as I watched him play with his little sister. It was a phenomenon that kept happening, over and over. I felt it when he set the table for his mom, when he hugged Pania and told me stories about the two of them when they were younger, when he and his dad sang one of their favorite songs and moved their hips like hula dancers by the fireplace, breaking us all into a fit of laughter.
It was one thing, to be in Makoa’s arms at night, to hold his hand at a Broadway show, to spend a day with him and my friends on a boat.
But to see him with his family?
It tugged at heartstrings I didn’t even know I had.
“Alright, you two. That’s enough,” Mrs. Kumaka said, and then her eyes wandered the sitting room, a small smile on her lips. “I love what you’ve done with this room. It feels like home, but different…”
“It’s a combination of Maui and Chicago,” Makoa explained, pointing out the details in the art and furniture as Oliana writhed to get free. Then, he smiled at me. “You can thank this design genius. She dreamed it all up and brought it to life.”
“I wish I could see it,” Oliana said, beating her brother’s back with her little fists. “If someone would put me down, maybe I could.”
“Why don’t you give us a tour?” Dad suggested when Makoa finally set Oliana back on her feet.
That made his mom light up, and she and Mr. Kumaka stood to join Makoa and Oliana, while Pania slyly grabbed my arm under the table to prevent me from doing the same. I looked at her curiously, but she just smiled up at her family. “You guys go ahead. Belle and I will clean up in the kitchen.”
Mr. and Mrs. Kumaka smiled at both of us, and Makoa took the lead, guiding them down the hall and back to the bedrooms. Oliana looked over her shoulder at us, winking at her big sister, and suddenly, my stomach was a bundle of nerves.
Anyone who thought facing a big brother was hard didn’t have to face the oldest sister of the one and only boy in the family.
We were both quiet for a long while, gathering dishes from the table and taking them into the kitchen. Pania started in on the dishes while I put all the leftover food in plastic containers.
“So, is this the part where you grill me and threaten my life with a shot gun if my intentions with your brother aren’t pure?” I joked, handing Pania the crockpot the pork was cooked in.
She smiled, and I marveled at how much that smile looked like Makoa’s, how those same dimples framed her lips. “No guns, I promise,” she said, her eyes finding mine. “I’m more of a roundhouse-kick-to-the-head kind of gal.”
My eyes must have bulged out of their sockets, because she laughed, pointing at me.
“You should have seen your face.”
I yawned, trying to cover it with the back of my wrist. “I have a feeling I don’t want to see my face at all right now — threatened by my boyfriend’s big sister or not.” My stomach still did a little flip at that word… boyfriend.
“Long day?”
“Long couple months is more like it. I had a contract move up from October, and it’s a big one, a three-story claim on one of the new office buildings on the river.”
“Wow. And they hired you for the job?”
I nodded. “It’s fun, but challenging, and apparently this is a company that isn’t used to working with other people’s schedules, because they didn’t seem to mind blowing mine all to hell.”
Pania smiled, working on scrubbing the serving spoon. She was quiet for a while before she said, “So, back to my brother.”
“Subtle,” I said on a smile of my own.
“You two seem really happy together.”
I nodded, swallowing down my nerves as best I could. “We are.”
“I really am sorry we bombarded you tonight. I’m sure the last thing you wanted to do was spend a night with family after he’s been gone so long for ca…” She cleared her throat. “The conference.”
I raised my eyebrows at that, scooping the last of the poi into a container before I handed the dish to her. “Yeah, I definitely didn’t realize how long and time-consuming a real estate conference could be. But, weirdly… I’m kind of glad you all were here.”
“Yeah?” Pania snorted. “Takes a lot to put up with us. And this is mild,