Jay’s dad takes a generous gulp of his wine.

“I took a look at that house,” he says.

“And?” Jay asks his dad, his eyes round and hopeful.

Jay’s dad makes a face. “Terrible,” he says. “First of all, there’s grade sloping back toward the home. This is going to lead to all sorts of foundation problems. It already is! Some of the windows are out of the square.” He glances at Jay. “Frankly, I’m shocked you didn’t notice. Maybe if you weren’t so . . . distracted.”

Jay’s nose flares. He stares straight ahead at the Zhang Xiaogang painting on the wall and doesn’t say a word.

“I’m disappointed in you, son,” Jay’s dad continues. “You wasted my time and my energy.” Maybe it’s the wine or the echo in the formal dining room, but his voice grows louder and louder as he scolds Jay.

“I was just trying to—” Jay says.

“I know what you were trying to do! You were trying to show off to your new girlfriend. You were thinking with your dick and not your head!”

Jay’s eyes plunge to the table. It’s heartbreaking to watch.

“No, he wasn’t! We looked everywhere!” I say. “At the cracks, the floor. We didn’t see any windows out of the square!”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t look hard enough,” Jay’s dad says. He frowns at Jay, pointing at him with his knife. “You’re lazy and soft, just like your mother.”

Later, I find Jay in his room. His dad’s downstairs on a call with Beijing. His voice booms in thunderous bursts we can hear even in the master suite. I take a seat next to Jay on his bed. Neither of us speak for a long time. Then, ever so gently, Jay takes my hands in his. “Now you know why I need you,” he says.

His eyes are red and swollen.

“I’ll wait for you as long as you need,” he says, his voice raw.

He buries his head in my lap, and I hold him.

Dani and her mom are both already asleep when I get home. I fall onto my bed. My legs are bone-tired, both from the dinner and . . . other activities. But I can’t go to sleep yet. There’s something important I have to do. I pull out my phone, and Jess answers on the third ring.

“Hey, it’s me.” I chew nervously on my lip. “Do you happen to have the morning-after pill?”

In the excitement and passion of our underwater adventure, we did not exactly use protection.

“Yeah, of course. I have some from Hong Kong,” she says. “I can give it to you tomorrow.”

I breathe a sigh of relief.

“I thought you and Jay were having a fight,” she says. “Did you guys make up?”

“It’s not Jay . . . ,” I whisper.