Ken的手突然像触电了一样，从胡爱萍的肩膀上挪开。他侧过头，看着胡爱萍说，

“This morning I prayed to God to send the right woman to me. When I met you at the garden store, I believed that God had answered my prayer. You can't be married. I have known you for three years and you never bring a husband to the company party. And I never saw you wear a wedding ring! Are you really married?”
(今天早上我和神祷告希望他赐给我合适的女人。当我在花园商店遇到你时，我相信神回复了我的祷告。你不可能结了婚。我都认识你三年了，你从来没有带丈夫来公司的聚会。我也从来没有见过你戴婚戒。你真的已经结婚了？）

胡爱萍点点头说，“Our culture does not wear a wedding ring. I do housework and dishes all the time and it is troublesome for me to wear it."
（我们中国没有结婚一定戴婚戒的风俗，我每天做家务洗碗，戴着麻烦。）

Ken接着说，“But where is your husband? Are you guys separated? You just said that you live here with your son.”（可是你丈夫在哪儿呢？你们分居了吗？你刚刚还说只有你和你儿子住这里）

“Yes, we are separated. But we are separated not because we are on the way toward divorce as most Americans are. We are separated temperarily because my husband wants to fulfill his dream.”（我们是在分居。但是我们分居不是因为我们要离婚，像多数美国人那样。我们暂时分开是因为我丈夫想要实现他的梦想）

“What kind of dream is this? Does he have to fulfill this dream by not living together with you?”
（这是什么样的梦想？他实现这个梦想一定要没有你在身边吗？）

“Yes, he is in China starting a new business.”
（是，他在中国开始自己的事业）

“You are from China too, why are you not going with him? ”
（你也是中国来的，为什么你不跟他回去呢？）

“I am staying here as his backup. Chinese high school education is terrible and kids suffer from the pressure of the competition to go to college. I want my son to enjoy the nice education here. I might go back to China after my son goes to college.”
（我呆在这里做他的后盾。中国中学教育很糟糕。孩子们面临高考压力。我想我儿子能够利用这里的良好教育环境。等我儿子上大学以后我也许会回去。）

“I know this is your family business, but is your husband's business dream more important than life itself? ”
（我知道这是你家里的私事，难道你丈夫对事业的梦想比生活本身都重要吗？）

“You don't understand, Ken, because you grew up here. You never have to suffer to survive. We are different. We could struggle for years just to get the green card or citizenship that you guys were born with. So with this in mind, we have the stronger desire to be successful so that we don't have to suffer in the future.”
（你不能理解，Ken，因为你在这里长大。你从来不会为了生存挣扎。我们不一样。我们可能会为了办绿卡或公民多年受苦，而这个你们生下来就有。基于这些考虑，我们要成功的欲望更强，为的是将来少吃苦。）

"Are other Chinese couple separated too? "
（其他中国夫妇也分居吗？）

"Some are and some are not. I know many couples chose to be separated because they could not find jobs in the same place or the husband went back to China to start his own business. This is kind of like Chinese style marriage, I guess. Now what about you? What happened to you and your wife?
（有些分着，有些不分开，很多夫妻因为工作在两地或丈夫海归创业选择分居，这个像是中国式婚姻。现在说你吧，你和你太太之间出了什么问题？）

"My wife, I mean my ex, cheated on me, I forgave her once, but she was not willing to stop seeing him. So we had to give up our marriage of 20 years."
（我太太，我的意思是我前妻，我原谅过她一回，可是她不愿意和那个男的分开，所以我们不得不选择放弃我们20年的婚姻。）

"20 years of marriage! That is hard to give up, isn't it?"
（二十年的婚姻，很难放弃是不是?）

"Of course it is! The first time when I went back to my previous house (she lives there now) to pick up my son, I ran into tears on the drive way. Aiping, if you are single, I would love to have serious relationship with you, but now I can't mess up with a married woman, I just can't. I am sorry."
（那当然，我第一次重回我原来的房子（现在我前妻住着）接我儿子，我把车停在房子前面时居然哭了。爱萍，如果你是单身，我愿意和你认真交往，但是现在，我不能和已婚女人搅在一起，我真的不能。对不起。”

