The Scavenger's Daughters (Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters, Book One) (12 page)

Sadly, he was right about that much. They had been seeing each other for over a month and so far all she knew was that Jet was in training to take on his own position in a year or two, something involving working with the community, he’d told her. She tried to talk herself out of falling so hard, and on the way to the park had searched her memories for reasons he wasn’t a good catch. First, he smoked.
But so did most of the boys and men in China
. Second, he was maybe just a little bit arrogant.

Finally the only other thing she could find as a mark against him was her usual disdain for boys her age from the upper classes.
But unless he was a great actor, he wasn’t anything like the ones she’d met before!
She bit her lip,
shaking her head at herself. To have fallen for someone like Jet was embarrassing and so unlike her—but she couldn’t help herself.

She looked up and spotted him on a blanket under a tree at the top of the hill. He stood and brushed his hands off on his jeans. She waved and he waved back. Even from a distance she could see the handsome lines of his face—his strong jaw and white teeth.

“Ni hao!”
he called out, then reached up and smoothed his hair back. Linnea liked that he hadn’t followed the latest trend of the long, shaggy style for guys but instead kept his hair neatly trimmed.

Linnea blushed at the huge smile that spread across his face. She picked up the pace and ran up the rest of the way, almost barreling into Jet at the top. She wasn’t worried that he wouldn’t catch her; unlike some his age, Jet carried himself on broad shoulders and a tall frame.

He caught her in his arms. “Whoa, there.”

Linnea pulled away, though reluctantly. Other than a few crushes and some careless flirting, this was her first taste of something real—and she couldn’t ignore the sparks his touch sent rushing through her.

“
Ni hao,
Jet.” Linnea was still shy around him, though with each date she got a bit more comfortable. She didn’t understand why such a handsome and successful guy was interested in her—basically a poor orphan working on the street.

“How’s my little designer doing?” he teased.

Linnea laughed. “It’s going slow, but I think I might make a profit at the end of the month!”

She was still surprised at that discovery. From a bicycle repairwoman to a small shop owner—it was all such a fluke. The day she’d met Jet, she had told him about her dream of designing vintage T-shirts. Over their tea that turned into a long two hours stretching into the lunch hour, she’d described taking old subway tickets and street signs and using them for inspiration. She loved combining the old with the new and had so many more ideas to bring to life. When she’d showed him her sketches, Jet had been impressed enough to use his contacts to find her someone who’d sell her shirts at a great
wholesale price. Then he’d also loaned her the start-up funds to open a small kiosk. From the local Internet shop, she’d found someone in Beijing to do the screen printing and she was suddenly a businesswoman! It was hard work but for the last few weeks she had felt more alive than she had in years. She was doing something with her own brain—not just getting her hands greasy on bicycle tires. Right now it was only a small rolling cart with cables to drape shirts on, but it was profitable and someday she hoped to have a real store.

Jet grabbed her hands and pulled her down on the blanket. He began to unload a basket, pulling out small cardboard boxes of every size.

“Earth to Linnea… Okay, dreamer, you can tell me more later. I can see you’ve got some more ideas floating around in that pretty head of yours. Can you slow down long enough to eat lunch? My
ayi
packed it and just wait to see what all we’ve got here.”

Linnea didn’t answer. She was glad to see the bounty of food but was still embarrassed when he mentioned having house help. What he didn’t understand was that she would be fortunate to find work as an
ayi
herself. A job as a housekeeper for a rich family would be a dream come true, because then she could make enough that her Ye Ye would no longer have to work.

Jet stopped pulling out boxes and looked at Linnea, his brow puckered together.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “You have a strange look on your face.”

Linnea laughed uncomfortably. She couldn’t help but see the huge difference in their lifestyles just with the array of food he’d brought. “I’m fine. But that’s a lot of food for just two people!”

