Chapter Six
The next morning, Alexandre was heading to the porch to read, when Mei intercepted him.
“Joey and I are going mini golfing. Want to come?”
“Sure.” Alexandre noted Mei’s short navy skirt, sleeveless white polo shirt, and yellow Livin visor. She looked cute in her preppy getup. “Let me guess. That’s your special golf outfit.”
“Yes!” Mei rolled her eyes. “Joey hates mini golf, so I wanted to make it more fun.”
“How could anyone hate mini golf?”
“It’s a long story.”
Mei’s tone made it clear that she wasn’t getting into the details. Alexandre nodded. “All right. Let me get changed. Glad to be in on this.”
He ran upstairs and pulled on a blue polo, a lightweight pair of gray athletic pants, and a white baseball cap.
When he returned to the living room, he noticed how nicely he and Mei matched.
Joey was wearing his usual baggy cargo shorts with the pockets hanging open and a T-shirt with a camel on Rollerblades.
“Are Ali, Luc, and Kaia coming?” Alexandre asked.
“No. Ali said mini golfing with a three-year-old wouldn’t be fun for anyone.”
They piled into Joey’s car. When they arrived at Shipwreck Island Mini Golf, Joey pulled into a parking spot but left the ignition on.
“Okay, you kids out.”
Mei turned to him in surprise. “You’re not coming?”
“Nope.” Joey unlocked the doors. “I just remembered those big box stores right off the island. I can get a hot spot there. The connectivity on the beach blows.”
“Connectivity?” Alexandre asked.
“For my music files. The Wi-Fi on the beach is too weak to power my song identification programs.”
“Ah.” Alexandre bit back an incredulous laugh. Then he noticed Mei frowning.
“You said you’d play.”
“I said I’d drive you to mini golf.” Joey glanced at the road, clearly itching to leave. “I want to check out wireless speakers to use on the beach. You can play your music. I won’t make everyone listen to mine.”
“Okay,” Mei relented. “See you in a bit.”
Alexandre stepped out of the car. He didn’t need to sit there and watch Mei kiss Joey goodbye.
They waved as Joey drove off, then walked to Shipwreck Island’s welcome hut.
Alexandre breathed in the scent of damp turf and chlorine.
Ahead of him, giant sandstone rocks, waterfalls, and beach grass created a wonderland of caverns.
The golf course had just opened at ten, but already small groups of players puttered around the greens.
Mei flashed him a little smile, but her lowered eyes told Alexandre she was disappointed about Joey’s absence.
“Sorry he left you with me,” Alexandre said. “I’m probably not as funny as Joey, but if you give me a few minutes, I might be able to think up some obscure music facts.”
Mei laughed, sending a pleasant zing through Alexandre.
“Between you and me, I’m okay not hearing about Joey’s music files.”
A six-foot pirate statue with a peg leg greeted them at the first hole. Alexandre gestured for Mei to go first. They played through, both sinking their balls in three strokes.
A pile of rum barrels lay in the middle of the second green. The most direct route to the cup was through a tunnel carved into one barrel.
Alexandre lined up his putter and aimed for the tunnel. His ball just missed the opening, bouncing off the barrel and rolling to a stop.
With a firm thwack, Mei hit her ball right through the tunnel. She sprinted to the end of the green, then squealed with glee. “A hole in one!”
“Nice!” Alexandre gave her a goofy high five. “I should’ve gotten that on video.”
Mei let out a wry laugh. “Joey probably wouldn’t even watch it.”
“What’s his deal with mini golf?” Alexandre glanced at the oversized treasure chest in the middle of the third green.
Mei knocked her ball down the turf. “He hates all sports.”
“Why?” Alexandre tapped his ball in the direction of the cup.
“Joey’s super unathletic—according to him, that is.
I’ve never seen him play anything. He didn’t have a lot of friends growing up because he couldn’t throw, catch, or kick.
None of the kids on his block would play with him, and his classmates never wanted him on their team.
” Mei shook her head sympathetically, then chuckled.
“Unironically, he told me that even all the girls got picked before him.”
Alexandre laughed. “Poor Joey.” He wouldn’t have guessed Joey had a sports phobia. The guy was tall and solidly built, with broad shoulders. Alexandre couldn’t help but gloat. He didn’t have the best free throw or pitch, but he’d always been a fast runner and a decent all-around athlete.
Mei set her ball down at the fifth hole. “Joey was a lonely kid. He’s an only child, too. I think that’s why he likes hanging out with Ali and Luc. He’s getting the siblings he never had.”
Alexandre caught the fondness in her voice. The idea of Mei, Joey, Ali, and his brother as a neat foursome rendered him an outsider. Alexandre nodded and knocked his ball past an iron anchor.
At the seventh hole, a Jolly Roger flag flapped overhead.
“This place hasn’t changed,” Mei said. “Ali and I used to come here back in the day. It was our favorite mini golf course.”
Now that Mei mentioned it, the place was a bit worn. All the pirate statues looked like they’d been painted several times over. Some rock formations were chipped. Still, the course retained a sense of whimsy.
“I can see why,” Alexandre said. “It feels a world away from New York.”
“Exactly. Ali and I would wear matching outfits because we loved being mistaken for twins.”
“So you always dressed up for mini golf,” Alexandre said playfully. They walked into a cave with a waterfall rushing down one side. Alexandre noted the light sheen of sweat on Mei’s shapely neck. “And you and Ali were tight, even as kids.”
