Free Lottery by Kimberly Shursen

the world. I can’t imagine my life without her.”
    “Call me Sam.” Ling’s father smiled at Caleb.
    Caleb held up his glass. “Here’s to a very long and very happy marriage.”
    “Here, here,” Samuel said, and the two couples touched their wine glasses together in the middle of the table.
    Although he was only five-foot-six, what Sam Jameson lacked in height he made up for with his commanding presence. A man of few words, Sam’s deep love for Mei and Ling wasapparent. The receding hairline framed pensive hazel-green eyes, and the deep wrinkles in his forehead had been earned by building his dry-cleaning business for over forty years.
    Mei was even shorter than Ling, who barely reached five-foot herself. With her kind, gentle spirit, Caleb wondered if Mei had ever been angry with anyone. The short, silver hair outlined a sweet round face; her half-moon shaped eyes all but disappeared when she smiled.
    Caleb already admired Ling’s mother and father more than he did his own parents. After he’d won the lottery and sent a few thousand dollars to his parents, he’d received a thank-you note from his mother. His father had made a brief call and told Caleb how proud he was of him. Caleb refrained from telling his old man to go straight to hell.
Proud of him
? For winning the lottery? Screw him. Why hadn’t his father been proud when Caleb had landed the position as creative director for one of the top ten advertising agencies in the world?
    “I’m hoping,” Ling said and glanced at Caleb, “that Caleb’s parents will come to California soon.”
    She wasn’t going to give up on meeting his family. What Ling didn’t know is how much Caleb detested his parents.
    “Oh, that would be so nice,” Mei responded. “I would like to meet your mother.”
    Feeling uncomfortable, Caleb changed positions. “I’ll call them this week and see if we can line it up.” He glanced at Ling. “However, your daughter and I have somewhere we need to be before that.”
    Ling turned toward him. “We do?”
    “We do.” He took out two envelopes from the inside pocket of his sports jacket and set them in front of her. “We leave in a few days.”
    Ling opened one of them and stared down at travel document for a few seconds, and looked back up with wide eyes. “Shanghai?”
    “I have a meeting set up with The Children’s Welfare Institute.” Caleb watched Mei’s smile disappear. “I hope that’s okay,” Caleb said to Mei.
    “Oh my, yes,” Mei said sweetly. “It’s just I have not been there for long time.”
    “That’s where you’re from?” Caleb asked.
    “Oh yes. Have uncle, aunt, many cousins in Shanghai,” Mei answered.
    “Next time we’ll take you with us.” He wished the meeting with the druggie was over so he could just relax and enjoy the moment. Caleb had a plan—one he hoped McKenzie would accept.
    “Caleb,” Ling said, interrupting his thoughts. “I can’t believe this is really happening.”
    “I so happy you make our daughter happy,” Mei said, and then looked to her husband.
    “You make us proud, son,” Samuel said.
    Son
. What had Caleb done to deserve not only Ling, but parents who accepted him?
    After dinner, Caleb walked Ling back to her apartment. He had forty-five minutes before he was supposed to meet McKenzie. He’d tried to mask his anxiety all night, but the meeting weighed heavily on his mind.
    “You don’t want to spend the night?” Ling gazed into his eyes, tempting him.
    He pecked the end of her nose. “It isn’t that I don’t want to, it’s that I have a million things to do before we leave for China.”
    She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. Caleb’s hands moved down to the small of her back and back up to her shoulders.
    “Whew,” he said. “If I don’t go now,” Caleb took her hands in his and held them, “I’ll never go.”
    “I need to get time off of work to go to Shanghai,” Ling told him.
    “No, you need to quit.”
    “But what about my