, and I grab him and bring him in for another hug. “I have missed you, brother.”
Someone squeals, and we break the hug as Lin pushes through the gate, wheeling a carry-on suitcase behind her.
“I cannot believe this is for real! I feel like I’m in some kind of rom-com right now.” Lin’s excitement is at an eleven and she might explode if it amps any higher.
I turn to Guo. “You really can make everything happen.”
She pats my face. “I am so happy about this. I wanted to tell everyone but…you know. I honor your privacy and safety.”
I wrap my arms around her again and want to pick her up and hold her on my shoulders like she just won the championship game for us, but Lin steps up.
“I don’t recall you asking my permission to marry my best friend, but if you let me in on the hugging action, I’ll give it to you.” Lin holds out her arms.
I laugh and lean down to give her a full two-armed hug.
“I’m just going to say this once and never again, even if I think it, and I definitely will: I am wildly jealous of Mei Li. Also…you smell…wow. And muscles and face and legs and…okay.” She steps back, waves her hands. “Done. I’m so done. You’re all Mei Li’s. I just remembered. Taken. Solidly taken. Permission granted. I can live vicariously. I’m really good at it by now.”
She beams at me, and I smile, rubbing the back of my neck and hoping Mei will come out soon. Like, right now.
“Where’s the lucky lady, anyway? She’s going to freak when she sees me, and I’m just so ready for it.”
“Inside.” I point toward Jerry and Wen’s house, and Lin takes off running, her suitcase bouncing behind her. It takes under two seconds for squealing to erupt from the open sliding glass door.
“This is for you and Xiao Mei,” Guo says, holding out an envelope. “So tuck it somewhere very safe. And this,” she says, holding up a piece of paper from some weird online ministry service, “is proof I can make you and Mei Li very official. Also, I have a slightly forged marriage license, but no matter. It will work. Desperate times.”
Guo checks her watch. “We were later than planned, and it’s time we got this party started.” She laughs at her own slang. “You go finish getting ready. When it’s time, Lin will walk Mei Li down the aisle.” She waves her hand toward the brick path between Jerry and Wen’s house and our cottage. “Let’s do this, Marcus Miller.” She pats my chest, chuckling, and shuffles toward the house. “I will go say hi to my brother, I guess.”
Johnny slings his arm around my shoulder. This whole scene turns into a still shot I’ll never forget: gray sky, green ruffled trees arching over us like a canopy, Guo bright purple, Lin red and orange, and when Mei comes out of the house, she’ll set this place, and me, on fire.
I take the card Guo gave me and put it in the seat of the motorcycle as Johnny inspects my streamers.
“Not bad, man. Looks like you’ve figured out life on your own. I’m impressed.” He points at my shirt. “You’re even wearing a real shirt. Looking good, Miller, as usual, but you’re missing one thing, brother.”
He digs around in the backpack he set on the ground when he came in and pulls out a tie. The one I used to wear on game days.
I take it from him. “How?”
“You think you’re the only sneaky one?” He dusts off his shirt. “You’re not.”
Staring at it, I laugh and wonder how he managed to get into The Clubhouse. I resist the urge to check if it smells like my closet.
Johnny snatches it from me and wraps it around my neck, tying and adjusting it. “Let’s get you married, Miller.”
We walk toward the circle of trees, just enough room for all of us to gather, and he nudges me with his elbow. “You nervous, man? This is seriously crazy.”
I run my fingers through my hair, and Johnny swats my hand away, fixes it. “Not nervous to marry Mei, just…want it to be perfect, and this is so far from it.”
Johnny looks around. “Seems pretty downright perfect, if you ask me. I get it’s not the usual way. But different isn’t a bad thing. And you…?” He smiles, squinting at me. “You’re different. In a good way. Like you’ve gone and grown up on me. Like you’re a real man now. Welcome. It’s a great place to be. I’ve been here in Man-land for a while. Got everything ready for you.” He sniffs dramatically, then busts up laughing, and I flick his ear. “I mean…”—he gestures at the motorcycle “I assume you’re in the gentleman’s club by now since you got that and are all shacked up with your girl…”
“We waited,” I say, glancing over my shoulder to check for Mei. “Saw your disasters and didn’t want any of it for us.”
“Wow. Alright, then. Alright, okay. Good for you, man. Just proves my theory that when Marcus Miller says he’s gonna do something—or not do something—just stay out of his way, ’cause it’s gonna happen just like that.” He pats my face and smiles.
The lump in my throat stretches, and I pull Johnny into the third hug in twenty minutes. “Thanks for being here. For being in my life through all the craziness.” I let go of him and swallow hard. There’s one more thing I gotta ask because it’s eating at me. “You seen him?”
Johnny nods, knowing exactly who I’m asking about. “Yeah. Been by to see him a few times. He’ll be okay.”
“Will you check on him every now and then? Just text me and let me know he’s okay? I can’t talk to him for so many reasons, but just wanna know.”
Johnny squeezes my shoulder. “Easy. You got it.”
“I owe you.”
“Uhh, yeah, you do. But we can figure all that out later, ’cause right now, you’re getting married.” Our focus shifts to the path where Guo shuffles toward us. I rush over and take her arm in mine to help her the rest of the way.
She pats my arm and chuckles. “I mentioned I am a love hunter, right? I forgot to mention I am a very good one. Probably the best.”
Before I can respond, my eyes catch the shimmer of Mei and Lin skipping toward us through the tree tunnel. Lin is humming an off-key wedding song, and Mei is laughing, the sound ringing all around us. She’s wearing a traditional white Chinese dress like the ones in Guo’s shop, the golden embroidery reflecting through the tree limbs. But her smile lights the whole backyard, and mine stretches toward it, my hand over my heart as I blink against tears and light and another perfect still shot.
