me again. “If she won’t understand that, then she’s not the right woman for you.”
“That’s not it at all,” I said, shaking my head as I tried to figure out how to explain. “What Dad said earlier was a joke, but we all know it was true for the first half of my life. Every girl I wanted saw me only as a friend. Then, I go to college, give my everything to football, and suddenly, I’m a pro ball player and all these girls want me. But they didn’t actually want me.”
Pania sighed, her eyes softening with understanding. “They wanted your money.”
I swallowed, grimly nodding. Pania had been there for me when everything went south with Zariah and Lucia. If anyone understood, it was her.
“Or my connections, or what they thought I’d be someday, the places they thought I could get them,” I added. “In whatever way you spin it, they didn’t care about who I was.”
“And does she?” Dad asked.
I glanced inside, chuckling when I saw Belle fidgeting with her hair and swiping the mascara from under her eyes in the reflection of the microwave.
“More than I deserve.”
“Where does she think you’ve been the past few weeks?” Oliana asked.
I cringed. “At a real estate conference. That’s what she thinks I do for a living.”
Mom clucked her tongue, and when I looked at her, she looked more disappointed in me than she ever had been. “You can’t hide who you are forever.”
“I’m not,” I said hurriedly. “At first, I just wanted to make sure she wasn’t playing some game. I thought maybe she did know who I was and was just trying to get in with me, with my money. But it didn’t take long for me to see that wasn’t true.”
“But you still didn’t tell her the truth,” Oliana challenged.
“Again, it’s complicated. She’s got scars of her own.” I shook my head, because everything that came out of my lips made me feel more and more like a coward. “I just didn’t want to lose her before I had her to begin with… I wanted to earn her trust.”
“By lying to her,” Dad said.
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I’d planned on telling her tonight, but then…” I waved my hand toward all of them. “Please, just don’t say anything about football. I’m glad you’re here, I really am. I’ve missed you.”
They all smiled at that, exchanging looks.
“Let’s go inside, have a nice dinner, catch up. I want you to get to know Belle.” It was my turn to smile. “I think you’ll fall in love with her just as I have.”
“Love?” Pania’s eyes dazzled in what was left of the setting sun, the crook of her lips even more curious now. “I’ve never heard that word from you before.”
I swallowed, not letting that four-letter word linger too long in the open air before I snuffed it out. “Please. Just hold this between us for tonight. I’ll tell her tomorrow, and everything will be fine. Okay?”
The look in their eyes told me they weren’t as sure as I was, but with them begrudgingly agreeing, we made our way back inside to Belle.
And I said a silent prayer for her that she’d survive dinner with the Kumaka clan.
Belle
“You cheated!” Oliana said, pointing her finger at one of the words Makoa had spelled out with his Bananagrams tiles. “That’s not a real word.”
“Yas?” Makoa shook his head. “That is absolutely a real word. Ask the , or consult the texts you’ve sent me.”
“It’s slang.”
Makoa shrugged. “Still works. You’re just mad because you can’t beat your big brother. Haven’t been able to since you were born. Well, unless you count the award for most drool on a pillow, because that one definitely goes to you.”
Oliana narrowed her eyes before she was up out of her chair and around the table, latching onto her big brother’s shoulders and driving her knuckles into his head. He laughed and spun around, tickling her sides before he threw her up over his shoulder as she screamed for him to put her down.
I laughed at the show, sipping the coffee we’d made to go with dessert and praying it would bring me back to life. The exhaustion I’d felt earlier had morphed into a new kind, one that was born from the adrenaline I’d felt when Makoa surprised me, followed immediately by the crash when we came in to find his entire family in his condo.