Page 82 of The Other Side of Together

“He’s certain he will. And I’m certain the restaurant will close soon and we will be sent back to Taiwan.” She looks at her feet. “I’m glad, because I want my life back too. I want nothing more to do with this one and I want you far away from it too.”

I blink as the words pelt my head, a few soaking in. Arrests. Restaurant closing. Taiwan. It’s not home anymore, but it’s far from memories. From Nick. From things I want but can’t have.

“I’ll come with you,” I blurt and Mama stares at me, then shakes her head.

“No, Mei Li.”

“Why?” I whisper. “I have to leave, anyway. I might as well—”

“No.” Mama says firmly, then takes a deep breath and sits on the bed beside me, careful not to touch me. “I’ve been sent to find you and bring you home immediately but if you ask me what I think you should do, I would tell you to listen very carefully to Guo Mama’s plan.”

“But what about Baba? What’s he going to do?” My voice is horse.

“You owe that man nothing.” She looks right at me for the first time in days. “He’s not who either of us thought he was.” She sets the envelope on my lap and stares into the room, tears trembling in the corner of her eyes before she turns to me and gives me a tight smile, her eyes searching my face.

“I must go. Do as Guo Mama says and you will be safe. I will find out how you are doing through her.” Her voice breaks and she stands and walks toward the door, then stops, her back to me, hand on the knob. “When you read what’s inside that envelope, please know I have no regrets because what I gave up brought you here and what you found here lets me know it was worth it. I love you.” She glances over her shoulder, then opens the door.

I swallow the lump of tears suspended in my swollen throat and choke out, “Wait! You could come with me.”

She steps back into the room, gripping the doorjamb. “I can’t. But we will see each other again, I know it.”

The stairs creak as she hurries down them, and I stare at the empty doorway, then blink my focus to the manila envelope. Picking it up like it might ignite any minute, I pry open the clasp and slide out the stack of papers and folders.

My passport and my CALC folder land on top and I stare at them. My notes…from Marcus. Notes I thought only Guo Mama, Marcus, and I knew about. They were hidden in my desk drawer…

My fingers hover over the pile before sweeping it aside to a stack of printed, stapled emails. Picking it up, I read the date: August 17, 2005. Scan the names: From Peter Mitchell to Huang, Jia Li. All from August, September, a few from October. I fan through them, my eyes skittering over page after page of emails between an eighteen-year-old Mama and a boy from Rhode Island, according to his first email, and when my eyes land on the word “pregnant”, I close the folder as if I shouldn’t know more, but a picture and a folded piece of paper falls out, floating to the floor.

I pick it up, my fingers trembling as I study the picture of a teenage boy with wavy, strawberry-blonde hair lying on a beach, smiling up at the camera, sunglasses reflecting the girl behind it. Frowning, I unfold the paper and scan the copy of a Facebook profile for Peter Mitchell, an older version of thesame guy from the picture, standing on a rocky shoreline with three blond kids. I study his face, his lopsided smile. I don’t recognize him, but I do recognize Mama’s handwriting at the top of the page, and the message drops into my stomach in a cold, hard lump:He doesn’t know about you, but you should know about him.

CHAPTER 32

Igive Dad maybe two sentences of information—how long I’ve been dating Mei and the thing Nick did to her that night in the alley. I leave out the thing he did to her last night or all the other times before. Or where she’s at now and what she’s told me about her situation because I just don’t know where this is all headed. In exchange, Dad answers my question about what, exactly, Nick has done. Without telling me the top secret, for-cop-eyes-and-ears only stuff, he confirms that Nick is at the center of the missing women case but there are others.

Okay, so…according to Mei, she and her family are undocumented and supposedly here because of Nick, but is there more? Is she more involved with Nick than she’s told me? Is she even who she says she is or is she trying to protect Nick and her family? The way she looks right now tells me otherwise, but I just don’t know.

“I need you to think really hard about what you’ve told me and make sure it’s everything because if something comes out later, you can forget college. So. One more time: is there anything you’re not telling me that you should?” Dad checksover his shoulder and changes lanes, then turns the corner faster than any law-abiding cop should.

I don’t even know what more to tell him because I don’t know what I’m involved with at this point. I could tell him about getting jumped by Nick’s guys. That Guo knows stuff, but it’s all too heavy to drag up and out of my mouth so I shake my head. “That’s it.”

Dad’s phone rings and he glances at the screen, then swears as he punches the button to answer. “Call you back in five.” He ends the call and stares straight ahead. “I’ve got to get to the station so I’m going to drop you off at The Clubhouse and you’re going to stay there and not answer the door, you understand? You cannot leave, no matter what, and you cannot talk to Mei Li. It’s dangerous for both of you. No discussion, no exception.”

I look out the window.

“Marcus?”

“Got it,” I say through a clenched jaw.

“When I get home, we’ll dig into everything else. All of it.”

He veers to the curb and I’m out of the car, inside our building, taking the stairs two at a time as questions chase me up them. Is Dad just doing this because he found out I’m with Mei? Should I have told him what happened to her? Should I be with Mei? Is it safe for us to leave or will someone follow us? Should I leave with her?

I burst through The Clubhouse door, slam it behind me, and back against it, scanning the living room. This isn’t home anymore. This is where Mei and I ended. Where I believed everything Dad said. I want to leave it all here and get out of San Francisco.

It’s so quiet, the clock ticks in my head, reminding me how long I’ve been gone from Mei. I pull out my phone and dial Guo’s number.

“Are you okay, boy?”

“Yeah. Just…so many things.” I rub my forehead and close my eyes. “Can I ask you a question and will you give me an honest answer?”

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