“Ashley Walsh,” I shout at him.
“Ashley Silver,” he stresses, “is one of the best in the game. I’ve seen this woman drink tea with little old ladies just moments before they sign their property rights away at below market value, never without smiles on their wrinkled faces. Don’t even get me started on the men, either—one look at her rack and the male clients were eating from her hands. I used to get so hard watching her work.” He looks at me one last time, before finally stepping back from the crowd.
“So enjoy your shithole town as long as possible, because once my wife is done with Paia, this place will be unrecognizable. See you at home, Leelee.” Dale blows me a kiss, elbowing his way past the lingering patrons and straight through the front door.
The bar is quiet after Dale leaves. No one moves but to return to their seats. Pancho finally steps forward, but the look on his weathered, tanned face reminds me of an abandoned bear cub. “Is it true? Is that why you’re here?”
His expression makes wetness pool behind my eyes. “It’s not how he made it sound, Pancho. I don’t work for him—for them.”
“But there are plans?”
I can’t help but sigh. “There are, but I’m not part of them.” Before I can explain, he shakes his head and turns away.
“I really thought you were one of us, Red.”
“I am!” I protest, and my eyes find Lance in the crowd. “You believe me, right Lance?” I plead for him to understand, but he just shifts his weight from foot-to-foot.
“Jeez, Ashley, a resort? You know what that’ll do to my beach—it’ll get jammed. Old minty and I will never see any surf. I like Paia the way it is. I thought you did too.”
“I do! I love it!” I cry out, but I don’t know how to explain without making the situation worse.
I push through the crowd until I find Kayla, who’s wearing a look of pure disgust. “Wait until Adele hears about this. It’s like I always say: you really can’t trust anyone but yourself.”
No, no, no this can’t be happening, I tell myself. It’s all wrong. I didn’t mention the plans earlier because I didn’t want anyone to freak out. I wanted to dig around first and see how concrete they were, or find a viable way to stop the developers from pursuing the project. I want to explain all of this to my friends, and more importantly, to Kane, but he storms out of the bar long before I have a chance. I forget about the kitchen for now and proceed to chase after Kane, but his jeep is already tearing away from the parking lot. I head for my new beater-of-a-car and jump inside, but the ignition won’t start—screw Murphy and all of his Laws. It just keeps turning over and over.
I scream in anger before heaving the door open and leaping onto the pavement. My only option is to run back to the house, so I set off on foot and by the time I reach the driveway, my tank top is drenched in sweat. I jog down to my suite with a plan to change my shirt before setting out to find Kane, but instead I find him inside, standing at the small kitchen table with the resort plans clutched in his hands. He’s obviously deep in concentration, and I figure he must have rummaged through every drawer to find the plans, given the chaos with which they’re strewn across the table.
“Does part of the rental agreement including snooping?” I ask.
His eyes snap up to me. “These plans are ridiculous.”
I take a deep breath. “I know.”
“They’ll never be able to build this close to the water line, never mind that none of this is energy efficient and the proposed amenities contravene about fifty different land use policies,” he continues, but I cut him off.
“I know,” I speak louder this time, leaning into the wall for support. The run really knocked the wind from me and I have yet to recover. Spinning I can manage, but I’m definitely not a long distance runner.
“You kept these from me,” he accuses.
“Yes, I did.” I feel my shoulders sag. “I kept them from everyone, because I know how seeing plans like these would hurt this community. I don’t work for Silverdale and I never will again. This development is an insult to Paia Town and all of Hawaii, and I will do everything in my power to see that it doesn’t happen. That’s the real reason that I kept them; what you’re holding right now is insider information, enabling us to stop the development altogether. Please, Kane, you have to believe me.”
He runs a ragged hand through his hair before tossing the plans down on the table. “I do.”
“Wait…what? You do?”
“I never doubted you, Lani, not for one minute.”
“Then why did you race out of the bar in such a state?”
