they left. Her mother had fallen against his chest, sobbing. For a modest, humble family like Keeana’s, selling a house like this would be life changing.
Her father hadn’t been able to look at Kai when he spoke. “You were always a good boy, Kai.” He kept his attention on the ocean, the sky dark, matching the mood of the day. “I knew you’d be a good man too.”
They’d called him son once. His daughter would be part of them forever, he knew that, promised them they would always be welcomed in his home. “She’s your blood. You can see Keola anytime you want. I don’t want you to think I’m taking her away…”
“She’s your kaikamahine. She goes where you do. It’s what my daughter would have wanted.”
By ten p.m., the house was silent. Kai hated the feeling of it. He hated the stillness in this house and the ache it brought to his chest. Gia seemed to know. She always did.
“I’m going to cook for you,” she announced, shaking her head when an unexpected laugh left his mouth. “Don’t sound so surprised. I’m Italian. I know my way around a noodle.”
Gia wouldn’t let him in the kitchen while she tried to lighten the mood, opening cabinet doors that they hadn’t gotten around to packing yet and boxes with Keola’s sheets that Kai used to cover the coffee table. Dru had come to take Keeana’s bed and the dining room set, which he’d bought for her the Christmas before. The man was quiet when Kai talk to him and rattled by this loss. He understood that. Felt it choking him if he thought on it for too long.
By eleven, Gia had finished cooking and she and Kai sat on the floor across from each other eating buttery pasta and fat shrimp dripping in garlic sauce. He managed three bites, conceding that Gia could cook before his appetite left him.
“I’m sorry,” he told her, surprised when she took his hand, giving it a squeeze before she brought his plate into the kitchen. “You mad?”
“I’m honestly shocked you got even that much down.” Gia moved back into the living room, refilling his wineglass, but he didn’t drink. “I couldn’t eat for days…afterward.”
She’d never told him, not once, about what had happened to her in the past, but Kai had his guesses. If he used his brain, if he added facts, thought about her, who she was, what kind of men would be drawn to her, he’d figure out quickly that no one would walk away from her unless they couldn’t help it. Facts and figures, and the expression that came on her face whenever her time at CPU got mention told Kai that the guy who’d left her heartsick hadn’t done it on purpose. He hadn’t meant it. He hadn’t been able to help it.
He’d died, but Kai wouldn’t press and he wouldn’t make assumptions. It was Gia’s story to tell if she wanted.
“The guy? Back in college.”
She leaned against the sofa, eyes bright and glistening and Kai didn’t think it was just an effect of the wine. “He wasn’t an asshat.”
“Of course he wasn’t,” he told her, reaching across the table for her fingers. “Bet you can’t show me a man who’s asshat enough to lose you on purpose.”
Gia closed her eyes, as though she couldn’t stand watching him look at her that way and part of him understood. They were in Maui to bury the one he’d once loved more than anyone else in the world. She’d been everything to him. There was no time, no real place for Kai to think about Gia as anything other than an enormous help to him.
Keeana had only been gone a week and Kai was in her home, touching another woman; a woman his ex knew very well he wanted. She wouldn’t have been angry. In fact, she would have likely encouraged him to make his move. But the timing was off, and he was still too shell shock to think about anything other than surviving until the next moment.
Kai pulled his hand away and used it to grab his glass, glancing toward the patio and that ocean view as he downed the wine. “This was good, Gia… thank you.”
“Anytime,” she said, getting up to clear away the dishes, something she seemed intent on doing without his help, despite him offering. “No, it’s fine. I’m just going to do this and then we can get ready to crash. There’s a lot to do before