Island Affair (Keys to Love #1) - Priscilla Oliveras Page 0,109

audacity to say. He spread his arms as if expecting her to give him a welcome hug. “I thought you’d be happy to see me.”

She actually laughed, surprised by his narcissism. “I’m not sure why. The last thing I said to you was, ‘Go to hell.’ ”

“Sara?” Her father rose from the sofa, his impervious Chief Cardiothoracic Surgeon regal bearing firmly in place. Even in khaki shorts and a tropical print shirt rather than his white lab coat and stethoscope.

“It’s okay, Dad. I’ve got this.” She held up a hand to stop her father and anyone else from stepping in. Although, based on Ruth’s shocked expression and the splayed hand on her chest, Sara’s mother was incapable of speaking at the moment. The rest of her family ran the gamut from pissed off: Jonathan, glaring at Ric, to haughty superiority juxtaposed with concern: Robin, her gaze skittering between Ric and their mom.

Ric had the gall to open his arms wider, still awaiting her welcome hug. “Come on, you didn’t really mean it, did you?”

“You should go, Ric,” Sara said firmly.

“Don’t you—”

“Please don’t make this any more awkward than it already is,” she interrupted, trying to remember what about him had appealed to her in the first place. “We were finished before you bailed on me. We’ve both known it.”

“But we’re good together,” he reasoned.

“On paper, maybe.” Sara shook her head, resigned to a truth she had ignored far too long. “But the reality is, no, we’re not. And I deserve better. We both do.”

It had taken her this week, the difficult steps paired with the amazing highs, to reach this important milestone in her recovery.

Having the first heart-to-heart with her sister.

Joking with her brother and sharing tight hugs with her parents.

Meeting and falling in love with Luis.

Her heart stuttered at the truth she hadn’t fully admitted to herself, and she pressed a hand to her chest, scared, but certain.

“Sara, I drove all the—”

“She asked you to leave, buddy.” Luis stepped close behind her.

Sara didn’t need to look over her shoulder to picture his tight-jawed, don’t-mess-with-me glare. The steel in his gruff voice warned her.

Ric’s gaze moved between her and Luis for several tense seconds.

Sara eyed him dispassionately.

“Fine, I’m out.” Ric held his hands up, as if he was doing them a favor by acquiescing.

“Thank you.” She tipped her head, determined to remain polite.

“So much for nice gestures like surprising your girlfriend,” Ric muttered as he strode toward her.

Luis swiftly moved forward, angling his large body to shield Sara from her ex. “Nice would have been not standing her up in the first place.”

“Whatever.”

Ric’s inane response to Luis’s truth exemplified the degree to which fortune had smiled on her last Friday. First with Ric’s no-show and then with Luis stepping up in his amazing way.

Moments later, the front door slammed behind Ric. Sara flinched. Framed artwork rattled on the shaking walls and a tense silence settled over the living room.

Sara faced her parents. Dread and, strangely, relief clashed inside her. She hated admitting the insecurity behind her foolish plan, but she was so very tired of the little pretenses negatively coloring her relationship with Luis when they were around her family.

She was ready for the truth to be set free.

“Mom, Dad, this is Luis Navarro.” She gestured at Luis. “Driver Engineer and master diver with the Key West Fire Department.”

It felt awkward, introducing him when they had all spent so much time together already, but he deserved to be shown that respect.

Luis gave a polite nod. “Sir, ma’am.”

His dark gaze cut to Sara, and she realized he was waiting to take his cue from her, the mastermind behind their charade. Even though it had all blown up, he gave her the power to decide how they would proceed.

“What’s going on here, Sar-bear?” Her father’s confused frown made her stomach churn.

Uncertain, Sara slid her gaze around the living room. Her mother and Jonathan stared at her with dismay. Edward’s pity and Carolyn’s compassion stung. But Robin’s stone-faced cynicism and Luis’s tight-jawed apprehension cut the deepest.

“I, uh . . . the thing is . . . well, it’s, it’s kinda funny . . .”

She trailed off, unsure where to start. But funny was definitely not it.

Pressing a hand to her temple and her whirling thoughts, she paced toward the sliding glass door that opened to the backyard oasis. The serenity of the waterfall pool called to her. Around the left side of the yard, the gate on the eight-foot-high privacy fence promised freedom,