“Don’t be ridiculous. This has nothing to do with—”
“You absolutely let my mother get in there and allowed her to fuck things up. That’s why you’re acting like this. She did this to you!”
“That’s crazy. And not true.”
“Okay. Then what did she say to you?”
“Nothing really. Just that . . . you know . . . she’d like to spend more time with you. Maybe travel together. It’s been a long time. She probably just wants to get to know her only daughter better.”
“Uh-huh. Was that how you felt immediately after the conversation? Or did you feel annoyed and pissed when she first left, but then you started thinking and wondering and worrying that maybe she was right?”
“I wouldn’t say—”
“Charlie.”
“Okay, maybe a little. I was mad, but I realized that she probably had a point.”
“Dear God, woman! That’s what she does! Like a brain-eating disease, my mother worms her way in and destroys from the inside. And you let her do it!”
“That’s not what happened.”
“It is! And do you know how I know that? Because she taught me how to do it. While I was in my crib, playing with live scorpions—”
“That still freaks me out,” Zé muttered.
“—that badger was teaching me how to fuck with people without raising a claw. It’s what she’s really good at. Better than stealing. Better than destroying her enemies. My mother knows how to get into someone’s head and before you know it, you’re covered in guilt and shame. That’s not even a honey badger thing!” Max admitted. “Most badgers just come at you like the infected in 28 Days Later. But not my mother.”
“Oh, my God.” Charlie leaned forward, dropped her head into her hands. She sat like that for about a minute until she finally admitted, “You’re right. That’s exactly what she did.”
“I know. I do it to Stevie all the time.”
“Yes, but you do it so she doesn’t wallow in her misery and then accidentally destroy the world. Not just to get what you want out of her.”
Berg, his brother, and their sister, Britta, came by with more bags of Chinese food. “So much food!” he complained. She knew the triplets were going to eat the majority of it with or without anyone’s help, but she’d let him live in denial.
“Your mother, however,” Charlie continued, “did it just because she wants you to be her jewelry-heist buddy and she wanted me to get you to do it.”
“Yeah,” Max told her. “That’s my mom. In fact, your mom told you that’s my mom. She told you to be prepared for that.”
“I can’t believe I fell for it.”
“It’s not surprising, really,” Zé reasoned. “You just don’t want your sisters to resent you for what you’ve had to do over the years to keep them and yourself alive. You made choices. Tough choices. But everybody does. Especially when you’re caring for others. The question is, were you doing it for a good reason? Because you cared and you wanted to keep them safe? Then you have nothing to feel bad about.”
After hearing that, Max couldn’t help but stare at him, wondering if he would see how that statement applied not only to Charlie but to his own grandfa—
“What?” Zé asked Max. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Nope. He didn’t see it at all. Typical.
chapter TWENTY-THREE
The dinner turned out to be a surprisingly relaxed event, which Zé hadn’t been expecting but was exactly what he needed.
Because he still didn’t understand why his grandfather had done it. Why he’d told him nothing. Why he’d allowed Zé to feel alone in the world when he could have been part of something much bigger. All those years of never fitting in, from grade school through high school through the Marines, Zé had always felt out of place. Off.
Yet sitting here, among all these strangers in a Queens house, he felt completely at home. He didn’t know why. He couldn’t say he had anything in common with anyone. Even Max. But that didn’t seem to matter to anyone. In fact, for the first half hour, once they’d all gotten their food and returned to the living room so they could have the TV on in the background as they ate, no one spoke. Not because anyone was angry or Charlie was still upset—if she was, she didn’t show it—but because they were eating. And wow, could all of them eat.
There was no talk of diet or workout regimes or anything else as they downed the Chinese food Max had brought back to the house; the majority smothered in honey—honey chicken and broccoli, honey garlic beef, honey General Tso’s chicken, honey shrimp and green beans. Max and the triplets seemed to enjoy all that while Zé and Charlie focused on the non-honey foods.
It never occurred to Zé that he would eat nearly as much as everyone else, but he did. Easily. And if he hadn’t stopped himself, he sensed he could have kept going.
Watching the triplets eat, though . . . That was interesting. There was some snarling and snapping when arms reached over or around to grab at cartons of food from the living room coffee table and it felt almost like the three siblings were preparing for hibernation. He wanted to ask if they actually were, but he didn’t want to be rude. Not when everyone was having a nice time.
When they’d mostly finished, except for the occasional nibble of the leftovers, Zé thought about asking Max if she wanted to go to a movie. Or maybe out for coffee. Someplace it could be just the two of them. But then Kyle came in through the front door and, without even a “hey,” went right through the house and out the back.
It wasn’t long after that Shen came in as well.
“You guys seen Kyle?” he asked, and then he spotted the food. “Ooooh. Is that from Honey Panda?”
“Yep. I got you bamboo chicken, bamboo beef, steamed bamboo, and bamboo fried rice. I put it in the fridge for when you got home.”
“You’re the best, Max. Thanks.”
“What do you need Kyle for?” Charlie asked.
“I’ve got to take him into the city.”
“Family dinner?” Max asked, snuggling close to Zé’s side before she explained, “Kyle hates family dinners.”
“Worse,” Shen replied, using his fingers to dig out whatever leftover chicken he could find in the General Tso’s container. “Surprise birthday party. Oriana and Stevie are waiting for him.”
Charlie snorted. “No one should be forced to go to any party, but especially a surprise birthday party.” She briefly made gagging sounds. “Can’t think of anything worse.”
“Even if it’s your birthday?” Shen asked.
“It’s not my birthday.”
“No. But it’s Kyle’s. It’s Kyle’s birthday. Actually, yesterday was Kyle’s birthday but the party is today.”
“It’s his birthday? Did you know this, Max?”
“No. But I can tell you in all honesty, I wouldn’t have cared even if I did know.”
“Ech,” Charlie said, dismissing her sister with a wave of her hand and getting to her feet.