Page 68 of The Right Player
“So, is this the part where you grill me and threaten my life with a shot gun if my intentions with your brother aren’t pure?” I joked, handing Pania the crockpot the pork was cooked in.
She smiled, and I marveled at how much that smile looked like Makoa’s, how those same dimples framed her lips. “No guns, I promise,” she said, her eyes finding mine. “I’m more of a roundhouse-kick-to-the-head kind of gal.”
My eyes must have bulged out of their sockets, because she laughed, pointing at me.
“You should have seen your face.”
I yawned, trying to cover it with the back of my wrist. “I have a feeling I don’t want to see my face at all right now — threatened by my boyfriend’s big sister or not.” My stomach still did a little flip at that word… boyfriend.
“Long day?”
“Long couple months is more like it. I had a contract move up from October, and it’s a big one, a three-story claim on one of the new office buildings on the river.”
“Wow. And they hired you for the job?”
I nodded. “It’s fun, but challenging, and apparently this is a company that isn’t used to working with other people’s schedules, because they didn’t seem to mind blowing mine all to hell.”
Pania smiled, working on scrubbing the serving spoon. She was quiet for a while before she said, “So, back to my brother.”
“Subtle,” I said on a smile of my own.
“You two seem really happy together.”
I nodded, swallowing down my nerves as best I could. “We are.”
“I really am sorry we bombarded you tonight. I’m sure the last thing you wanted to do was spend a night with family after he’s been gone so long for ca…” She cleared her throat. “The conference.”
I raised my eyebrows at that, scooping the last of the poi into a container before I handed the dish to her. “Yeah, I definitely didn’t realize how long and time-consuming a real estate conference could be. But, weirdly… I’m kind of glad you all were here.”
“Yeah?” Pania snorted. “Takes a lot to put up with us. And this is mild, compared to when the other sisters are here.”
I smiled, stepping beside her to help load the dishwasher. “I don’t mind it. I’m an only child, and my parents have always traveled a lot, so I grew up in a pretty quiet house.” I shrugged. “It’s fun, all the noise and commotion, all the laughter.”
“We’ll see if you say that again after spending a holiday with us.”
I chuckled, but my stomach took a nose dive at the thought. Part of me could see it — me and Makoa on a plane, sitting on the floor by the Christmas tree in his old house, helping his mom in the kitchen, opening gifts, playing games…
The other part of me laughed at the audacity of it all, at the fact that I was even in a situation where going home for the holidays with the guy I’m dating was an option.
It seemed my heart was always at war with my head, one vying for hope and trust, while the other pointed at every scar I had to remind me of the risk I was taking, at the likelihood that I’d end up just as burned as last time.
“I don’t know what he’s told you, about his past,” Pania said after a moment, handing me a casserole dish to dry. “But Makoa isn’t like a lot of other guys.”
I smiled. “I think I caught onto that pretty early.”
“Did he make you watch a rom-com?”
I snorted. “No, but he did take me to trivia, and then to see Moulin Rouge! on Broadway.”
She seemed proud when she smiled again. “He’s always been a Broadway fan. Makoa, my sister Tamar, and I used to put on plays for our parents all the time when we were younger. Makoa thought he was such a good singer.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Well, he’s lost that over the years, I think.”
“Oh, no — I said he thought he was a good singer.” She waved a soapy hand. “That boy has always sounded like a bad mix of Bob Dylan and Miley Cyrus.”
We both bent over at that, the exhaustion making me laugh harder than I normally would have. I was wiping the tears from my eyes when she continued.
“Well, if you know anything about my brother, then you know he wears his heart on his sleeve. And I can see it after just tonight.” She paused, sponge in hand as she turned to look at me. “He cares about you, Belle.”
I swallowed, nodding as my eyes found the dish in my hand again. “I care about him, too.”
“I don’t think you understand what I’m saying.” She stopped the pretense of washing dishes, tossing the sponge in the sink and turning to face me completely. “I’ve never seen him like this with anyone else.”
