“Well, this will be fun!” I grinned.
Five more tablemates, a family visiting from Sweden, joined us. The parents, two teenage daughters, and a much younger son also ordered the specialty of the house. They were promptly kitted out with the bibs, which featured a drawing of a cheerfully smiling crab.
“The crab wouldn’t be smiling if he knew what his fate was!” said the father, Max. We learned that his petite, dark-haired wife was French by birth and that they were in Singapore on their way to Hong Kong. They spoke English as well, so conversation was no problem.
Our group was chatting happily, anticipating who would complete our table, when our server entered with another couple. Imagine my surprise when it was our new friend Jasper, along with a stunning blonde!
“Hello, Anna-Plus-Alisa and Miss Fontana! I was hoping to run into you here before our dessert assignment. Please meet Diana.”
Girlfriend? I looked at Auntie Lil.
Well, I wasn’t expecting to be on a date with him, after all.
He continued.
“My business dinner has been pushed to breakfast tomorrow, but I did invite one of the chaps who would be attending along with us. Here he is now—Mate, here we are!” Jasper looked out the door and waved another diner toward our room.
The table turned to watch a dark-haired, dark-eyed man walk in, squint, and survey the table. My heart caught a beat.
It was the man who ran me down in the bookstore at the airport in Denver!
Chapter Fifteen
This was the type of thing that only happened in the movies. Two people meet in a random situation in Act One, then mysteriously run into each other again in, what, Act Two? I wondered if he remembered me.
As he, Jasper, and the model-perfect Diana moved around the table, I wondered what seat he would take.
Yikes! He sat next to me! My heart started to beat hard.
I remembered the famous line from the movie An Affair to Remember: “All I could say was hello.” I took a deep breath and turned toward him.
“Hello.” I hoped my tone was sufficiently calm. I waited for his response. The first words out of his mouth would be so important.
“What? Yes ... hello.” He had turned toward me but had barely looked up from the menu, threw out those three words, then looked back at the menu.
That’s it? I stared ahead for a moment, not knowing what to think. Did he not remember me? Did he remember me and purposely want to ignore me? Did—
Whoa, Annalise. There I was doing it again. Overthinking. I’d give him a moment to choose his meal, then try again. He closed the large menu, and I thought that was my chance.
“So, the chili crab is supposed to be the best here, I heard—” I began.
“Oh, I’m not having that.” He cut me off.
Hmm. Not very polite.
Jasper leaned across our uncommunicative tablemate to me and added, “I suspect my friend is afraid to get his shirt dirty, Annalise.”
“Oh, come on, we’re all having it.” I attempted to draw him out.
“Do you always follow the crowd?” he asked with a tone. Where was the attractive smile I had seen in the Denver bookstore? Was this man the sullen twin brother of that other one?
“Well, no.” I pulled back myself. “But I don’t choose to deny myself something just BECAUSE others are having it, either.”
Jasper laughed heartily at that.
“She has you there, chap!”
Humph. Was rudeness going to be a theme? Well, I wasn’t going to let that ruin my evening. I turned to Auntie Lil.
“What’s up, buttercup?” she asked with a smile.
“The guy to my left? The only one without a bib at the table?” I said.
“Yes?”
“He’s the fellow I ran into at the airport in Denver.”
“Really!” Auntie leaned over to get a better look. I pulled her back.
“Not so obvious, Auntie!”
“Oh, don’t be so worried. He’s not looking this way now. Wait, now I see him. Well ... he’s very nice looking.” She paused and attempted to be a bit more covert. “You could get lost in those eyes. I wonder what has made him so sad.”
“Sad? You mean sullen, don’t you?”
“I don’t think so, dear.” She shook her head. “He doesn’t strike me as a mean person.”
I gave him a sidewise glance as he was listening to Jasper and nodding. I guess he was smiling the first time I met him. Maybe I’d give conversation another shot.
“So ...” I began.
