Saved at Sunrise

could that be, a neighbor’s
     dog missed her when her own family didn’t?
    Moving out from behind the bushes, Della gave the dog another scratching behind his
     ears. She brushed a lingering tear from her eye and took off.
    In less than five minutes, she landed at Lee’s house. When the garage door opened,
     she flashed to the side of the house. As the car pulled out, she saw Lee in the driver’s
     seat.
    Where was he going? On a date? Her heart knew it. Her heart also said that she should
     just go back to the cabin. She didn’t need to see it.
    But she did.
    Kylie had told Della a thousand times that she needed to move past Lee. Maybe this
     was the answer. Maybe if she saw Lee with someone else, she could let go. She could
     stop hoping that he’d come to his senses and would run back to her, begging for a
     second chance.
    She followed him to a house on the other side of the subdivision. She waited for a
     few minutes in the shadows, still hoping maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe this was just
     one of his friends.
    When he walked out with a girl, an Asian girl, at his side, the knot in Della’s chest
     came back. This was the fiancée. The one he’d told Della his parents had pushed him
     into marrying. Seeing this should have been enough. Seeing how she clung to his arm.
     She should have left right then, but no. When they got in the car, she followed them
     to the restaurant.
    The Red Dragon. It was a restaurant owned by some friends of Lee’s parents. His mother
     had tried to get Della and Lee to go there several times. But Lee always said he didn’t
     want to eat Chinese food. He had enough of that at home.
    Why did he want Chinese food now?
    She landed in front of the restaurant while Lee parked the car. She hid behind the
     tall dragon statue waiting to see them walk past. A hungry-looking kitten came slinking
     around the building. “Don’t have anything. But there’s a Dumpster in the back, I can
     smell it from here,” she whispered and then she heard footsteps.
    They were holding hands and the girl, Lee’s fiancée, wore a big smile, her eyes bright
     with laughter. As they walked in the door, Della caught a whiff of Lee’s cologne.
    Anger surged in her chest. She’d bought that cologne for him last Christmas. Didn’t
     he remember? Did he even care? How could he wear it for this new girl when Della had
     given it to him?
    She waited a good ten minutes, telling herself to leave. Telling herself it was over.
     But when she tried to fly away, instead she swung around and headed inside.
    She told the hostess she was looking for someone and walked past her into the spicy,
     sesame-scented air. She walked past a large fish tank with colorful fish swimming
     in circles as if looking for a way out. She continued past a couple and noticed the
     sound of plastic crinkling as they opened their fortune cookies. Perhaps she should
     snag one to see her own future.
    Because God only knew what she planned to do when she found Lee. Part of her wanted
     to rip his heart out for using the cologne she’d given him to impress another girl.
     The other part wanted to drop to her knees and beg him to at least tell her he missed
     her.
    All this time she’d believed Lee was engaged because his parents forced him into it.
     Now she didn’t know what to believe. This didn’t look forced. He actually looked …
     happy.
    Leave. Leave. Leave. The voice of reason screamed in her head. But then she saw them at the back table.
     Candlelit table. Romantic table. She heard them talking. Not in English, but in Mandarin.
    Della spoke Mandarin. Her father had made sure of it. But Lee had never spoken to
     her in that language. Right then Della knew for certain, she wasn’t tossed aside because
     she’d turned into a vampire. She’d been tossed aside because she was half white.
    She heard the girl talking about names. Names they would give their first child. Lee
     leaned in and kissed her. A romantic kiss that kicked Della right in the gut. From
     the happiness she heard in Lee’s voice, and the way he kissed the girl, Della suspected
     this choice had been as much his own preference as his parents’.
    A waiter must have dropped a tray of food because a loud clatter sounded right behind
     Della. She knew she should turn and flash away at the sound of the crash, but it was
     too late. She watched in horror as Lee pulled his hand away from his fiancée’s and
     looked up. She saw his eyes widen at the sight of