Chapter 18: The Other Su Line

"Are you older than this restaurant?" Nora asked. Mo considered the lacquered beams, the mirrored columns, and the brass cart whose left wheel complained each time it turned. The building had been renovated at least twice. The restaurant itself might be younger. Across the round table, Su pointed a chopstick at him. "Do not calculate." "Yes," he told Nora. The child looked delighted. Her father closed his eyes. Rina covered a laugh with her teacup. "You brought him. This is on you." Su sat at Mo's right in an olive-brown sweater, her hair loose over her shoulders instead of tied for work. "I brought an interpreter." "My sister has never dressed for an interpreter," David said. "I changed out of a blazer." "You own six identical blazers." "Five." Mo had learned enough of this family in eleven minutes to recognize a battle whose terms had been agreed upon years earlier.…