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She had roasted the pork and crimped the dough and arranged the buns in the bamboo steamer she'd brought all the way from China.
她烤好了猪肉，揉好面团，把包子放进了她从中国大老远带来的竹蒸笼里。
His father's favorite. Char siu bau. Louisa beams, and only then does James realize he has spoken aloud.
他父亲最喜欢的叉烧包。路易莎眉开眼笑，这时詹姆斯才意识到他说出声来了。
He has not said a word in Chinese in forty years, but he is amazed at how his tongue still curls around their familiar shape.
他已经四十年没说过一句中文了，但他惊讶地发现自己的舌头仍然卷成熟悉的形状。
He has not had one of these buns since he was a child. His mother had packed them in his lunches until he told her to stop, he'd rather eat what the other kids were eating.
他从小就没有吃过这样的包子。他的母亲在他的午餐中装了这些东西，直到他告诉她不要吃了，他宁愿吃其他孩子吃的东西。
"Go on," Louisa says now. "Taste." Slowly he lifts a bun from the box. It is lighter than he remembers, cloudlike, yielding beneath his fingertips.
“继续，”路易莎现在说。 “尝一尝。”他慢慢地从盒子里拿起一个包子。这比他记忆中的还要轻，像云彩一样，在他的指尖下摇曳。
He had forgotten that anything could be so tender. He breaks the bun open, revealing glossy bits of pork and glaze, a secret red heart.
他忘记了，任何东西都可以是那么温柔。他把包子掰开，露出亮晶晶的肉末和酱汁，还有一颗隐秘的红心。
When he puts it to his mouth, it is like a kiss: sweet and salty and warm.
他把它放进嘴里，它就像一个又甜又咸又温暖的吻。
He does not wait for her to wrap her arms around him, as if he is a small and hesitant child, or for her to coax him into the bedroom.
他没有等她像个犹豫不决的小孩子一样搂住他，也没有等她把他哄进卧室。
Instead he pushes her to the floor as he reaches for his fly, tugging her skirt up and pulling her onto him right there in the living room.
相反，他把她推到地板上，拉起她的裙子，把她拉到他的身上，就在客厅里。
Louisa moans, arching her back, and James fumbles with the buttons on her blouse, peeling it away and unsnapping her bra and catching her breasts, heavy and round, in his cupped hands.
路易莎呻吟着，拱起背，詹姆斯笨手笨脚地解开她衬衫上的纽扣，他把它剥开，解开她胸罩的扣子，用双手捧住她又厚又圆的乳房。
As she grinds herself against him, he focuses on her face, on the dark hair that tumbles down into his mouth, on the deep brown eyes that close as her breath grows faster, her thrusts more urgent.
当她在他面前磨磨蹭蹭时，他盯着她的脸，盯着一头垂到他嘴里的黑发，随着呼吸加快，她闭上深棕色的眼睛，她的呼吸变得更加急促。
This is the sort of woman, he thinks, he should have fallen in love with. A woman who looked just like this. A woman just like him.
他想，这就是他应该爱上的那种女人。一个长得像这样的女人。一个和他一样的女人。
"You're the kind of girl I should have married," he whispers afterward. It is the kind of thing every man says to his lover, but to him it feels like a revelation.
“你是那种我应该娶的女孩，”他后来低声说。每个男人都会对情人这么说，但对他来说却像是一种启示。
Louisa, half-asleep in the crook of his arm, does not hear him, but the words snake into her ear, giving her the tangled dreams of every other other woman.
路易莎在他臂弯里半睡半醒，听不见他说话，但这句话却在她耳边盘旋，给她带来了其他所有女人纠缠不清的梦。
He will leave her—he will marry me—I will make him happy—there will be no other woman.
他要离开她，他要娶我，我要使他幸福，没有别的女人。
At home, when Nath and Hannah come downstairs, Marilyn sits motionless at the kitchen table.
在家里，纳和汉娜下楼时，玛丽琳一动不动地坐在厨房桌子旁。
Though it is past ten o'clock, she is wearing her bathrobe still, hugged so tightly around her that they cannot see her neck, and they know there is bad news even before she chokes out the word suicide.
虽然已经十点多了，她仍然穿着浴袍，紧紧地搂着自己，他们看不见她的脖子，甚至在她哽咽着说出自杀这个词之前，他们就知道有坏消息了。
"Was it?" Nath asks slowly, and, turning for the stairs without looking at either of them, Marilyn says only, "They say it was."
“是吗？”纳慢吞吞地问，玛丽琳转身向楼梯走去，看都没看他们一眼，只是说：“警察说是。”
For half an hour, Nath pokes at the dregs of cereal in the bottom of his bowl while Hannah watches him nervously.
半小时里，纳一直在挖碗底的麦片渣，汉娜则紧张地看着他。
He has been checking the Wolffs' house every day, looking for Jack, trying to catch him—though for what, he isn't quite sure.
他每天都在检查沃尔夫家的房子，寻找杰克，试图抓住他，尽管他不太确定是因为什么。
One time he even climbed the porch steps and peeked in the window, but no one is ever home. Jack's VW hasn't puttered down the street in days.
有一次，他甚至爬上门廊的台阶，从窗户往里看，但是没有人回家。杰克的大众汽车已经好几天都没在街上开过了。
At last, Nath pushes the bowl away and reaches for the telephone. "Get out," he says to Hannah. "I want to make a phone call."
最后，纳把碗推开，伸手去拿电话。“出去，”他对汉娜说。“我想打个电话。”
Halfway up the stairs, Hannah pauses, listening to the slow clicks as Nath dials.
走到一半，汉娜停了下来，听着纳拨电话时缓慢的咔哒声。
"Officer Fiske," he says after a moment, "this is Nathan Lee. I'm calling about my sister."
“菲斯克警官，”过了一会儿，他说，“我是李纳。我打电话是为了我妹妹。”
His voice drops, and only bits and pieces come through: Ought to reexamine.
他的声音低了下来，只有零零碎碎的声音传来：应该重新调查。
Tried to talk to him. Acting evasive. Toward the end, only one word is audible. Jack. Jack. As if Nath cannot say the name without spitting.
纳试图和他说话。看起来像是在逃避什么。到最后，只能听到一个词。杰克。杰克。仿佛纳不能随意说出这个名字一样。
