He pressed his palms to his eye sockets until his eyes hurt, but then he let his hands drop away, and he was staring at her glass again. There was only a millimeter or two of water left, and when it was dry, the likelihood of her filling it was basically zero.
What should he do? He couldn’t let her go, and he couldn’t marry her. But he couldn’t let her marry Quan, either. None of the available options were acceptable.
He clenched his jaw and shot to his feet. That meant he had to find another option. And he knew just the one.
* * *
• • •
Tomorrow was the big day, and Kh?i hadn’t called or tried to see Esme even once.
If he was willing to let her marry his brother, he couldn’t be jealous.
Quâ
n was wrong.
Just as she thought of him, Quân strode into the restaurant. Her chest constricted when she saw the large garment bag thrown over his shoulder.
She could guess what that was, and it made her palms sweat.
He set it down on the table and aimed a lopsided smile at her. “Vy borrowed this for you.”
Esme wiped her hands on her apron. After looking at him to confirm it was okay, she reached for the zipper and pulled it down.
Gauzy folds of cloth spilled out of the bag, and she gasped and covered her mouth. It was Sara’s ten-thousand-dollar Vera Wang gown.
Quân chuckled at her reaction. “It turns out booking wedding venues last minute is pretty nuts. You kinda have to take what you can get, and what I got was San Francisco City Hall—the couple who reserved it had some massive breakup and canceled yesterday. You’re going to want to dress up.”
“It is nice?”
“Yeah, pretty nice,” Quân said with another laugh.
She pulled her hands away from the dress and wiped her palms over her apron again. She knew he’d mentioned marrying her if Kh?i didn’t figure out his feelings, but he couldn’t mean it. Why would he want to marry her? He didn’t know anything about her.
With a wrinkle of her lips, she zipped the garment bag back up. “You should cancel the wedding and return this to Sara. Anh Kh?i did not call me. Don’t waste your money.”
“Can’t. I already paid for city hall, and your family are on their way, remember?” His eyes gleamed as he aimed a clever smile at her, distracting her from the spark of desperate joy that came when she thought of seeing her girl after so long. “Besides, if you look happy because I’m spoiling you, he’ll get even more jealous.”
“More?” A bad taste filled her mouth. It was clear that he wasn’t jealous at all.
Quân stepped close and tilted his head as he looked at her. “He’s totally jealous over you. You know that, right?”
She stared at him without answering.
“I meant it when I said I’d marry you,” Quân said. “It’d just be a temporary thing, anyway. I’ll do my thing, and you’ll do yours. Separate rooms. We can divorce when the time comes.”
“But . . .” She shook her head in bemusement. “Why help me?”
A sad smile stretched over his lips. “Because I’m his big brother, and I need to make things right.” Then his smile warmed and reached his eyes. “And I like you and want to see you make it. It’s a small thing for me to do, but it means a lot to you, right?”
The breath seeped out of her, and all she could say was, “Yes.” It was everything to her.
He pushed the dress back toward her. “Really, it’s not a big deal to me, and my mom loves having you help at the restaurant. I don’t see any downside to this.”
Tension built up inside. She had to tell him. He deserved to know. She stared down at the garment bag, unsure if she should pull it closer or push it away. It depended on how he reacted to what she was going to say. “I have a little girl. Jade. She was home. In Vi?t Nam. Kh?i . . .” She bit her lip and ran her finger along the zipper. “He does not know about her.”
When a long moment of silence passed, she peeked up and found Quân smiling at her. She saw no judgment in his eyes. “I like kids.”