The Burlfriends Collection by Jen Trinh

Author:Jen Trinh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: asian american romance, asian american, rock climbing romance, climbing, bouldering romance, millennial romance, millennial angst, tech office romance, music industry romance, romance book bundle, cambodian american, chinese american, romance with friendship and family
Publisher: Jen Trinh
Published: 2021-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Asher

crux (n.): the most difficult section of a climbing route.

Lina had been his wife.

His wife.

His wife.

I laughed and laughed. It was too fucking funny.

Growing up, Craig had been my best friend. It’d been us against the world. Against our messed-up family.

Then, when shit hit the fan, I’d shut him out harder than I had anyone else. We’d ended things badly, and it’d been all my fault.

His wife.

I thought about continuing to boulder, to spend the shaky energy that roiled inside of me.

Instead, I left without telling her. Why have that conversation? We’d been having casual sex, and that was it. Bringing Craig into the equation would’ve complicated everything and made us both miserable. Especially me.

She’d loved him; I’d resented him for most of my life.

She was going to move away for her postdoc. And I...

Well, there was no point.

* * *

Later that evening, I sat on the couch watching TV. I was three pours of whiskey and a full joint in, when my dad walked into the apartment.

He raised his eyebrows. “Getting soused on a Monday?”

I turned my eyes to watch him without lifting my head from the couch. “How was Aunt Ruth?”

“She’s okay. At least for now. But she’s forgetting basic things and your cousin Leah’s having a hard time figuring out the best course of care for her.”

He grabbed a beer from the fridge and came to sit down next to me.

“You should visit her sometime, before she forgets you. She asked after you by name.”

I didn’t answer. On the TV, the Sub Rosa episode of Next Generation played. It was the same episode that Lina and I had watched weeks ago, back when we were still blissfully ignorant of our shared connection.

Through my haze, I chuckled. “You wanna hear something funny, dad?”

“What’s that?”

A blip of feeling burst through the numbness, shimmering painfully for a moment before fading away. “Lina was Craig’s wife.”

He sat up and stared at me, hard. “Your friend Lina, the one who edited my book—”

“Yeah. She was married to Craig.” I chuckled again and took another sip of whiskey.

Too fucking funny.

“You’re kidding me.”

“Nope. She’s really Craig’s widow.”

My dad slumped back against the couch, jaw still slack. Although he was holding a beer, he took the glass of whiskey from my hand and drank.

“You know, I saw her at his funeral. She was so incredibly broken up. Poor thing.”

Of course she was. No doubt she’d been mad about Craig. They were both crazy about climbing.

On screen, Dr. Crusher vanquished her ghostly lover as he attempted to possess her body, just as he’d done to her other female relatives. It was an unintentionally funny episode, but my cross-faded brain found it even more hilarious.

Everything was hilarious.

My dad laughed softly. Guess he found it hilarious, too.

“It really is funny how that turned out. Me, your mom, your uncle. Then Craig, Lina, you.” He took another sip of whiskey. “Kismet.”

No, it wasn’t kismet. My mom and uncle had been shitty people, while Lina, Craig, and I had been a shitty coincidence, one that I planned on moving past very quickly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.