He turned to me, unsmiling, but I continued. “What brings you to Singapore?”
“Business.”
Did he think he had to pay per word in this conversation? I wasn’t sure if I should follow up on that or wait for further discussion. I decided to follow up.
“What type of business?” I decided to smile, thinking that he might mirror my expression.
“High tech.” Still no smile.
Oh forget it. No matter how nice looking this fellow was, he wasn’t worth this much work. I turned to my other side and joined in the conversation that Auntie Lil, Dieter, and Elke were having about what group was truly the “Group of Death” in the upcoming World Cup.
“Annalise, solve this for us,” said Auntie Lil.
“Seriously? You know that as much as I love watching soccer—”
“Fútbol” corrected Dieter with a grin.
“Futbol ... with you, I am not as passionate about it. Sorry, Dieter, I’m an American football lover.”
“What shall I do with her?” Auntie Lil shook her head. My aunt was so well rounded. Not only was she a woman of many talents, she also had many interests—opera, literature, basketball, even World Cup soccer.
As we moved from sports to movies, a fleet of servers entered with our dinners. For those who had ordered chili crab—i.e., everyone except the sulky man to my left—a deep cast-iron pot was set before each of us containing a formidable crab in a sizzling sauce accompanied by baskets of small, appetizing buns. To the side of our settings were a small hammer and other lethal-looking instruments that looked more suited for dentistry.
“What now?” I murmured to my aunt.
We both watched as the more experienced at the table attacked their crustaceans, cracking them open and retrieving the delicate meat within.
“Okay, here goes!” I said and attacked my own.
How delicious!
And how messy!
My hands—and I knew my cheeks and chin—were soon dripping with the delicious sauce.
“Did I steer you wrong?” asked Jasper, across his reserved friend, who was calmly enjoying some sort of noodle dish.
“Not at all,” I said.
“Don’t forget to dip the bread in the sauce,” he urged.
I dipped. It was heavenly. I turned to Auntie Lil, who had already done the same and was signaling for the server to bring more bread.
“This is so good!” I said as I picked up a leg to crack it open. It was being stubborn, and I gave it a rather hard squeeze to extract the meat. I was successful, but it didn’t land on my plate. By the gasps, I knew it landed exactly where I wouldn’t have wanted it to land.
I cringed as I turned to my left and saw that Jasper’s friend was decorated in not only my crabmeat, but also a large splotch of his wine, which had spilled onto his shirt when he tried to catch the crab flying toward him. While the colors merged to make a lovely design, I sensed that he was not interested in modern art on his tailored button-front shirt.
“Oops?” I said tentatively. “I guess that’s why they give out bibs?”
The rest of the table laughed, but he was obviously not in the mood for a joke. He scraped his chair back, stood, and threw his napkin on his plate. Reaching in his wallet, he drew out some Singapore dollars to hand to Jasper.
“No, no, Mate, no worries,” Jasper said. “This one shouldn’t be on you.”
When he realized what he’d said, he had diff
iculty holding back a smile. The rest of the table had trouble maintaining composure as well. Jasper’s friend threw the money on his chair and walked to the door.
“I’ll see you in the morning, Pennock.”
And with that, he stormed away.
We were silent.
“What made him so crabby?” asked the youngest of the Swedish crew, not aware of what he’d said until the rest of the table burst into laughter. Everyone went back to talking.
“I’m so sorry, Jasper,” I grimaced.
“Truly no worries. Mistakes happen.”
“But he already seemed so ...”
“Brooding? Grim? Gloomy?”
“Wow! I wasn’t going to use any of those words, but okay.”
Jasper took a deep breath.
“Annalise, he’s had a long day today. You’ll forgive him.”
I sensed that there was something more, but Jasper wasn’t sharing.
“Forgive me,” Dieter broke in, “but that is who I think it is, right?”
“Who?” I looked from him to Jasper.
“That’s Eli Chamberlain, isn’t it?” asked the Swede. “I thought he looked familiar.”
