A frown presses into his face. “Never apologized. But that is okay, because now, every time he sees me, he remembers what he did. Maybe one day, I will see him fall.”

“Fong.”

His scissors pause. “Yes.”

I grip the glossy arms of the chair, feeling a little sick. So it isn’t my imagination. Bo and Fong don’t get along, and with good reason. I doubt I could forgive anyone whose actions harmed Jamie.

Then the only sound is the snip of the scissors, set against the dull noise of the engine.

Bo brushes his fingertips along my neck, and the sensation throws a wrench into my thoughts, preventing the wheels from advancing. Somehow, I’ve lost feeling in my feet, and all my nerves have rushed to the back of my neck.

Bo hands me a mirror, unties the drape, and dusts it off. The sides are evenly trimmed above my ears, and he left most of the length on the top.

“I look like a boy,” I announce.

“You’d never fool me,” murmurs his reflection.

His eyes appraise his work, but I can’t help feeling that he’s seeing something deeper in me. The first day I met him on the poop deck, when he heard me speak Cantonese, I bet he knew who I was and why I was there even before I lifted my veil. Can he recognize what’s on my mind now?

I blush. “You didn’t like me.”

“I did not like the situation.” He shrugs. “I knew how close you were, and I was not ready to lose another brother.”

“Well, I guess you won’t be losing him.”

“I know you think I am a wagtail. But one thing I know about wagtails is that they must make their own lives. They need to wander to turn into men.”

The words cut me. Jamie said he needed space. But we are a dragon-phoenix pair, two halves of a whole that functions best when we are together. Plus, I just missed him.

“I upset you. I am sorry. Haircuts are supposed to relax.”

His eyes, dark as charcoal, catch me studying him in the mirror. I quickly return to my own guilty reflection, like a cove caught with his hand in the biscuit barrel.

I push up from the chair. The boat sways, and Bo grabs my arm to steady me. My feet don’t seem to work well around him. I begin to pull away, but he holds on.

“Wait.” Gently steering me around, he blows the clipped hair from my neck, setting off a rash of goose bumps.

I almost don’t hear the click of the door as it opens.

24

Bo quickly steps away from me.