He just shakes his head. “Because he talked about you intimately…about touching you…and the way he looked at you…” He laughs without any humor.
“I was married to him, Kane,” I say, throwing my hands up in the air.
“Yeah, about that…” His voice is gruff, but there’s a smile playing across his lips.
“I know. I concede that it wasn’t one of my better life choices.”
“The truth is…” He says, pacing like a cougar. “I don’t like picturing you in anyone else’s arms. It seems unnatural to me.”
Between his earlier declaration of coupledom and now these words, my heart pounds staccato. “It seems unnatural to me as well.” My voice is soft, but he’s so busy pacing that I don’t think he hears.
“He called you sweetheart. He called you his wife. He’s seen you naked. It makes me see nothing but red.”
“I can’t change the past, Kane, no more than you can.”
He flinches at my words. “Understatement. But I hate that he had you first. I hate that he had you at all.”
I grab his arm like someone under arrest. “He never had me, Kane. Not like you do.”
Kane sweeps his thumb across my bottom lip. He doesn’t say anything, but his eyes tell me everything that I need to know.
“Are you mad at me then?” I whisper.
He sighs and gazes at me with full eyes. “I’m insanely jealous, Lani. I’d love to know where he’s staying, so that I could drive over there tonight and beat the shit out of him for disrespecting you, but no, I’m not mad.”
“That’s good, I guess, but everyone else in town is mad at me, even my friends. What am I going to do?”
“You’ll figure it out.”
“That’s helpful.”
“I thought you wanted to take care of yourself.” He raises one eyebrow at me.
“Now you choose to listen to me? Now?” My voice goes up a whole octave, but he just chuckles and pulls me against his chest.
“Don’t hug me, I’m sweaty.” I try to pull away, but Kane doesn’t budge.
Instead he just murmurs into my hair. “I don’t care.”
“And this whole development business…I’m going to pay a visit to the county tomorrow and get details on Paia’s community plan and zoning regulations. Dale was exaggerating when he talked about my old job, but he wasn’t totally wrong. I did things that I’m not proud of back then—real estate, especially development, is pretty cutthroat. I got so caught up while I was trying to grow my career; it felt like the right thing to do at the time. You know what I mean?”
Kane kisses my forehead. “I love that you want to help, but don’t waste your time. Trust me when I tell you that this development thing is dead in the water.”
“What makes you so confident?”
“Well, for starters, I own a lot of the private waterfront land already, along with a few commercial spaces in town.”
I narrow my eyes at this mysterious man. “How many is a few?”
He clears his throat. “Maybe more than a few.”
Kane snuggles me into his chest, and I do the quick math in my head. Water frontage in Hawaii, times commercial space, times land, equals—holy hell—Kane Keo is loaded.
“So you’re, like, a real estate baron?”
He laughs and shakes his head. “I’ll show you my bank account statement. I assure you it’s not very impressive, but I st
arted buying land when I was twenty-one—made a few good decisions, got lucky more than a few times. There was never much for me to fall back on financially, and I didn’t go to college after high school, but my grandpa gave me a good start. He lived his whole life in Hana, raising me after my mom died, and when he passed, he left me his land. It’s for agricultural use and cannot be developed, but that wouldn’t be my game anyways—this town means too much to me.”
“I’m sure your bank account is still more impressive than mine.” I think about my student loans, and that stupid pair of embellished Jimmy Choo shoes, which I bought with a Sax card during a fit of emotional holiday shopping last year. “But even if you are the King of Paia…” I tease, watching him roll his eyes. “I still want to go to Oahu and gather the information. I want to tell my friends exactly what happened and how I’m going to make it right—as soon as I figure that out myself.”
“Then go,” he says. “And trust me when I say that everything will be fine.”
“Wow. I think that’s the most positive thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
He smiles crookedly. “I’m not that bad, Ashley.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Why don’t I show you just how good I can be?” He lifts me up, resting my bellybutton against his erection.
