My Beloved: A Thin Love Novella(10)
“Fine,” Keira said, not amused by how smug Mark had grown.
“Get off that little stage and come hug us.”
And Keira did, letting down her guard and allowing Leann and Mark to surround her, their arms and kisses the reprieve she needed from the chaos the wedding plans had been. She’d missed them desperately. Leann had been busy training her competition dance team for Regionals for weeks now and Mark had only just returned from his stint in South Sudan with Doctors Without Borders.
“Where’s my boy?” Mark asked, helping Keira toward the dressing room when the shop manager asked her if she wanted out of the gown.
She slipped behind the door, wiggling to her underwear with Leann’s help. “Kona took him to Kahuku High School.” She worked her head through her pink halter and shimmied on her white capris. “The football team is supposed to be like a religion here. Ransom didn’t believe Kona when he told him how many state championships and national rankings the team gets. He wanted to see them practice for himself.”
“Well hey there, person I recognize now.” Mark laughed at his own joke when Keira emerged from the dressing room, slipping on her wedges. “When will I get to see him?”
“Tonight. We’re supposed to be having a luau for the rehearsal, though I’m pretty sure it’s all for show. Luaus aren’t customary for locals.” She stepped up on the balls of her feet and kissed her friend on his cheek when Mark gave her a smile, as though he couldn’t believe he was seeing her in person. It had been half a year almost since Mark left for South Sudan. But that sweet cheek kiss was cut short when pounding on the large, glass window along the shop’s entrance started up.
“Keira! Does Kona know you’re cheating on him?”
“Shit,” she said, pulling Mark and Leann away from the windows, toward the storage room in the back of the shop.
“Auwe!” Keira heard Lina shout at the three photographers who had suddenly appeared in front of the store. Together the shop manager and Lina pulled the blinds down, blocking the photographer’s view. “Cuz, you stay here. Kona no want you around this lolo kine.”
“We can’t stay here forever,” Leann whined behind Keira, pulling on her bare arm. “Has this been going on a lot?”
“Started when we landed.” Keira tried to take the sharp tone out of her voice, but Mark and Leann both caught on. They each stood next to her, close, as though they were sentries and not overprotective drama queens. But Keira didn’t mind their melodrama. Other than Ransom, they knew her best and both were aware how much she hated attention. Keira had enjoyed success in obscurity. TMZ usually didn’t care about songwriters who didn’t party, didn’t often attend industry events and never dated. Then, Kona came back into her life and his wretched mother thrust both Ransom and Keira into the spotlight. The attention had only grown worse since Kona retired and had reached ridiculous levels now that Kona had returned to the island.
But the photographers outside weren’t many, and though the crowd was growing, doubled with the pleasant locals who wanted a bit of Kona’s time, Keira understood that this group was more interested in finding Kona than pestering her. It happened often enough back home and she knew that Kona coming back to the island only encouraged the excitement of the locals. It was hero worship that Keira understood. They only wanted a picture, a conversation, maybe an autograph. But “just one minute” and “this’ll only take a sec” usually turned into hours, sometimes an entire day that kept Kona from his family. Keira hadn’t seen or heard from him all day and now that those photographers—she recognized the same slimy ponytail wearing jerk that Kona had yelled at from the airport—had converged, joined by Kona devotees, and were likely inventing wild, ridiculous scenarios about her and Mark, that attention would only grow. It would take them awhile to duck out unmolested, especially if the crowd didn’t soon discover Kona wasn’t with her at the bridal shop.
“Is Kona supposed to be picking you up?” Leann asked, frowning as the banging on the shop window didn’t abate.
“He said he would, but that was before he went to the high school. I have no clue how long he’ll be out on that field.” Kiera pulled out her phone and sighed when a call to Kona went straight to his voice mail.
“All day if the kids spot him. He’ll be doing autographs, pictures, possibly pep talks.” When Keira looked up at Mark, tilting her head, he shrugged. “I watched ‘Any Given Sunday’. Jocks do that sort of stuff.”
“Not when their fiancés are trapped in a tiny bridal shop with a crowd stalking her.”
“That’s a wildly exaggerated version of the truth, Leann.” Keira waved off her cousin’s frown and stepped out of the storage room, nodding Lina over. “Can you get through to Kona?”
“No, cuz. He’s out with the Red Raiders. My boy Neo said that most of the town is running out there. That kine no take football easy like, yeah?”
“Great,” Keira said, moving back into the storage room when Lina answered a call. “I don’t like Ransom being around all those people.” Keira looked down at her phone, scanning through it to find her messages. There were none from her son or Kona and that bothered her more than she thought it should.
“I don’t like you around those people,” Leann said, nodding toward the front window to scowl at the three photographers still lurking outside the shop, trying to snap pictures between the slats in the lowered blinds. “They need to call the cops.”