“Oh, we’ll eat it. Don’t worry about that.” Jet began opening the top flaps of the food boxes, showing small pieces of watermelon, lumps of rice, loquats and even chunks of spicy pork. Linnea’s mouth watered at the feast before her. She picked up the box of spicy pork and inhaled. She had been eating only noodles for weeks now and she would never complain, but to see something different made her smile. Jet handed her a wooden set of chopsticks and they dug in.

“Okay, now let’s talk. How’s business?” he asked.

“It’s good.” She blushed. “Thank you so much for the loan, Jet. I’ve got everything I need and many of my old customers are coming to me now to see what I’m selling.”

“Well, see, it’s all about how you treat people. You made an impression on them and now they want you to succeed!”

Linnea smiled. “Yeah, and some of them still want me to fix their tires! But anyway, I should be able to pay you back really soon.” This was the first time she’d ever borrowed money and the burden of owing someone weighed heavily on her. She couldn’t wait to hand him the last of it and have it paid back in full.

Jet shook his head. “No, I told you that I don’t want you to make any payments until you’ve made a profit for at least six consecutive months. That was our deal. And it’s a good one.”

She lowered her eyes. “Good deal for me—not so much for you.”

“Good for me, too! I get to hang out with the prettiest designer in town. And you’ve given me something worthy to spend my money on for the first time in my life. Just think, you are helping me grow up and make adult decisions.” He winked at her.

They were in their own happy little world, and it was as if they were the only ones in the park as they laughed and ate until she felt she would pop. Each time she stopped putting food in her mouth, Jet would hand her another box to try. Finally she took the last sip of her yogurt drink and set it down.

“No more. Please.” She sighed and held her stomach.

“Me, too.” Jet flopped down on his back and pulled Linnea down to lie beside him.

“
Xie xie
, Jet. That was the best lunch I’ve had in a very long time.” She eyed the leftovers from the corner of her eye and felt a pang of guilt knowing her sisters would love to have just a morsel of what she had devoured. She wondered if he would offer her the leftovers.

“No thanks needed. You don’t eat enough. You’re too skinny,” he teased, grabbing her hand and tracing her slender fingers with his own.

She let him fill her up with the nonsense. What girl didn’t like to hear how skinny she was, after all? He finally stopped and they were quiet for a moment, enjoying the balmy day.

“Linnea, I want to ask you something.” Jet sat up and his face took on a serious expression.

She cringed. She still had not told him much about herself. She felt she had a better chance of keeping him if she remained mysterious. After all, who would want to date a girl whose own mother didn’t want to keep her? Now he was going to ask and she dreaded telling him the truth.

“What?” she asked hesitantly, avoiding meeting his eyes. Under his intense gaze she felt so exposed, as if he could see right through her.

“I don’t know much about you.”

Linnea sighed. She knew what was coming. Now he would want to know everything and would never want to see her again.

“So what’s your favorite color?” he asked, twirling a blade of grass between his lips.

Linnea let out a loud laugh. Color? That’s all he wanted to know? That was easy. She could handle questions like that all day.

“Blue. Like the color of the water in an exotic ocean.”

He laughed. “How do you know about exotic oceans?”

“It’s in a book my Nai Nai reads to us.” Linnea smiled, thinking of their almost-nightly ritual of bedtime stories that she liked to pretend she was too old for but really loved. Most of their stories were old Chinese folktales or legends taken from history, but sometimes their Nai Nai bent to the whims of the latest fads. Just last month Peony and the other girls had been spellbound on the nights they’d read from the famous British series of Harry Potter. Their Ye Ye had scooped the series up from the Chinese knockoff market and, in the last book, they’d all laughed at the Chinese rendition of Harry and his Chinese circus acrobat sidekick named Naughty Bubble, and their adventures traveling to China to track down Chinese Porcelain Doll to stop Yandomort. Her Nai Nai had barely gotten through it without rolling her eyes at the silliness of what she’d called unbelievable sorcery.

