Chapter Twenty-Five

“Hey, what’s up?” Mai placed her phone on speaker and moved back to the stove top to take Yvonne’s call.

“Whatcha doing?”

“Heating up some leftovers.”

“You have any Thanksgiving plans?”

“Tomorrow is dedicated to sweatpants, coffee, and the parade.”

Yvonne’s cough echoed in the apartment. “Sorry. This damn virus won’t go away.”

Mai turned off the flame under her soup pot. “You sound wet. Did you do your nebulizer?” A tickle of sweat ran down between Mai’s shoulder blades. “Do you need me to come out there?”

“Yes, I did. And no. You need to finish out your contract.”

Mai ran her hand through her hair. “Why the hell did you let me say yes to this job? I hate it. And it reminds me every day why I split with Charlene. She’s so rude. How did I not see what a jerk she is?”

“You didn’t even tell me about the job until you’d signed on. What the hell was I supposed to say? Oh no, Mai, don’t make a fuckton of money? And about Charlene, would have you have listened?”

“I’m an idiot. I hate this. I hate being here. All I want is to be back in Sikesville.”

“You mean back with Dale.” Yvonne’s tone was arch.

“That’s over.” Mai winced and picked at the countertop with her nail.

“Because she said so? Or because you bailed?”

“I bailed. And she didn’t give me a chance to explain. She was super angry about the extra money I sent.”

“Okay, let’s review here.”

Mai rolled her eyes at Yvonne’s teacher voice.

“You act like you’re too broke to rent a place and take her up on her offer to live in her house. Even after you start dating her you don’t come clean about your finances. You tell her you love her. She says she cares. Then you take a job, without talking to anyone about it. She says she loves you and you say, that’s great and all, but I’m leaving for three months to make a show with lots of pretend flirting with my ex and I have to act like we are back together so the audience can believe we are together again. And then you send her ‘extra’ to cover unspecified services like she’s a call girl.”

Mai flushed. “It sounds so bad when you put it that way.”

“’Cause it is bad.” Yvonne’s tone gentled. “Jiĕjie, don’t fuck this up. Try again. Explain about the money. Give her another chance. Give yourself one too. You love her. Don’t give up easy. We have plenty of money. You need to relax about it. We will be fine. Hell, even if the restaurant never makes a dime and you didn’t work another day in your life, you would have enough money. We’ll have enough.”

Mai ’s phone buzzed with a text. She moved the phone away from her ear to read the screen. Her pulse rate rocketed.

“I have to go.” Mai tapped out a return text as she raced toward the bedroom and the shower.

“You okay?”

“I might be. Love you. I’ll text later.”

“Wait, what?”

Mai thumbed off the call and tossed her phone on the bed and stripped off her clothes as she turned on the shower.