“We were. Even before—” Mei hesitated, then continued. “Even before our parents got divorced and our dad died. Ali and I had to look after each other.”
Alexandre stopped mid-putt. “That’s right. I’m sorry.” He knew Mei and Ali’s father had passed away, but he didn’t know when or why. “How old were you?”
“Twelve.”
“That’s a terrible thing to go through at any age, but especially so young.” No wonder the sisters had such a tight bond.
Mei looked like she was about to say more when cheerful voices approached. “We should keep moving.”
She took the first shot at the ninth hole. “I can’t imagine having a sibling who’s so much younger, but you and Luc seem close.”
Alexandre sent his ball down the turf, past an oversized parrot with an eye patch. “Not as close as you and Ali. But Luc’s the biggest reason I’m back.”
“So you could spend time with him?”
“Yeah, but it’s more than that. He was the one who pushed me to leave tenure track.”
Mei paused at the cave leading to the tenth hole. “Why did he do that?”
Alexandre laughed dryly. “In retrospect, it was obvious, but I couldn’t see it at the time.
I was working nonstop. I wasn’t eating or sleeping well.
I had that crazy hair and beard because I stopped taking care of myself.
I was always nauseous.” Alexandre set down his ball.
“Luc flew to Eugene for my fortieth birthday. He planned for us to go hiking, biking, and visiting breweries. But I refused to see him.”
“What? Why?”
“I had so much work to do, and he expected me to drop everything to spend time with him. I pushed him off, saying I’d meet him in an hour or two, but I never did.
” Alexandre knocked his ball down the green.
He felt Mei watching him. “Luc went home pissed. We didn’t speak for weeks.
Then he started calling and texting, trying to get me to talk to him.
Eventually, I told him my tenure was in danger.
He spent the next few months trying to get me to leave my job.
I didn’t. Finally, he flew back and basically held an intervention. ”
“What did he do?”
“He dragged me, kicking and screaming, to go skiing.”
“Skiing?”
Alexandre caught the skepticism in Mei’s voice. “That trip saved me.”
She softened. “How?”
“It woke me up to how depressed I was.” Alexandre recalled racing Luc down snow-covered mountains under a pale blue sky.
How exhilarating the icy wind had felt after years holed up in a lab.
“For the first time in ages, I remembered I used to have a life outside of research. I saw that maybe I could be happy at a different job, in another state. It took me two years to leave. But I started updating my CV after that.”
“I had no idea.” Empathy emanated from Mei’s eyes.
“Well, I don’t exactly go around broadcasting it.” Besides Luc, and probably Ali, no one knew the full details of his final years in Oregon. Something about being in the darkened mini golf cave made Alexandre open up to Mei.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “If your dream starts ruining your health and relationships, it’s not worth it.”
“It’s not.” A grinning skeleton met them at the next hole. “This is quite the conversation for mini golf.”
“I’m glad you’re here. You saved me from a solo game, since Joey clearly had no intention of playing.” Mei shook her head good-naturedly.
Joey. Alexandre had completely forgotten about him. He arranged his face neutrally. “Well, glad I could be your golf buddy.”
They finished the course, then sat on a bench to tally their scores.
“You beat me by three!” Alexandre leaned over to show Mei the card, just as she moved in for a better look. Their shoulders brushed, sending tingles down Alexandre’s arm. He glanced down at Mei, his eyes meeting hers.
She jumped up from the bench. “Let’s see if Joey’s back.”
In the parking lot, they spotted Joey’s car and walked toward the atmospheric swells of eighties power ballads.
“Did you get your hot spot?” Mei asked.
“Fuck yeah!” Joey pumped his fist. “Look at how fast everything is.”
Alexandre climbed into the back seat without bothering to comment. At least he didn’t have to feign interest in Joey’s inane hobby.
Joey pulled out of the parking lot. “Where to now?”
“Want to get a snack?” Mei suggested. “Maybe an outdoor place with peel-and-eat shrimp?”
“Sounds good, because I are hungry!” Joey exclaimed.
Alexandre looked at Joey, confused.
“Joey, what?” Mei was staring at him, just as bewildered.
Joey laughed. “I are hungry! Bao and Miguel always said shit like that when they were learning English.”
Mei let out a huff of disbelief. “You can’t say that!”
“It’s our inside joke. They’re my best friends! We’ve had it forever.”
Alexandre stared at Joey. For most of his life, he had never thought about race—which, he’d eventually learned, was the ultimate privilege.
But even before that, he knew there were topics you never joked about as a straight white guy.
He leaned forward in his seat. “Hey, Joey—that’s not how jokes work. Saying stuff like that is not okay.”
Joey glared at him through the rearview mirror. “Thanks, professor, but no one asked you.”
“Alexandre is right,” Mei shot back. “It’s kind of racist and not funny. Forget the snack. Let’s just go to the house.”
Joey’s neck turned crimson. He hunched over the wheel.
Alexandre tried to catch Mei’s eye. A few weeks ago, she’d told him her rationale for working at Livin. Sure, she was getting financial stability and professional challenges. But she was beholden to leaders with some unsavory morals.
Was she making similar trade-offs in her love life?
Alexandre tried to ignore the attraction simmering beneath his skin. Mei didn’t need to settle for Joey. Had she ever considered that?