Thick & Thin (Thin Love, #3)(36)
“What?” Mack blinked, gaze moving between me and my father. “Did I do something bad, makua kane?”
Dad knelt down, getting eye level with his daughter. He sighed before he spoke and I knew it was the slip of his temper and him lashing out at Koa that had him exercising extreme patience with Mack. He’d already scared one of his kids today, it was likely he didn’t want to scare another one. Instead, Dad pushed back the waves from Makana’s face, glancing up the small, short line of baby hair around her forehead.
“Nani kaikamahine,” Dad started, “things are a little messed up with your kunāne and Aly. She’s got a new man now and we can’t expect her to come to us whenever we ask.”
“But Makua, you always said Aly was family.” She glanced away from our father and up at me, looking as though she expected me to back her up. “Right, Ransom? Ohana just doesn’t…stop.”
Jesus, my chest hurt at that. That sweet, heart shaped face, those wide, trusting black eyes that seemed to be bottomless—Makana had so much faith in the things she’d been taught. Our lives, the shelter of our family and who that family included, had been such an important part of who these kids were, who’d they’d be one day, that it was only then that made me realize what Aly meant to my family.
Seeming a little lost, Kona shifted his gaze to me, asking a silent question on what I wanted Mack to know about Aly. I took the opening he gave me.
“Kaikuahine, come here.” And she did resting against my thigh when I knelt down in front of her. I could just make out the confusion on her face, how what I’d say seemed to be the answer she searched for and, God help me, I wouldn’t take anything from her. Not that little girl. Not then, not ever. “You’re a sweet girl. Thank you for thinking of me and asking Aly to come.” I glanced at Kona when he stood, seeing his nod of approval. “Makua is right. Aly has a new man and maybe one day she’ll have her own family with him.” Mack opened her mouth, and a small noise that sounded like an argument shot up her throat. “Now, hang on before you have a fit. We all love Aly, don’t we?” She nodded, but it was a slight, disgruntled movement. “And we want her to be happy, right?”
“Yeah, but brah…”
I covered that tiny mouth with three fingers trying not to laugh when she bit my palm. “Let me finish.” The expression on her face was serious, for her anyway, but I ignored it, wiping my damp palm on my jeans. “Aly might have her own family one day and you’ll have to adjust. We…we all will. That doesn’t mean she isn’t always welcomed here, but you should ask first if it’s okay that she come to us. Yeah? And no, pēpē, ohana doesn’t stop. Not with Aly, not with anyone.” I kissed her cheek then, returning the smile she gave me. “Ohana is always.”
That seemed to satisfy her. When Mack spotted Aly coming through the back gate, she jumped away from us, taking the steps two at a time to run up to Aly as though it had been a month and not just a few days since she’d last seen her. Makana hugged Aly, taking her hand to lead her further onto the patio. She faltered only once when Ethan came up behind them, closing the gate. I couldn’t hear what he said to Mack, but it took my little sister a minute, which she used to shrug at him once, glance over her shoulder at me, wait for my nod and then direct her attention back at Ethan, saying something to him that made the man laugh.
“This,” Dad said, jerking his jaw at Ethan as he walked behind Aly, shaking hands with Cass and nodding a greeting at my mother. “Him being here, is not normal.”
“What do you mean?”
Next to me Dad adjusted his stance, dragging gravel underfoot, taking slow, cautious sips from his Abita. “There’s no reason for him to be here. Aly gets invited to her ex’s place to be with his family and the lawyer tags along? She’s been over for dinner at least three times since the spring and not once has he come along with her.” He pointed his bottle at Ethan’s back when the man stood next to Aly as she continued speaking to my mother. He hadn’t moved his hand from the small of her back. “Ethan’s a nice guy, but this is him staking a claim.”
I laughed, spreading my legs to adjust my footing as my father kept his attention on the patio. “That rock on her hand should be enough for that.”
“Please. That ring means nothing. Him being here?” Dad glanced at me, head shaking. “That’s for you alone. She wants you to know she’s taken.”
“Like I didn’t f*cking know that.”
He shrugged, watching the patio again when a few of the coaches’ wives came out with extra plates and glasses. “Seems like that needed a little reiteration.”
I wasn’t sure if it was Aly and her man that made my father stare over the crowd or if he was still stuck on catching every move my mother made. Then Cass leaned next to Mom and whispered something in her ear, which made her smile and my father handed me his bottle, popping his neck once before he moved away from the pit and greeted Aly.
Cass backed up, nodding to my father when he touched Mom’s elbow, ignoring the cowboy’s greeting completely before he shook Ethan’s hand and kissed Aly’s cheek. Watching my folks, how Dad whispered in Mom’s ear, how she followed him inside without any hesitation eased some of my worry, but only some of it.
I kept back, just watching, seeing the way Ethan moved around Aly, how he shook hands and let each stranger he met hold his attention. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was angling for a future in politics the way he worked the small crowd. But I didn’t approach. I knew I didn’t need to. Aly was likely still mad at me for getting in her face a few days before. Now it was my last night here and I’d blown my chances to see her or speak with her without bringing up the past or looking for a way back into her heart.