Free Moon Child by Christina Moore Page B

anything again. “You know most American’s go for destiny, love, fate… kinder things.”
    Tristan laughed. “Yeah? Well, I guess that means I’m not a kinder thing.” Hint hint, piss off, man. Leave me to wallow alone.
    “Mamoru. Takeuchi Mamoru.”
    Tristan let out a little sigh and put his drink down to extend his hand to his left. “Tristan.”
    Mamoru took his hand with a smile. “Nice to meet you, Tristan.”
    “ Hajimemashite, Takeuchi -san ,” he muttered in return.
    The other man gave a little exclamation. “ Yare ! Anata wa nihongo o hanasu .”
    “No,” Tristan answered drowsily into his drink. “Not really. Just enough to be polite.” Because he was all about being polite.
    “ Sō ka ,” Mamoru said, still smiling. “You speak well though, very good pronunciation.”
    “Thanks.” Oh hell, he couldn’t believe he was about to voluntarily engage. “So, you’re from Osaka?”
    “Born, yes. My family moved to American shortly after. I grew up and married there.”
    “Oh yeah?” Tristan said, thinking maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea. Good way to kill time anyway. “Where abouts?”
    “Maryland.”
    “No shit.” Small world. “Me too.”
    The other man laughed. “No shits.” He laughed again before sobering up with a dejected sigh. “I wasn’t a good enough husband or father though. I’ve got a daughter, she’s about your age, I’ve missed her growing up.” Mamoru got quiet for a moment before asking, “You married?”
    “Me, married? No.” And probably never.
    “Girlfriend?”
    Tristan harrumphed. “Something like that.”
    “Gay?”
    Tristan nearly pulled a corny spit-take at the absurdity of the dead serious question. “Wha—did you really just say gay?” He sounded more amused than upset.
    The guy on Tristan’s other side must have spoken enough English to understand and slid away, just a few inches. Tristan had to laugh. “It’s nothing like that. I mean, I’m with someone. We’ve… we’ve been through a lot together. Not us fighting or anything, but we both helped each other through some really tough parts of our lives, you know how tragedy pulls people together. I love her. I really do. God, I love her so much.”
    “And she loves you?”
    Tristan smiled. “Yeah. She does.”
    “Isn’t it romantic then to think that love trumps all?”
    Tristan snorted and gave him a look.
    Mamoru’s warm smile only spread. “Well, I think it’s romantic. Imagine, whatever your other troubles, whatever’s making your relationship so… ambiguous ?”
    “Yeah, that’s the word for it,” Tristan confirmed when Mamoru paused. And it really was the perfect word, like Mamoru knew just how confusing Ash really was.
    “Don’t you think love will just,” He paused to flutter his hands in the air. “Fix it all?”
    Tristan sighed, lowering his face into his hands, elbows resting on the bar. “Sure, it’s romantic, but you know what?” He looked up, meeting Mamoru’s gaze. “The truth is, love really isn’t that strong. Nothing is. I’m young, but not naïve.”
    Well, maybe a little.
    The other man frowned, nodding. “You may be right. Marriage isn’t the sort of thing to rush into anyway, not these days. Sure, I believe love can trump all, but… well, life happens.”
    “Now that sounds like a toast,” Tristan said with a tired smirk.
    Mamoru laughed. “I suppose so. Life does happen and we lose sight of the things most important to us. More importantly we lose sight of those we love. I haven’t seen my daughter in…” He let out a long sigh. “ Years . Her mother took her from me, made a new family. I’ve spent most of my time traveling since. But I’ll never forget her, my daughter. Even if I was never a good enough father, I’ll still always want to be with her. Even knowing I’ll just fail her again.”
    “Yeah, I know what you mean. No, I, I don’t have a kid of my own or anything. But I know what you mean about not being a good enough