“How interesting!” he said. “Should we organize a Trivia contest for the group on one of our longer bus excursions?”
“What an idea! You two can chat about that while Georgiann and Tom and I continue ahead of you.” I took the Perinis each by an arm and started to march ahead, purposefully avoiding my aunt’s glare.
“Well, aren’t you a clever one!” Georgiann smiled.
“Sorry?” I asked.
“Don’t play coy, dear. I saw how you managed to get Genio and your aunt to pair up on this walk.”
I didn’t reply, but I’m sure my eyes gave me away.
“Annalise, my wife is a world-class matchmaker,” said Tom. “She knows all the tricks and is just impressed that you were that smooth.”
“Guilty as charged!” I laughed.
“To tell you the truth, you were just one step ahead of me,” said Georgiann.
“You don’t think Genio was upset, do you?”
“Dear, I know my brother. Last night after he saw your aunt, even from a distance, I could tell he was interested. But, tell me, she doesn’t seem interested. She’s not attached to someone back home, is she?”
Auntie Lil’s story was not mine to share, so I tried to think of a diplomatic way to answer the question.
“No, no, nothing like that. I just think she was a bit tired. The day was long, and the flight wore both of us out.”
“I see,” Georgiann nodded.
“Georgie, you let nature take its course now,” Tom wagged his finger at her. “The introduction has been made.”
“Oh, I don’t think we have to worry.” Georgiann pulled us to the side of the wall, and as we waited for Auntie Lil and Genio to catch up, we could see that they were getting along fine. His eyes were flashing, and her smile was girlish as she looked up at him.
“I think we’ll just watch what happens,” I agreed and turned to take in the view of the park below. A group of twenty or so people were moving in a lyrical fashion practicing Tai Chi. I was mesmerized by the simple beauty of the act.
”I suppose they meet there every morning. What a quiet sense of purpose they have,” I said.
The Perinis and I watched together for a moment without speaking. Then Georgiann turned to me.
“What about you, dear?” she asked.
“Me? I’ve not taken a Tai Chi class, but it looks very interesting.”
“No, I’m not talking about that.”
“Georgie!” interrupted her husband.
“Oh hush, Tommy. I’m sure Annalise doesn’t mind a bit of casual questioning.” She tightened her scarf against the brisk wind and shook her head at her husband.
He rolled his eyes in the manner of a man long accustomed to the habits of his inquisitive wife.
“Annalise, you might as well tell her why you aren’t married yet because she’ll not rest until she gets it out of you,” he said with a weary smile.
“There’s nothing to tell. I just haven’t met Mr. Right yet,” I shrugged, thinking of Dylan. I was so sure at one time that he was Mr. Right, but a little distance and time showed me that he was more Mr. Right-place-and-time than Mr. Right.
“Ah, but there was someone,” Georgiann said. Give her credit, the woman was intuitive.
“There were a few. No one really special yet.” I tried to evade the issue.
“Mm. I suspect this trip with us oldsters is not the place to shop around either.”
“Well, I wasn’t really considering this a husband-hunting tour! But you’re right, not exactly many prospects.” Why did a face with coal-black eyes under serious eyebrows and matching blue-black hair suddenly pop into my head?
“Well, we’ll keep looking,” Georgiann nodded purposefully.
“Georgie!” her husband exclaimed.
“It’s fine, Tom,” I assured him. “This gives me a feeling of being at home with my own mom.”
I looked around. We had walked so far during our matchmaking discussion that we were in danger of not making it back to the designated meeting point.
“We’d better turn around. The others have already headed back to the bus, and I don’t want to make us late for the rest of the day.” I pointed to my watch.
“Goodness, you’re right!” Georgiann turned and amped up the speed from our strolling pace. We reached the meeting point and found Genio and Auntie Lil seated on a bench, in a spirited discussion about Chinese dynasties. I stood in front of Auntie Lil for a moment before she noticed me.
“There you are!” she said. “I was wondering what had happened to you.”
“Uh-huh.” I looked from her to Genio.
She jumped up guiltily from the bench. She took my arm, and we began walking toward the bus.
“So Auntie Lil, how far did you get?”
“What?”
“Around the perimeter. How far did you get? Why? What did you think I asked?”
“Annalise. I know you think you are funny, but I assure you that you are not. I was simply having a conversation about architecture with a peer.”
“Sure.”
“Annalise.” She stopped and turned to me. “You are incorrigible.”
“Takes one to know one,” I laughed and dashed toward the bus.
I was still smiling when I reached our seats and plopped myself down. I leaned over and had my head buried in my backpack, searching for gum, when my seatmate joined me.
“Sorry, Auntie, I didn’t mean to be so impertinent. Gum?” I reached a piece up to her.
“Thanks, I believe I will” came a baritone voice that was definitely not my aunt’s.
My head popped up so quickly that I banged it without ceremony on the rear of the seat in front of me.
“Ouch!” I said, turning to see the twinkling eyes of Father John where I should have seen those of my aunt. Did she send him back to reprimand me?