I let out a little gasp. “Yes, I’m definitely more of a visual learner.” I feel myself losing oxygen as he tugs off my tank top.
“Then prepare yourself for lesson number one, Lani.”
He carries me past the wicker divider and into the bedroom, before throwing me down against the sheets like a prize.
Chapter 22
It’s takes all of my courage to face the crowd at Salty’s the next day. I hope things will be business as usual, but apparently no one’s hungry today. By one o’clock in the afternoon, two hours have passed without anyone placing a single order, but I keep my head high and ignore the whispering glares cast my way. I’ll do whatever I must to show these people how sorry I am for not being upfront with them. Since there’s no cooking to be done, I offer to help Kane re-stock the bar. The only two patrons here are Pancho (who hasn’t looked my direction once), and a young local who I’ve seen around a few times.
“Hey shark bait,” he calls to me. I look around before making eye contact with him. “Yeah, you. No wonder your husband fucked around on you, ice-queen. Sounds like you’re a real cold-hearted bitch.”
My throat closes up and my nose tingles with the beginnings of tears. I glance over at Pancho, but his face is impassive.
Kane, on the other hand, is listening like a hawk. “Get out of my bar,” he says.
“But…”
“Now.”
The guy mutters a string of curses but hops off his stool and heads for the door.
“Please don’t,” I whisper. “I’ve already affected your business enough. I don’t want you to lose more customers because of me.”
He gives me a look. “No one calls you that.” He resumes stocking the back bar, so I wander over to Pancho, who’s nursing a beer with a sad look on his face.
“Pancho?” I say quietly, but he doesn’t speak a word. “I know that you’re angry with me right now, but I’m hoping you’ll come to my place this evening. I’m inviting everyone over to explain. Please let me explain.”
He doesn’t look at me when he answers. “I don’t know, Red. What you did was pretty lolo, but I’ll think about it.” I nod my head and even though it’s hard, I leave him be.
When Lance arrives, he reluctantly agrees to come over later, and I leave messages for Kayla and Adele. The rest of the afternoon is more of the same. As hard as I try not to let it affect me, every nasty comment and dirty look digs deeper every time. Then, as if my day couldn’t get any worse, Dale saunters into the bar later that afternoon. I cringe upon seeing that he’s traded his suit for pink oxford shorts and docksiders. He looks so out of place in Salty’s; it’s almost comical, with emphasis on the almost. Kane shoves me behind his big body and plants his hands on the bar, but Dale ignores him, sliding onto one of the bar stools.
“Relax, mouth breather. I’m here for Ashley.”
“Like hell you are,” he growls.
“I only came to tell my wife that I’m leaving today.” He turns his gaze on me. “I wanted to give you one more chance to change your mind.”
I step past Kane and dart around the bar until I’m face-to-face with Dale. “I think I made myself pretty clear. We are done. I’m never changing my mind. This is my home now.”
Dale looks around the bar and snorts. “Why stay? These people clearly hate you. Besides, you belong working at Silverdale. You belong in San Francisco and you belong in my bed.”
“I’m going to fucking kill this guy,” I hear Kane say behind me.
“That’s right, big guy, keep muttering threats. You’ll be hearing from my lawyer over last night’s fiasco,” Dale shoots back.
I have no doubt that he’s serious. Being the son of one of the city’s most prominent developers gives you unlimited access to legal advice.
“Please leave Kane alone.” My voice betrays me with quiet shaking. “This is where I belong, and these people, they may hate me right now, but I love them. I’ll earn back their trust no matter how long it takes. They are my ohana.” My eyes start to burn with unshed tears.
“I hope you realize how ridiculous you sound,” he scoffs, glancing at Kane, who hovers so close that I can feel his buttons pressing into my back. “Most of these people won’t even look at you right now, and you’re spouting off nonsense in Hawaiian like you belong here.”
“She does,” Kane states, looping an arm around my shoulder. “Did everyone hear me clearly?” He shouts out, looking around the bar.
