Page 10

ISLA

Kai

How do you figure?

Isla

My dad was snooping around the apartment and saw my underwear on the floor in the bedroom. Next to the bed.

All my clothes are in there, too. Not the spare room.

Kai

Fuck.

Do they seem upset?

I look over at our parents, who are walking hand in hand, like nothing is out of the ordinary. Maybe they’re ignoring the signs that their children are in a relationship?

Isla

No. If anything, it’s like they aren’t acknowledging it.

Kai

Maybe they’re waiting for us to come out with it. This could be a good thing, Princess.

I’m still waiting for everything to implode.

We wait by the car in an awkward silence until Kai comes running toward us in a pair of slacks and a dress shirt, with his helmet under his arm.

His mom runs over to him and gives him a hug and kisses him on the cheek.

They are a few feet away from my dad and me, and she keeps him for a second, whispering to him.

Fuck, they know.

“How long, Isla?” My dad asks, and I freeze.

“Huh? How long what?” Shit. Shit. Shit!

“We’re not stupid, sweetheart.” I turn to face him, my stomach rolling and the stadium hot dog threatening to come up.

“I figured it out, oh, about a year after they moved in, that you had feelings for him. Then when the flowers started showing up after he moved out, I put two and two together that he felt the same way for you.”

I look over at Kai, and he is smiling with his mom.

“Are you disappointed in me? Please don’t hate him. He’s really good to me, Dad.” My eyes close and I turn back to my dad. Please don’t be mad.

“How long?” he asks again.

“Like I said, how long what? How long have I been in love with Malakai? How long since we started having se?—”

“Okay, pump the brakes, kid.” My dad holds up his hands. “It wasn’t going on when you were both living at home, right? You weren’t having… uh… doing… Not in the house, right? ”

“No. Not until a couple of days ago.” I chuckle at my father turning red in the face. “But he wants to marry me and I’d really like it if you’d be okay with that.”

“Let’s eat something first and then we can talk about all this. Okay? Maybe a stiff drink, too?”

“Okay, sounds like a good plan.” I could probably do with a drink. It might be a necessity to get through the night.

Kai and his mom head towards us and they both are smiling. He catches the indifferent look on my face, and his smile drops slightly. Stopping in front of us, he pans from me over to my dad, taking a deep breath. “I love her, Gene. I always have, nothing’s gonna change that?—”

“Kai.” His mother interjects.

“—No, I need to say this.” Kai reaches for my hand, and I’m just standing there like a deer in headlights, frozen.

“Malakai,” my dad pats his shoulder, then pulls him into a hug. “I know you do, bud. I’ve known for a long time.”

“You have?”

“Son, you don’t send flowers to someone religiously every week without having feelings.

You don’t completely alter your diet and way of living for just anyone.

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t normal that you and Isla were everything to each other almost immediately.

” My dad chuckles and pulls Kai’s mom to his side.

“Nadia and I have been waiting for one of you to come out with it.”

“We thought it would not happen when Isla started getting serious with Steve. But then when she moved back home, I had a hope that might change.” She takes my hand and kisses it. “Looks like my hoping worked.”

“So I have your blessing?” Kai’s face cracks a smile. “I can ask her to marry me?”

My dad sighs. “Can we please eat something? We can talk about marriage when I have a steak in front of me and a beer in my hand.”

Kai laughs and nods. “Yeah, let’s get Dad a beer before he loses his shit. Where are we headed?”

“Just follow us, honey. We made a reservation at Morty’s Steakhouse.” Mom kisses his cheek one more time. “Please be safe on that thing.”

“I will, Mom. I’ll go to the speed limit. Scout’s honor.” He holds up three fingers.

“You were never a Boy Scout.” I snort.

“I don’t need to be a Boy Scout to know how to tie some knots, Princess.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me and I giggle nervously.

Dad spins around and heads back to the car, muttering to himself about how he’s going to need two beers. Nadia heads to the car, leaving Kai and me standing there. “Seriously, ride safe, baby.”

“I always do. Especially now that I’m coming home to you.” Kai leans in to kiss me and I put my hand on his chest.

“Let’s feed him first, then maybe you can attempt to kiss me in front of him.” I raise my brow and push him back.

“Mmm, I don’t like that idea. I’ve gone all day without your lips on mine.

And I hit two home runs in my very first major league game.

I think that warrants a kiss. Wouldn’t you say?

” He inhales deeply and shrugs his shoulders.

“I think there is a rule somewhere that says that it guarantees a kiss from the wife.”

“I’m not your wife, Kai.”

“Not yet.” He steps into me and I tense, my eyes shift back over to the car. But instead of kissing me, he nudges my nose with his and wraps his arms around me. With his lips on my ear, he whispers. “When we get home tonight, I’m gonna be fucking my fiancé.”

“Isn’t it supposed to be a surprise when you propose?” I pull back and start walking toward the passenger door.

“Like you don’t know I’m going to.” He smirks and puts his helmet on, flipping the visor up. “See you soon, Princess.”

It should be illegal for him to look that good in a pair of slacks, a dress shirt, classic Vans, and a helmet. Criminal.

The window rolls down and my dad clears his throat. “Food, sweetheart?”

I’d rather have Kai.

But I need to keep it together.

“Yep. Let’s go.” I pull the door open and get in, buckling up.

Dad pulls out of the spot and heads toward the exit.

Kai rides up behind us, following at a safe stopping distance.

We merge onto the freeway, and the car stays uncomfortably silent.

Somebody say something before the verbal diarrhea starts happening and I can’t shut up.

“Do you have your EpiPen and medication, Isla?” My dad asks, glancing at me in the rearview. I roll my eyes.

No, Dad. I just have six of the nine major food allergies and don’t carry one with me.

“Yes. I do. I never leave home without one.” No attitude.

I know he asks because he cares. But I’m not a child. I’ve been dealing with my diagnoses independently for years now. I know how to navigate in a world where so many things could kill me. And not just food. Medications, environmental allergens, and who knows what else.

Pulling into the parking lot of Morty’s, we all get out and Kai backs his bike into the spot right next to us. Taking his helmet off, he looks at Dad. “Can I leave my helmet in the trunk?”

The trunk pops and Kai puts it inside. His hand flattening on the small of my back, he motions for our parents to lead the way. As we walk, he leans and whispers just low enough to where only I can hear him. “Our name looks so good on you, baby. Are you aching for me as much as I am for you?”

Well, if I wasn’t, I am now.

I nod.

“Mmmm, just how I like you. Needy for my?—”

“Table for four, under the name Donahue.” My dad tells the hostess when we walk through the doors of the steakhouse.

“Absolutely.” She grabs four menus and her eyes snap to Kai, blushing. “Follow me.”

We follow, and I look over at him. “Do you know her?”

“Do I know who?” He asks, sliding his palm against mine, lacing our fingers together. “I don’t see anyone but you, Princess.”

My stomach fills with flutters. Geez, he really knows how to make a girl feel like she’s the only one in the room. “Don’t play dumb, Kai. I know you saw her look at you.”

We stop at a table, and he pulls my chair out, motioning for me to sit. He leans in. “She can look, Isla, but you know where my cock’s going to be tonight.” A peck on my cheek, and he pushes my chair in and takes the menu she holds out to him.

“Thanks.”

“I don’t mean to fangirl but do you play for the Coyotes?”

Here we fucking go.

“Yeah, I do.” Kai replies politely. “And this is my mother, my stepfather, and my wife. Here, Princess,” Kai hands me the menu. “Hand that to your dad for me.”