“I can see that you are confused,” laughed the elderly priest. “I asked your aunt if I could trade seats for a bit. I’m not comfortable sitting so far toward the front.”
I sat forward and leaned up to see where my aunt had landed. While she was too short for me to see her, I could easily deduce that she was in the window seat next to Genio. I leaned back. Georgiann Perini was really a master matchmaker if she could organize these benign chess moves.
“Father, I’m pretty sure you know it’s a sin to lie. Come clean. Georgiann Perini encouraged you to trade, didn’t she?”
“Hmm, now that you mention it, I believe it was Georgiann who suggested that this seat might be better.”
I shook my head and smiled.
“Do you have a problem sharing a seat with an old man of the cloth?”
“I suspect that, other than my aunt, a priest would be the person my father would handpick to be my seatmate!”
“Sounds like your father cares about you very much.”
“He does.”
“Let me guess. It was your father who suggested that you accompany your aunt on this trip.”
“How did you know?”
“Why else would a young woman want to be on a trip with people three times her age?” He gestured around the bus.
“Well, it was his idea, but more for Auntie Lil than for me. He wanted to make sure she had a companion for the trip in case anything went wrong.”
Father John leaned his head back and laughed.
“Annalise, I barely know your aunt, but I can tell she is very self-sufficient.”
“Ah, but you don’t know my father,” I shrugged.
“Oh, I think I do, I think I do.”
I took in the lifework crags around his eyes and his general appearance. Yes, I’m sure he knows more than his share of protective fathers.
“So,” he continued, “how about you? Are you having fun on this journey?”
I thought back to our layover in San Francisco and the adventures we had in Singapore and even the fun we were having so far in China.
“Definitely,” I nodded.
“And this
blog you’ve started? Is it fulfilling?”
“Well, I haven’t been at it long enough, but so far so good. I like writing, I know that.”
“Good, good,” he nodded.
“Hey. My pop didn’t get hold of you somehow to check on me?” I glanced at him sidewise.
“No, no dear,” he patted my hand. “Just call it an occupational hazard, I guess.”
I was about to ask him another question when the voice of Yan Mei came over the speaker. We had arrived at the Flying Wild Goose Pagoda, and she was giving us directions on how we would proceed with our visit.
Moments later, I waited at the entry gates and caught up with my aunt, who was exiting the nearby ladies room.
“Hello? May I introduce myself? I’m your niece?”
“What’s your point, Annalise?” She arranged her jacket ostentatiously.
“Only that one minute I’m your best buddy, and the next you’ve swapped me out for a handsome stranger.”
“First, it was you who micromanaged the situation so that Genio and I were left to walk together at the city wall. Second, I was just accommodating Father John’s wishes to move to another seat, and third—”
She must have caught the smile on my face because she stopped her list.
“Go on, this is fascinating,” I teased.
“Obviously, you are not listening,” she sniffed.
“Come on, Auntie, I promise I’ll be good and pay attention.” I rearranged my face into a more serious look.
“No, I will not indulge you.” Her tone became stiffer.
Oops, maybe I had gone too far. I opened my mouth to apologize when I caught her face soften and saw a smile spread across it. I looked over my shoulder, but I didn’t need to in order to know who was walking toward us. Seeing the look on his face match hers, I knew that I was watching something special.
“Ah, here are the beautiful Fontanas!” He put his arm around both of our shoulders, but I knew there was only one Fontana girl in his line of sight. If he was trying to hide his feelings, he was totally unsuccessful.
“Genio, I was just telling Annalise that we were having a marvelous conversation about the history of this pagoda.”
We were?
“Indeed,” he nodded. He proceeded to comment on the story Yan Mei shared with us of the Buddhist monks who had lived there and who, at one point while praying for food, saw a wild goose fall dead from the sky. They ate the goose, but in honor of the gift of food, they became vegetarians and built the beautiful pagoda.
As the three of us walked along the grounds and into the pagoda, I watched my aunt and this charming man and marveled at how they looked so comfortable together. It dawned on me that the reason Auntie Lil had never found someone to share her life with was that she had never found someone who could stack up to her amazing intellect! This man certainly seemed like a candidate. Oh, I couldn’t wait to chat with Rory about this amazing turn of events.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Say that again,” Rory said. “I think we have a bad connection or I’ve lost some of my hearing.”
“You sound like a bad movie, Rory.”
“Auntie Lil ... smitten like a kitten?”
“Yep. And it’s not just one way either. This man seems to be totally into her as well.”
I felt like Rory and I were back in junior high school, dishing the latest gossip. Somehow, even though she was sitting in New York and I was perched on a park bench in China, it was as if the years had melted away and we were plopped on my bed munching on chocolate chip cookies.
“Who would have thought?” she marveled.
“I know! The other day when we worried about her heart? Well, there was something going on with her heart, only not the way we feared.”
“This is great. Right? I mean it’s great, don’t you think, Annalise?”
“I think so. I mean, she’s only known him a day. What would our parents say—no, what would SHE say—if this were one of us?”
“Totally different. They would say we’re too young to know what we’re doing.”
“Rory, I could make the argument that she’s too OLD to know what she’s doing. Older women get taken in by scoundrels all the time.”