“Hmm… you always talk about your Nai Nai. What about your mother?”

Linnea felt a wave of uneasiness. There it was—the question. She had thought she was off the hook, so it hit her like a ton of bricks. But suddenly Linnea was tired of always trying to find excuses or make up lies about her story. For once she wondered what it would feel like if she just said it. What was the worst that could happen? Jet would leave and never come back, and if he did that—then maybe he wasn’t as perfect as she thought anyway.

She sat up and took a deep breath. She looked him straight in the eye.

“My mother left me when I was little.”

Jet looked taken aback and sat up quickly.

“What? Left? What do you mean?”

“Left. Abandoned—whatever word you want to use. It all means the same. She didn’t want me.”

“I’m so sorry. But you don’t live in an orphanage, right?”

Linnea couldn’t hide the sharp intake of breath. To most in China, being abandoned automatically made people think the person lived in an institution. And if they thought someone lived in an institution, many jumped to the conclusion that the person had mental issues. Even the thought of being branded as institutionalized made her feel sick.

Jet cringed. “Never mind, I didn’t mean—”

Linnea held her hand up. “No. It’s not your fault. Let me finish. I’ve never told anyone this and I’m ready to finally say it. My mother didn’t want me. She kept me until I was three years old and then she left me sick and alone in the meat market. A scavenger found me and took me home. He and his wife nursed me back to health and have taken care of me since. He is my Ye Ye and she is my Nai Nai. I’m not proud of my birth story, but it is what it is.”

She lifted her chin proudly. She’d done it. She had told the truth. She silently dared him to say anything about her beloved Ye Ye or try to say he wasn’t a man of honor because of his trade. She knew no other man in the
world could be as kind and loving as her Ye Ye and she was ashamed that she had at first been hesitant to talk of him.

Jet took her hands in his and brought them to his lips. The soft touch of his mouth on her skin sent a shiver all through her.

“Linnea, I don’t care whose daughter you are. I only care about you, don’t you know that? I’m glad you told me so I can share your pain with you. I can see in your eyes when you talk about your mother that she hurt you very badly. You don’t have to carry your sorrow alone. If you let me, I’ll help you carry it.”

Linnea hung her head and one tiny tear made its way down her face. Jet reached up and rubbed it away with his thumb.

“Nai Nai tells me my mother probably loved me so much she was willing to leave me for someone to find me who could pay for me to see a doctor. Turned out I didn’t need a doctor but that doesn’t change what happened.”

“Now, no more sad stories. I brought a kite! Let’s get it up in the air and see who can keep it up longer. You in?” He nudged her chin up so he could look her in the eyes.

Linnea felt a heavy weight lift from her heart as Jet pulled her to her feet. Maybe this new thing she had found was real. And maybe—
a tiny chance of a maybe
—it could be something meaningful. She had always thought herself unworthy but could she be wrong? She didn’t want to jinx herself, so instead of pondering that thought too much, she grabbed the kite and took off running, letting Jet chase her down the rolling hill.

Linnea walked home from the park in a daze. She didn’t know what being in love was supposed to be like, but if the goofy, weightless feeling she was experiencing was it, she didn’t want it to end. Because of him she had done something she’d never done before—danced. She still couldn’t believe that he had talked her into waltzing along with the senior citizens at the square.
They had only walked up to watch and Linnea was mesmerized and amazed that despite their bland, Mao-style clothes of dark blue pants and jackets, the old men guided their partners around the square as gracefully as anything she had ever seen. Some of them were at least as old as her Ye Ye and Nai Nai, making it even more romantic that they appeared lost in another world, oblivious to the sounds of traffic and people around them. When Jet had grabbed her hand and led her to the middle of the couples, Linnea had tried to refuse, but the smiles and laughs of approval all around her, along with Jet’s insistence, had kept her there, and surprisingly she had been able to follow his lead. She sighed as she thought it had to be the most magical moment of her life so far.