Lin and Mei slow, ducking under branches, and Mei hugs Lin, who goes and stands beside Johnny, Jerry, and Wen on the grass. Mei approaches me, biting her lip, and I lean down to kiss her, but Guo slaps my chest before our lips connect.
“Oh, no you don’t,” she scolds while Lin and Johnny laugh. “Plenty of time for that later. For now, you wait and listen to me because I am just so happy and love being so right.” Everyone laughs again, Guo included. “I saw this coming, you know. Many months ago, I asked you to ask Magic 8 a question, and here we are. Magic 8 and I make a good team. But Guo always knows.” She beams, and I squeeze Mei’s hand as she leans into my side.
“Now, I would like you to face each other.” She motions at us, and I turn to Mei, holding her hands and staring into her eyes. “Hey. I love you. 365 forever.”
She smiles up at me . “I love you more than whatever’s more than 365 forever.”
“We’re really doing this.”
Her eyes sparkle. “It’s exactly what I want to be doing. Perfect.”
Guo says a few things in Chinese, and I send another silent message to Mei. “ You’re it , Me.” But she doesn’t get to respond before Guo interrupts our private conversation, and I smile and say “I do” out loud. “I so, so do,” I add just to Mei.
She says “I do” when it’s her turn, not taking her eyes from mine, and Guo asks us to exchange rings. I don’t have the time or money to buy Mei the ring she deserves, but I have something that will work for now. I can afford perfect later.
I hold out the silver ring with an infinity symbol joining the two sides. “A placeholder until I can buy you a real wedding ring,” I say, sliding it onto her ring finger.
She holds her hand out so she can look at it. “This is perfect, Marcus. I don’t want another ring. Only this one.” Her smile glints off the silver. “I got you a ring, too.”
Lin hands it to her, and when Mei slides it onto my finger, I smile at a mood band just like the ones Guo sells in her shop.
“So I always know how you’re feeling,” Mei says.
I look at it and meet her eyes. “Hey, Mei Li Miller.”
“Not yet! Hurry up! I’m dying right now.” She wiggles her knees. And then my eyes tell her exactly what I want to happen as soon as we get out of here, and her eyebrows rise to the heavens.
Guo clicks her tongue. “Please. Save the dirty talk for later. Leave me out of it.” She chuckles, and Mei’s face burns, but I’m gonna make these thoughts very public if Guo doesn’t hurry up.
“So,” Guo says with a grin, bringing us back to the actual moment. “Xiao Mei. Are you ready to not be Mei Li Zhang anymore?”
Mei blinks back tears, her smile faltering. “I never really was, so Mei Li Miller is the only version of me I want to be.”
Guo searches her face, then nods once. “Today, you are changing your name for a new life—one you choose.”
She and Guo share an unspoken understanding. “I’m so ready,” Mei says.
Guo throws her hands in the air. “Then my magical paper and I say, ‘Ta-da!’ You two are legally married! You are now Mei Li Miller! And you!” She turns to me. “You are still Marcus Miller, but now you can kiss Mei Li as your wife.”
I smile down at Mei, then lean in, putting all my feelings into a kiss that brings her to her tiptoes with her arms around my neck. We keep it up until Johnny groans, and he and Lin move away, making gagging sounds.
“Okay, yep—got it, Miller,” he calls. “Or Millers. Whatever. Do this on your own time.”
We break apart, and I reach for Guo, wrapping my arms around her. Mei joins our hug, followed by Johnny and Lin. A big, laughing circle of relieved, happy people as Jerry and Wen clap and laugh. Mei swipes tears from her face and Lin’s as they hug and laugh-cry.
“Thank you, Guo,” I whisper into her ear, and she waves her hand, dabbing at her face.
“Oh, you. I love you, boy. Now go before you see me cry.”
I kiss the top of her head, hug Jerry and Wen, and grab Mei’s hand. We take off running through the trees, up the path, Mei holding her dress, so she doesn’t trip.
“You ready?” she asks, wiggling her eyebrows.
I hand her helmet to her. “Been ready since the night I saw you trip on the sidewalk.”
Mei’s eyes widen. “You saw that?”
“Oh, I saw it,” I say, pulling on my helmet. She lifts hers and stops, inspecting the Sharpie design I drew on it with Wen’s help—a replica of Mei’s tattoo with my initials beneath it.
Her wide eyes rise to mine. “When did you do this?”
“Last night. When I couldn’t sleep because I was too excited about today.”
“Marcus, this is…”
“Our official logo.” I smile at her and yank off my tie. I stuff it in Mei’s bag that Johnny strapped to the back of the motorcycle over the streamers since only one bag fits in the seat compartment.
Mei puts on her helmet. I buckle it for her and tug the strap toward me, our lips meeting.
She squeals against my kiss, and I laugh, lifting her onto the bike. I slide in front of her and hold my phone above us to take a selfie. Mei flashes her wedding ring, her mouth open wide in a smile big enough for both of us. I type a quick text to Johnny and Lin on the same thread:
Marcus: Thanks for being here. Catch up later. Millers out.
I send the message, and when I reach for the key, Mei grabs my hand from behind. She sets my hand on her knee and pulls the Sharpie from my pocket. Concentrating, she writes 6-21 under my wrist bone, traces and retraces it until it’s thick and bold.
I meet her eyes over my shoulder as she talks to me with hers. “Official best day of my life. #1 spot forever.”
“Knew I’d take that spot.” I grin and rev the engine before racing out of the side yard and down the driveway, our Just Married streamers flapping in the wind.
The only thing that’s following us this time.