“Listen to you, Annalise. When is the last time anyone used the word scoundrel outside of a Harlequin Romance novel?” Rory laughed.
“Well, you know what I mean.”
“I do know what you mean, and I think you need to cool your jets. Just because they sit together on a bus ride doesn’t mean she’s giving him the password to her bank account.”
“You’re right.”
“Plus, she shares a hotel room with you. What is she going to do, bring him in there for some illicit activity? Who does he share his room with?”
“The priest.”
“Ha! Even better. I don’t think he’ll be enticing her back there while the good father is ... I don’t know, praying or watching a religious movie.”
“Really, Rory? Do you think there’s a special channel in hotels just for priests that only show The Ten Commandments or The Song of Bernadette?” Sometimes Rory could be so obtuse.
“You know what I mean.”
“I do. And you’re right, I don’t think we have to worry. Yet.”
“We don’t have to worry. Period,” she emphasized, then added, “Just don’t tell your dad.”
“Do you think I’m insane? Pop would be on the next flight to China if he had to hijack the plane. No. This stays between Auntie Lil and me for now. Well, and you.”
“And you know I don’t have the desire to have your father grill me, so I’m not talking.”
I turned and saw that our group was headed toward the bus.
“Hey, I have to leave. We’re headed to the tombs of the terra-cotta warriors. Auntie thinks the reason I’m sitting by myself on this bench is that I need quiet to make an entry on my blog.”
“Speaking of which, we all love it here.”
“We? Who’s ‘we’?” I’m sure she could hear the panic in my voice.
“The folks in the office. You don’t think I wouldn’t share your scribbles with other people, do you?”
“It’s just to keep the family and friends updated, Rory. Just how many people have seen it?”
“Annalise, what are you worried about? It’s great. You’ve always been a good writer. You know, I think you may have found your calling.”
“Oh sure, I’m just betting there is a ton of money in writing free blogs.” I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me.
“I don’t know, Annalise, this could lead to something—” she began.
“Hey, stop distracting me, Rory. I need to go!”
“Keep me posted on the new romance!”
“Oh, I will. Bye!”
I walked back to the bus and joined the chatty Flynn sisters.
“Annalise, you are so industrious. So technological with your computer and your phone,” said Katherine.
“She’s got to keep up with that blot, Kat,” said Vivienne.
“It’s a blog,” I corrected, hoping to be kind.
“Right, right,” Vivienne nodded.
“We are going to give that information on how to connect to it to our family when we call them later, so they can read about our trip.”
“Are you going to interview anyone?” Vivienne asked.
“I think you should interview the handsome young man,” Katherine said crisply. “No one wants to read about us old skeletons.”
Who was she considering a handsome young man? Everyone was far north of sixty. Well, maybe to her someone who WAS sixty seemed young.
I laughed to myself as we boarded the bus.
My laughter was short-lived when I glanced at the seat next to the one reserved for Yan Mei. Seated quietly listening to headphones, with his head buried in a tattered notebook, was someone I thought I would never see again.
Eli Chamberlain.
How I managed not to stumble as I dashed back
to my seat was a miracle. I sat and crouched as low as possible. Peeking around into the aisle, I could see Auntie Lil and Genio moving into the same seats they had occupied on the last leg of the trip, which meant that Father John would come and join me. There was probably no way I could get Auntie Lil’s attention to get her to come back to her original seat.
Hey ... how did she not see Eli, anyway? Was she THAT lost in Genio’s gorgeous eyes? And if she did see Eli, did she not think I would need her to come back and sit with me?
I kept my head tucked, and when Father John arrived, he was overly boisterous in saying, “Annalise! What on earth are you doing? Hiding from the police?”
“Ssssh!” I pulled him down into the seat.
“What is the matter, child?” I could see that he was genuinely alarmed.
“Nothing,” I whispered.
“Well, for nothing, you are being mighty mysterious.”
“See that man in the very front seat? The one next to Yan Mei?”
“Yes?”
“Well, doesn’t he seem suspicious?”
“He seems quite normal to me. What makes you think he’s suspicious?”
It just wasn’t in my genes to keep anything from a priest.
“I ... kind of know him.”
“Well, that’s marvelous! Go up and say hello!” The cheerful priest stood up to make room for me to enter the aisle.
“Are you kidding me? That’s the last thing I am going to do.” I pulled him down unceremoniously and shushed him again.
“Well, if you know him, I’m sure that he’ll be happy to talk to you, dear.”
“Um, I wouldn’t say that he’d be exactly happy to see me, Father.” My face must have colored.
Father John lifted his head and looked up toward the front, then ducked down again to humor me.
“Well, could you do me a favor and tell me about it sitting straight up? I don’t think my old bones can survive crouching like a character in a spy movie for too long. And our fellow passengers are beginning to look at us in an odd way.”
He was right. People were trying unsuccessfully not to stare at us crouched over as if we were middle school students sneaking a cigarette.
Seated more comfortably, I embarked on the tale of the flying crabmeat in Singapore.
Passports and Plum Blossoms Page 14