“I think you’re making a mistake,” he said. “We’ve talked. She’s awesomely nice and we have a lot to talk about. She knows where we live, and she wants to know us. She feels terrible about the problems you had and hates that you didn’t get any help or support. She’s not a bad person!”

“Tell her that you’ve had a conversation with your mother, and if you still feel the same way when you’re eighteen, you can get in touch with her then. If she’s as awesome as you say, she’ll respect my wishes.”

He gave his head the slightest shake. He pushed his glasses up on his nose.

“Please,” she said.

“If that’s what you want,” he said.

She could tell she’d reached an impasse with her son, maybe the first one. He had no intention of obeying her. He was going to sneak! Lie to her!

“Charlie, if you defy me, we’re going to have trouble on this issue. If it’s in your best interest I won’t hesitate to quit my job and find us another place to live.”

He was stunned. “Because I got in touch with my aunt? Mom, since we’ve been here, everything good has happened for us. We have good friends, a good place to live. I’m in a good school, no one’s chasing me to see if I have money in my pockets. You have a great job and I know you love Winnie. It would be a big mistake to move us away just because you’re mad, but if you want to be that stupid...”

“Show respect!” she snapped. “I am your mother!”

“If you mess up this whole thing we’ve got here just because you’re mad at me, just because I did something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time...”

“If you’re still adamant about that, you can pursue it when you’re over eighteen. For now, if you want to stay here, you’ll do as I say.”

“Jesus,” he muttered.

“I’ll make arrangements with Spencer to continue your training routine at the high school. He offered before but I didn’t want to impose and Blake’s was more convenient. But under the circumstances, you’re going to have to stop spending time at Blake’s house. It puts me in a very uncomfortable position.”

“What?”

“Apparently I misjudged Blake. Whatever that was, that relationship we began, I’ve put a stop to it.”

“No way. You did what?”

“I can’t trust him, Charlie. Not telling me something important about my own son, that’s the same as lying.”

“No, it’s not,” he protested. “It just turns out that Blake understood. You don’t. You think my history belongs only to you and I think it belongs to both of us! If you don’t want to know about it, that’s your choice, but I do! And that is not Blake’s fault. It wasn’t his idea.”

She gritted her teeth.

He looked right at her, grim faced, pushed up his glasses again. “No, ma’am,” he said. “As long as Blake will let me, I’m going to work out with him. He’s an expert and he’s my friend. Taking that away from me is not just unfair, it’s mean. I’m sorry you’re uncomfortable but I’m not doing it. I listen to you all the time but you don’t listen to me. I need things, too. I need to know where I came from, who I am. I need my friends. I can show you respect without agreeing with everything you say.”

“You’re really testing me,” she warned.

“Ground me,” he said.

“What are you thinking, Charlie?” she said angrily.

“I’m thinking we’re having a fight,” he said. “If you want me to say yes to everything you tell me to do, I will. But I’m not shunning Blake because you’re stubborn and pissed off.”

“Charlie!”

“He’s been good to us! He helped us! He chased those junkies and got your special things back and he got hurt!” He looked at her earnestly. “What’s the matter with you? Are your secrets worth more than a good friend?”

“You have never talked to me this way! The trouble has already started. All because you defy my rules!”

“You were never against me like this before,” he said. “You were always my best friend. Now you don’t want to be anyone’s friend!”

She could tell he was fighting tears.

“You’re not the only one who can run away, you know. Is this how it was in your home? Your parents acting like they hate you, like they don’t care what you need?”

“You know nothing about it!”

“I’m trying to know about it but you won’t let me!”

They stared each other down for a moment.

Their hamburgers arrived and the talking stopped. But Charlie didn’t eat. He pushed his plate away. “I’m not hungry,” he said. “I’m going home.”

He pulled his jacket on and stormed out of the diner, leaving Lin Su to sit alone with two plates of food. Stubbornly, she cut her burger in half and began to eat. When she had finished half her burger she asked for two take-home cartons. She carried them across the street, went through the flower shop to the back stairs and up to her loft. Charlie was sitting on the sofa, laptop open.

“Eat your dinner,” she said, putting the carton on the coffee table. Then she went to the bedroom, longing for a door to close.

* * *

The days after that confrontation with Charlie were dark for Lin Su. She felt abandoned all over again. Blake called almost every day and she sent him to voice mail where he left messages asking her to please open her mind to the many positive possibilities. He even said, “I know you’re listening to my messages because you’re stubborn and hardheaded but you’re not that stubborn and you know I care about you and Charlie. Please, let’s at least talk.”

She tried to stop listening to his messages, but since he would never really know, she listened. And she longed for him.

But he was causing her to lose control of Charlie and she couldn’t allow it.

Charlie had defied her. He continued to be Blake’s friend and student, working out there. They probably talked about what a fool she was behind her back and with a heavy heart she checked around for another job, relieved that none materialized.

“I know there’s a problem,” Winnie said. “I just don’t know what it is.”

“There’s no problem that I’m aware of.”