"No need to say sorry. Nothing has happened between us and nothing will happen in the future too. "
（没不要说对不起。我们之间什么都还没发生，将来也不会发生什么。）

胡爱萍看看手机，继续说，
“I need to pick up my son now. Thank you very much for your help."
（我得去接儿子了。非常感谢你的帮助。）

"It is my pleasure and thank you for the delicious dinner too."
（我很乐意。也谢谢你可口的晚餐）

胡爱萍把Ken送到门口时，Ken给了她一个深情的拥抱。

“I hope you work out with your husband nicely, but in case something happens between you guys in the future, can you give me a chance to ask you out?"
（我希望你和你丈夫能走到一起，但是如果将来有一天情况变了，你能给我一次约你的机会吗？）

胡爱萍以前从来没想过和老外约会的可能性，她突然想起Ken只有一个当地Community College(社科学院）的学位。这在中国相当于中专顶多大专学历。而自己周围的中国男人，90%以上都有博士学位。受教育程度反差实在太大了。她犹豫了一下说，

“I am afraid there is no such a chance for you because I would never give up my husband unless I find another man who is willing to marry me. I am just like a little child holding a lollipop in my hand. I would not let the lollipop go unless somebody offers me a piece of chocolate.”
（恐怕你没机会了。因为除非我找到下一个愿意和我结婚的人我不会放弃我的丈夫。我就像一个小孩，手里抓着棒棒糖。除非别人递给我一块巧克力，我不会把棒棒糖松开。）

Ken耸了耸肩膀，说，“But I would never date a woman if she is not divorced yet."

（可是我不会和一个女人约会，如果她还没离婚。）

“I don't want to take the risk of being single for ever if I get divorced. A man is better than nothing.
(可是如果我离了婚，再找不到能和我结婚的人怎么办 ？我可不想一辈子单身。有个男人总比没有强。)”

“So we are just like two kids playing a game. The little girl says, give me your chocolate and I will throw away the lollipop. The little boys says you throw away the lollipop first and I will give you the chocolate. Oh yes! This is just like the deadlock problem in computer operating system, isn't it?”
所以我们就像两个小孩在做游戏，小女孩说，给我巧克力，我就扔棒棒糖。小男孩说，你先扔了棒棒糖，我就给你巧克力。哦，对了，这是一个计算机操作系统里提到的死结问题，不是吗？

胡爱萍惊讶地看了Ken一眼，看来他的智商并不像自己想像的那么低。连deadlock都能活学活用。

“ken, you are very smart and have good sense of humor. "胡爱萍赞叹道。
(你很聪明，也很幽默)。

"When deadlock happens in operating system, one process needs to be killed to release the resource that the other process is waiting for. This means your marriage needs to end in order for us to continue."
(操作系统发生死结时，一个行程需要被迫终结，释放出另一个行程需要的资源。这意味着只有你的婚姻结束后，我们才能继续。

"I don't think I want to continue with you. We'd better prevent the deadlock from happening, which means I would never divorce my husband and you continue your life with another woman. We don't have to wait for each other as resources."
（我不觉得我能和你继续。我们最好防止死结发生。我的意思是我永远都不会离婚你去找别人好了。我们不必要把对方当成资源互相等待。）


短暂的春天在不知不觉中悄悄地流逝着。一个星期六的早上，任馨坐在星巴克咖啡馆里，她要了一杯Cappuccino. 几盏红色的小吊灯从屋顶垂下来，柔和的灯光洒在咖啡色的墙壁上。任馨坐在靠窗的座位上，望着窗外。在这样温馨浪漫的环境中和他约会，对她来说还是人生第一次。错过的实在太多了，现在想补救已经太晚了。任馨叹了一口气后，吹了一下浮在咖啡表面的白色泡沫。不经意抬头间，她看到窗外他的身影。她好像很久没有仔细看过他。她注意到他似乎有几分沧桑。他匆匆地走进咖啡馆，远远地和任馨挥挥手，便来到了她的身旁。

“我提前5分钟到，怕你等着着急，没想到你还是先到了。你的脾气还是那么急。你最近过得好吗？”甄帅还没坐稳就问。

“挺好的呀！你呢？什么事非得约在咖啡馆里说？”


小说纯属虚构，请勿对号入座