“Again, who?”
“He’s the wunderkind from Graviton Gaming. You know, the Nuon gaming system.”
Graviton Gaming? Oh! Right. The Nuon was the newest, hottest gaming system, outselling Nintendo, PlayStation, and all others. Every gamer I knew (specifically those in my own family) had salivated for one for Christmas, and those stylized, interlocking Gs were a fixture across the country—no, across the world.
So that was the inventor of the Nuon. I vaguely remembered his story. Something about being a prodigy of sorts at CalTech and turning down a job at Microsoft to start his own company. You’d think that working in high-tech marketing, I would know more about this, but I was not well versed in the gaming world.
“What’s he doing here?” Dieter asked Jasper.
Jasper concentrated on his crab and attempted to avoid the question.
“I suspect our tablemate has gone off to change his shirt, compliments of Miss Fontana here.”
Smooth. Neither confirm nor deny that the gentleman was Eli Chamberlain.
“Graviton!” said our youngest tablemate. “Is it true that they’re working on a hover skateboard?”
“Well, I’d be the first to line up to ride one of those. Are you a skateboarder?” asked Auntie Lil, neatly deflecting the question and starting a different conversation.
I looked at Jasper, who kept his focus on his crab.
Hmm. I suspect that it would not be good to let it be known that Eli Chamberlain—if that was him—was seen being volatile in a restaurant for whatever reason. Well, not for me to dig any further. I turned back to my crab, a little more careful with my attempts to extract the meat.
After we were all done with our meals, and the carnage lay before us to prove it, the servers returned to clean away the plates and hand us all wonderfully scented, warm, damp towels to wipe our hands and faces. We paid for our meals and traded contact information, promising to keep in touch after returning to our home countries.
Auntie Lil, Jasper, the gorgeous Diana, and I left the bustling restaurant to stroll down the esplanade in search of the dessert spot that Jasper had in mind.
“I’m not sure that I can eat dessert,” said Auntie Lil.
“Oh, you’ll like this,” said Diana, taking her by the arm and walking ahead of Jasper and me.
Jasper took my arm, and the four of us looked like a companionable family as we strolled among the other tourists.
“I’m really sorry about splattering your friend with my dinner,” I began.
“Please, Annalise. He’s probably forgotten about it already.”
“He didn’t look like he would forget about it.”
“Seriously. He’s a good chap. Today has been a long day for him. I encourage you to not think about it any further.”
“Is that really Eli Chamberlain?” I asked.
We walked a few steps in silence.
“I’m going to tell you, but you must please not let it get any further. He wouldn’t want a story about that incident in the tabloids. Yes, it was him.”
“If he didn’t want people to know he was out and about, then why was he in such a public place?” Really. Paparazzi are everywhere. Even high-tech geeks know that!
“He is generally not recognized since he rarely is photographed. I think his PR team would like him to be out and about more, but he keeps to himself quite a bit. As a Chinese American, he is even more anonymous when he travels in Asia.”
He had a point. The only way that he would stick out is if there were some sort of incident ... oh, right, like if someone spilled food and wine all over him. Like what I did.
“Now I feel worse!” I stopped and moaned.
“Come now. It’s over. He’ll be laughing about it.”
I looked at him skeptically. He pushed me ahead.
“Well, maybe he won’t exactly be laughing about it, but he’ll get over it, and so should you! Look, we’re at our dessert destination.”
We had caught up with Diana and Auntie Lil. They were already in a line that snaked toward a tiny shop advertising “Japanese ice cream.”
“What’s Japanese ice cream?” I asked.
“Frozen deliciousness, according to Diana,” said Auntie Lil.
“Exactly,” said Diana. “Now, we’re only 30 people back—”
“Only!” My eyebrows shot up.
“Oh yes! Sometimes there can be about 100 people in line,” said Jasper.
“Wow! It must be good.” I grinned.