Dale’s face knots into a grimace at the sight of Kane’s strong arm encasing me. “Right, well, you can kiss that job at Silverdale goodbye forever.”
“With pleasure,” I say.
“I guess now would probably be the right moment to tell you that it wasn’t just Erin Perry I got off with.” Dale clicks his tongue. “I fucked around on you a lot. It was almost too easy, but I won’t lie…I am going to miss that gorgeous ass of yours. Good thing I have so much other ass on the side to keep me going.”
I hear Kane mutter “fuck.” His arm drops from my shoulders but I reach back and grab hold of his wrists to steady him. I don’t want him hitting Dale again, and I can already see where this is going. Dale slips off the stool and starts to leave before making a quick pivot in the other direction. “Oh, and I’ve been thinking about the townhouse—I may have had a change of heart.”
“But we both put down money,” I say, but Dale releases a cynical chuckle.
“I put down more though, which is what really counts.” Dale mimes a mic drop and spins on his heel like a teenage boy.
I look over at Kane, pleading with my eyes for him not to chase after Dale. “It won’t help anything,” I whisper, shaking my head.
“If he’s already going to sue me, what does it matter?” Kane says flatly.
“Don’t say that please!” I spin around to face him and see that he’s laughing.
“I’m not worried about it, Lani. I own a bar and lots of real estate; I know a thing or two about people threatening to sue.”
“God! He is such an asshole!” I scream, balling my fists together as Kane raises his eyebrows. “What?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard that cute little mouth of yours swear.”
“Asshole isn’t a swearword,” I argue, “I mean, not really. Whatever, I’m just glad he’s gone for now.”
Kane stares at the door with a dark look in his eyes. “If he knows what’s good for him, for now will become forever.”
• • •
Around dinner time, Kane tells me to go home. I give up and head out to my new-used car, but someone has smashed out the driver and passenger side windows. There’s broken glass all over the seats, but I’m far too worn out to care. I sit on top o
f the debris, letting them cut into the back of my legs. I rest my head on the steering wheel and finally let everything go. I cry so hard that I’m practically hyperventilating by the time Kane finds me.
In silence, he gently removes me from the car and dusts the broken glass from my back, handing me to Taylor. “Taylor’s going to drive you home.” He kisses my cheek. “And I’m going to take care of this.” His voice sounds raw and hoarse.
I want to tell him that I don’t care about the car—that I’m just overwhelmed—but all I can do is sob. I climb into Taylor’s idling BMW and we drive the short distance in silence, giving me time to calm down and reflect.
“He cares about you a lot,” Taylor says, his car rolling to a stop before my place.
I swallow a big hiccup. “I know.”
“You better feel the same way, because the Kane I know doesn’t have the capacity to just turn it on and off.”
“And you think I can?” It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell Taylor the truth—that I love Kane and feel terrible for putting him in this position.
“Kane Keo doesn’t care what other people think, but clearly he cares about you. Just be careful with his heart, please?”
“Is he going to be careful with mine?” I whisper.
Taylor sighs. “He’ll have no choice but to be careful. When Kane loves something, his love is fierce and constant, like the surf. He had love, great love, with his son, but losing Kaiden broke him. I came here every day for three months—did you know that? I came and opened the blinds, put the dishes in the dishwasher, got him out of bed, made him stand in the shower, forced him to eat. Even still, almost seven years later, it feels like he just gets up out of habit—not because he wants to, because he has to. He lives life by going through the motions. At least, that’s how it felt until you came along.”
“Isn’t that a good thing then?”
Taylor leans back in his seat and really looks at me. “That depends. I don’t think he can survive another heartbreak, and I don’t mean that figuratively. So you need to be sure—about him, and about Paia.”
“I appreciate what you’re saying, Taylor, I do, but there are no certainties in life. I’ve learned that the hard way. I love Kane and I want to be with him, but it takes two people to make that decision. I can’t force things if he’s not ready to open up for me.”
Aloha in Love Page 19
