Page 111 of Shadow Dance

“How’d you get this?”Maeve asks, touching a scar by my right eyebrow.

“Fell out of a tree when I was nine.”

She grimaces. “Ouch.”

It’s Sunday. The past six days have been a crash course in getting to know the Kellys, and in turn, I’ve done my best to show them who I am and the Puerto Rico I know. I even brought them to Tita’s,which apparently was all the proof Yomaris needed that I’m marrying Maeve.

Lucky and Liam were only here for two days, but it was good spending time with them. I really respect Lucky. He juggles a lot of plates, but everything he does is for his family.

Now we’re hanging out on the deck behind their villa, drinking beer and playing 20 Questions. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly, who insist I call them Owen and Sloane, went for a walk down the beach.

“And this is from falling off my bike.” I pull up my sleeve, showing her another scar on my elbow. “I was racing this kid around the block and some asshole threw a water balloon at me.”

“That’s diabolical!”

“That was Brooklyn in the summer when I was growing up.” And far from the worst story I could tell her.

“Well, I broke my wrist when I was thirteen,” she says. “It sucked, but at least I could still dance.”

“You got me there. I’ve never had a broken bone,” I say. “Besides my nose.”

“Consider yourself lucky, then.”

“I do,” I say, gazing at her, and her lips curl into a smile.

“Good.” Leaning close, she kisses me. She tastes like the guanábanas we bought at the store earlier. We’ve been nibbling on them all afternoon.

“Keep it PG, young lady,” calls Tristan.

Snickering, I squeeze Maeve’s thigh on the sly. “Yeah, Maeve. Keep it PG.”

“That’s not what you said last night,” she says smugly.

“I wasn’t saying much of anything last night,” I remind her. “My mouth was busy doing something else.”

Her eyes flare, and she grins. “You are so bad.”

“You like bad,” I shoot back before asking the question we’ve been dancing around. “So, when do you think you’ll head back to the States?”

“I don’t know. My parents do what they want these days, but the rest of us do need to get back to reality soon,” she says with a heavy sigh, her eyes drifting to the pool. “Lucky and Tristan especially. They have a lot of stuff going on.”

“I bet.”

Her eyes dart back. “Is that weird for you?”

“What?”

“You know what they do,” she says, dropping her voice as she leans in. “You devoted years of your life bringing down families like mine.”

It’s the first time we’ve broached the subject, but I’ve thought about it a lot. “What they do has nothing to do with me.”

Maeve cocks her head. “You really are good at compartmentalizing, huh?”

“It’s more like … that was my old life.” I look past the patio and the beach beyond, out at the ocean. “I’m not that guy anymore.”

“Because of how things went down in Oakland?”

“Because of you.”