Finding Kenna (SEAL Team Hawaii #3)(44)

“What’s that?” Carly asked.

“It’s a neighborhood between Waikiki and downtown Honolulu. It used to be an industrial ghost town with mostly auto body shops and old warehouses. But a bunch of local artists used the old buildings as their canvases and as a result, it revived the area. There are a bunch of breweries and other businesses there now, and there’s even a monthly food truck gathering.”

“How come I didn’t know about this?” Kenna asked no one in particular.

“Because you have no reason to really drive through there?” Elodie suggested.

“I do now,” Kenna said. “I’m gonna look it up and Carly and I will go through on our way back to Waikiki.”

“Awesome,” Ashlyn said with a smile.

“So…who’s gonna draw this mural, Lexie? Because I don’t have a lick of artistic ability, and I don’t think you do either,” Elodie said.

“Count me out,” Ashlyn chimed in.

“I don’t suppose either of you is an artist?” Lexie asked Kenna and Carly.

“Sorry, I’m not,” Kenna said.

“I can’t even draw a straight line,” Carly agreed.

“Well, shoot. There goes my grand idea,” Lexie said with a sigh.

“I can draw.”

All five women turned to look at Theo. He was still sitting at the table, looking down at the top of it, drawing imaginary circles with his finger in the light dust covering the surface.

Lexie walked over to him and crouched next to his chair. “You can draw, Theo?”

He nodded.

Lexie turned and gestured to Elodie. “Will you bring me a piece of paper and a pen?”

Elodie rushed over to the table with their purses on it and grabbed a piece of paper out of a folder, bringing it over to Theo and Lexie.

Kenna watched with interest as Lexie turned back to her unconventional friend and put the supplies on the table in front of him. “Can you draw me something?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe the ocean, with a pretty beach, some buildings off to the left and a mountain.”

“Like Diamond Head?” Theo asked, looking up at her.

“Yes, exactly! And maybe a bright rainbow in there somewhere too. Everyone likes rainbows. They’re happy.”

Theo nodded and bent over the paper.

Lexie stood and backed away from the table, giving Theo room to do his thing.

“Do you really think he can draw?” Carly whispered as Lexie came back over to where the women were standing.

“I sure as hell hope so. Otherwise the walls are gonna be super boring in here,” Lexie said. “We don’t have the money to hire an artist right now.”

“We could ask Aleck,” Elodie suggested.

Kenna blinked in surprise at the seemingly out-of-the-blue statement.

“We could,” Lexie agreed. “But he’s already donated so much, I hate to ask for anything else.”

“He can afford it,” Elodie said nonchalantly.

“I know, but I don’t want to take advantage. Especially if I need to hit him up for help with something else later.”

Elodie and Ashlyn nodded in agreement, but Kenna just looked at Carly in confusion.

Elodie caught the look and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Kenna shrugged. “I guess I’m just confused about why you’ve singled out Marshall to donate money.”

“He’s loaded,” Lexie said casually, already unstacking chairs. “You’d never know it by looking at him or talking to him. He’s one of the most down-to-earth millionaires I’ve ever met. I swear I’m not taking advantage of him though. That’s why I wouldn’t ask him to pay for an artist to come in and paint a mural on the wall. He’s been more than generous as it is.”

Kenna was still stuck on the first part of what she’d said, struggling to wrap her mind around the fact that Marshall was a millionaire.

“You didn’t know? I’m sorry if we let the cat out of the bag,” Elodie said gently. “He doesn’t go around bragging about the fact his parents made a ton of money in real estate and set up a trust fund for him.”

“And he’s even paying them back for his penthouse at Coral Springs too. He told us they bought it as a vacation place, but when he was stationed here, they insisted he move in. They switched it over to his name and everything,” Lexie explained.

Kenna froze completely at hearing where Marshall lived.

God, she was an idiot.

No wonder it had been so easy to get onto the private beach. Marshall freaking lived there. And he hadn’t said a word.

Humiliation swept over her like an ocean tide.

And just like that, the best date she’d had in her entire life was tainted.

Carly obviously saw how upset she was, though she didn’t know why. She put her hand on Kenna’s arm in support.

Kenna knew she should say something, but she was still processing the fact that in all the conversations they’d had, Marshall hadn’t said one word about being rich. It stung. Bad.

She was saved from the awkward silence by Theo saying, “Done.”

Everyone’s attention turned to him as he put the pen down on the table. Lexie walked back over and picked up the piece of paper. Her shock was easy to see on her face.