“It is,” nodded Diana, “so start thinking about what flavor you want. And think outside the box of chocolate and vanilla. They have lychee, curry, cactus, shrimp ...”
We discussed the various unique flavors, and I didn’t have time to worry about the inscrutable Eli Chamberlain.
Chapter Sixteen
Day Two in Singapore promised to be another sunny, hot one. Our hotel was two blocks from a lovely church, so we were able to walk to Sunday Mass with no problem. Afterward, we walked back to the open-air food court next to our hotel that promised typical Singaporean fare. We were looking forward to breakfast.
“This is quite different from cornflakes and milk, isn’t it?” I said to Auntie Lil as we sat down at a small picnic table to enjoy fried rice, egg rolls, and a chicken dish.
“Mm-hmm,” she answered as she simultaneously chewed and pulled out the list of activities she’d made. “We need to get a jump on our day if we want to see all the sights I have planned for today.”
She pulled out a highlighter pen from seemingly nowhere and drew a route on the map.
“Let’s hop on our trusty red bus and get over to the Singapore Flyer first. What do you think?”
My lack of answer caused her to pop her head up. She saw what I saw. Eli Chamberlain was striding purposefully toward our table.
“What do I say to him, Auntie?” I asked from the corner of my mouth.
“I think you start with ‘good morning,’ dear. ‘Good evening’ wouldn’t do at all, don’t you think?” she said with practicality.
I glared at her.
“I’m just trying to help.” Her innocent face belied her smart-alecky tone.
“Good morning, ladies,” he said.
Auntie Lil kicked me quietly.
“Good morning,” we replied.
“That’s a nice shirt,” I said, trying to start a polite conversation.
His head tilted, and his lips began to turn up into a slight smile.
Oh. Right.
My face must have turned as red as the bottle of hot sauce on the picnic table in front of us.
“I mean ...” I turned to Auntie Lil for assistance. She was not offering any. Traitor.
“Don’t worry,” he said as his smile turned a bit more sardonic. “I won’t be sending you any cleaning bills from last night. As a matt
er of fact, that’s why I came over when I saw you here, to tell you that you’re forgiven.”
“That I’m forgiven?”
“Yes. I realize that you couldn’t help your behavior.”
“My ... behavior?”
My face was still red, but now it wasn’t from embarrassment. It was more from a different emotion.
“You seem upset,” he said, and his dark eyebrows bent into a V.
“No. I’m not upset. Confused is more like it.”
“Confused?”
“Yes. I apologized last night for the mistake that caused the stain on your shirt, but today you imply that I was engaging in some sort of wild, reckless behavior.”
Auntie Lil tugged at my sleeve, but I was already on a roll.
“So I’m confused as to why you feel that you had to ride over here on your high horse and lower yourself to give me some sort of royal pardon.”
He pulled himself straighter, and any evidence of a smile disappeared. His ebony eyes flashed.
“So sorry to have disappointed you with my outreach of ... friendship.”
Auntie Lil once again attempted to break in, but I ignored her.
“You call that friendship!” I stood my full height, which was still a full head shorter than Eli’s. “I don’t need friends like you!”
“Fine!” he stared down at me for a moment, then turned to Auntie Lil.
“Good morning to you, Miss.”
With that, he whirled about and strode off.
I plopped back down on the bench and crossed my arms.
“I guess that will show him,” Auntie Lil said.
“What?” I whirled around to face her.
“Well, dear, just what did you accomplish?”
“I ... he ...”
Auntie Lil began to gather her materials and shouldered her tote bag.
“Annalise, I know what you were thinking, but would it have killed you to swallow your Fontana pride for just a minute?”
“You don’t understand!”
“Oh, I understand only too well, sweetie. You just couldn’t let it go. Even for someone you probably won’t see again in an eon. Was it worth it?”
“Yes,” I said petulantly.
She sat down next to me and put her arm around my shoulder, and waited.
Passports and Plum Blossoms Page 10
