Chapter 24 #2
More were his experiences, which he hadn’t told her. As much as she wished they’d finished what they’d started the night before, they needed to clear away some of those bricks first and make sure they still loved the person they found on the other side.
On the outskirts of town, they passed a string of cinderblock houses and apartment buildings strung along the road with weedy strips between them.
The moped had run out of gas a half a mile back.
Mei Lin had waited while Ethan wheeled it through a gap in a hedge and hid it between an overgrown flowerbed and the side of a five-story building, where the air smelled of cooking oil and laundry detergent.
Now they were on foot, hands in their pockets, heads down.
It was cold, but not as cold as it’d been on the moped.
If she’d let Ethan drive, his body would’ve blocked the wind.
But she’d enjoyed the wind in her hair and the machine under her control.
After only a week out of prison, more or less, riding a moped felt far from ordinary, as did walking along a sidewalk.
Some of the ground-floor spaces had been turned into small shops, their doors propped wide despite the cold air.
Crates of tangerines were in front of one.
Sacks of rice slumped against the walls inside near a row of canned goods.
The briny stench of pickled vegetables overpowered the motor-oil smell of the street.
The buildings gave way to an empty-lot-turned-market, where vendors stood behind tables stacked high with produce. Mothers regarded the options through narrowed eyes while children played nearby. A little girl running and laughing, chasing after a boy about the same age.
The scene brought her back to her childhood, her mother bickering over the price of greens while Mei Lin hid from Renshu, ducking under tables and around bins of peppers.
Ethan watched the children race across the dirt, a small smile on his face. He caught her looking, and his smile widened. “I bet you were ornery when you were that age.”
“Me?” She pressed a hand to her chest. “Never.”
He chuckled as if he wasn’t buying it.
“Honestly,” she said, “I was obedient in the market.”
“Just in the market?”
“I’m not saying that. I always tried to be obedient, but sometimes I got distracted. Like, once I was at the market with my grandmother, and there was a kitten. I just wanted to pet it, but it disappeared down a row. I tried to find it, but of course it was gone.
“When I turned around, I couldn’t see my grandmother anymore.
I’d wandered too far away. I was scared, but I didn’t want anybody to know I’d gotten lost, so I started skipping around the market, pretending I was fine, like I was right where I was supposed to be.
” She could still remember how she’d felt that day—both terrified and embarrassed that she’d been so stupid.
Ethan was smiling again. “You were skipping? I bet you were adorable.”
“Ha. When my grandmother found me, she was very angry. She told me I was a liability, a headache not worthy of her time.”
Ethan froze, looking down at her. “More trouble than you were worth?”
“That’s the sense of it, yes.”
“Your grandmother said that to you?”
She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut.
“Who would say that to a child?”
“I don’t think she meant—”
“How old were you?”
Mei Lin started walking again, automatically scanning the area for cameras. She didn’t see any.
Ethan walked beside her. “Do you remember?”
She had a feeling he wouldn’t like her answer. “I was four.”
“Four?” He stopped again. “Your grandmother lost you when you were four—and then blamed you?”
“I was not supposed to wander—”
“Here’s a newsflash—four-year-olds are supposed to be trouble. That’s their job. It was your grandmother’s job to watch you, to protect you, not to blame you or make you feel worthless for behaving like a child.”
“She found a little girl skipping and smiling.” Mei Lin wanted Ethan to understand. “She thought I was playing.”
He kept moving along the sidewalk. When they were past the market, he spoke again, his voice calmer. “Your grandmother must have been terrified. Getting angry with you was a knee-jerk reaction.”
Mei Lin had always thought she’d deserved her grandmother’s anger, but she considered what Ethan said. “Do you think so?”
“Either that or she was a monster.” He glanced down at her. “Was she a monster?”
“She was stern, but…” Mei Lin went back to that day. She’d been a child, but getting lost, and then getting in trouble, made the memory vivid. “Perhaps you’re right.”
“Maybe, maybe not. But if that’s why you always say that about yourself—”
“What do I say?”
“That you’re more trouble than you’re worth.”
Oh. She had said that a few times, hadn’t she?
He took her hand and squeezed. “You’re priceless, so obviously, you can’t be more trouble than you’re worth.”
Her gaze dropped to the ground. “Not really.” Perhaps her grandmother hadn’t been kind to say those words, but that didn’t mean they weren’t true.
He stopped and faced her, as if they had nothing better to do than have a conversation in the middle of town. “Yes, really.”
“You’re…” She couldn’t think of the English word. “When you like something, so you don’t see it clearly.”
“The fact that I love you doesn’t make me biased, Mei Lin. You’re priceless because Jesus says so. And I happen to agree. I would sacrifice all that I am and all that I have for you. Okay?”
Her eyes filled, and she looked away.
A small part of her—maybe not that small—wanted to argue. But Jesus had paid for her with His life. And Ethan was here, in a tiny village in the mountains of China, just because she’d needed him.
“Okay?” He seemed to be waiting for a response.
“If you say so.”
“Me and Jesus.” He tugged her along beside him. “We’re never wrong.”
“Ha.” But the fake laugh came with real tears, which she swiped away. She didn’t understand this man, not even a little.
Ethan took out his phone again. When they turned a corner, it vibrated in his hand. Three short chirps followed. “Service.” He grinned. “Thank goodness.”
Across the street and set back from a row of shuttered storefronts, there was a little playground—a pair of swings on rusted chains, a merry-go-round, and a metal slide.