He got ice for his swollen eye and turned on the TV. He put his feet up and did a little channel surfing, volume low. He hoped Charlie would hear and come downstairs. He’d like an update on how Lin Su was doing.

He didn’t see them again that night.

Six

Lin Su crept around like a thief; she didn’t want to disturb Blake. He’d looked as though he needed sleep. She kept shushing Charlie. She lifted a chair at the kitchen breakfast bar rather than sliding it and warned him to be extra quiet. She didn’t want to avail herself of Blake’s food but there seemed no other option unless she wanted to walk with Charlie to the diner. His first morning at a new school was now awkward enough.

And how did you spend your summer vacation, Charlie?

Well, let’s see, I was chased by drug dealers and landed in the hospital and then my buddy, who is an Ironman by the way, beat them up after they ransacked and vandalized our trailer. He got hurt, but he got back my mother’s little treasures...

“Are you nervous about the school?” she asked in a whisper.

“A little bit,” he said with a shrug. “I don’t expect to have a hard time. I have my schedule. Cell phones have to be off and computers aren’t allowed.”

“Are you allowed to turn the phone on at lunch or anything? To text me that it’s going well?”

“You’re going to have to be very brave and wait for me to come home,” he said. Then he grinned his goofy grin.

She found granola in a canister on the counter and yogurt in the refrigerator. There was fruit in a bowl, blueberries in the fridge. No milk. She mixed granola and fruit with the yogurt for Charlie. Since she was going that far, she decided to help herself to tea and a muffin. She sniffed the tea cans and voilà...he had green tea! She didn’t make a sound as she filled the kettle and got out dishes.

She felt a giggle come to her lips. This Ironman on a training diet with all the überhealthy food didn’t live like any guy she’d ever known, not that there were many. Neat as a pin, all organic, healthy and pristine food... Where were the beer and chips?

“Try not to crunch so loudly,” she whispered to Charlie.

He moved his mouth very slowly, mocking her. How could his chewing wake Blake?

Then she heard footsteps and after just a few of them, Blake appeared coming up the stairs from the basement. He was sweaty, a towel draped around his neck.

“Good morning,” he said.

“You’re awake!”

“I’ve been awake for ages. I was on the bike for over an hour.”

“You were right down those stairs? Don’t you grunt or pant or anything? Doesn’t the bike make noise? Didn’t you have any breakfast?” she asked. There were no dishes on the counter or in the sink.

He waggled a banana skin at her. “The bike is quiet, isn’t it? It better be.” He mopped his face with the towel. “I didn’t hear you, either.”

“I thought you were asleep and warned Charlie to be quiet.” She peered at him and then winced. “Ew,” she said. “I’m so, so sorry. If Charlie hadn’t called you...”

“If Charlie hadn’t called me, we don’t know what might’ve happened. Except, we both know you wouldn’t have your things back. Charlie and I have an understanding—if he needs me, he’ll call me. It would be all right for you to do the same.”

“Please, could we not mention this to my employer?” she asked softly.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No, we have to be honest about this, Lin Su. These kind of secrets—they just don’t work. The fact is your house was broken into, damage was done, things were taken—it wasn’t your fault. You have a place to stay here for now. Be straightforward about that. It’s also not your fault I got a couple of bruises—that’s my doing. And it was really stupid of me to chase down those guys. I shouldn’t have. After seeing the mess they made I was so pissed off I did it without thinking.”

As usual, she was hiding all the wrong things. She didn’t want to talk about the fact that her treasures included a baby wristband, swatch of cloth, hair clip and two faux-gold coins given to her mother by her GI father. It made her feel like such a peasant.

“You’re right,” she said. “I’ll explain. Charlie, brush your teeth. I think Winnie will want to see you before you start your first day at a new school.”

“Can I leave my laptop upstairs? Or should I put it in the car?”

“Leave it upstairs,” Blake answered for her. “I’m going to swim, then run, but I should be around when school’s out. You won’t be separated from it any longer than necessary.”

“Thanks,” he said, jumping off his stool.

When he was gone, Lin Su began rinsing his dishes. “Mr.... Um, Blake,” she corrected. “I don’t expect you to understand this, it makes no sense, but when something goes wrong, like our trailer being vandalized like it was, it somehow makes me feel incompetent. Like a failure. As if I’m not capable of taking care of myself and my son. And Winnie is too generous. I guess she can afford to be, which is wonderful for her, especially now as she battles ALS. But just like it makes me feel like a failure when I can’t keep trouble from my door. I don’t like to take handouts.”

“I do understand, as a matter of fact. Your stubborn pride is familiar to me. But there are times—when the need is genuine and certainly not due to laziness or entitlement—you have to go with humility and gratitude, get on your feet and pay it forward. I’ve been there, Lin Su.”

She tilted her head. “You say things like that—that you understand being poor, that you’ve had your own hard times. Someday you’ll tell me what you mean by that.”

“Someday I will,” he said. “We actually have a lot in common even though I don’t have children. One of the things is this—we don’t get along all that well but I think we have a common mission and respect for each other. If I found myself suddenly homeless due to some misfortune I couldn’t control or prevent, you would offer to help me. You’d offer me a place to stay out of the cold and rain, no matter how little space you had to share. So let’s leave it at that. You’re no beggar. You had a bad day—I had extra room.”

We really should get along better than we do, she thought. “I’m very grateful,” she said. “Thank you. And if I get any more humble, I will be an ant.”

He grinned at that. It made him wince.

“You really got pummeled,” she said.

“Yeah,” he said, ducking away from her perusal. “I’m an idiot. Those guys are on meth. That means they have no brains and extraordinary strength. I knew before I chased the first guy what that could mean. I’m going to work on being smarter.”

“Do you get in many fights?” she asked.

“I can’t remember ever provoking one before, but if anyone asks, it was self-defense.” When she began adding dish soap to the water in the sink he stopped her. “Stick them in the dishwasher, Lin Su.”

“Listen,” she said. “I’m looking at a small loft in town today but I haven’t told Charlie. It’s very nice and might not fit my budget—we’ll have to see. I don’t want him to get his hopes up.”