Page 103 of Five Alarm Love
“Lou must have told you.I didn’t post that picture of her.Someone got into my page.”He stared at Hunter, who slowly twirled with Lou.“Someone with access to my phone.”
“You sure about that?”
“Bet on my Grandma’s life.”
“Huh.”He frowned at Tuli.“You going to fix it?”
“The access?It’s fixed.”He stared at the man.“Thought you would be happy that I’m out of the picture.”
The weight of Steve’s stare felt like blocks of ice pushing Tuli down, down, down into the cold river.“I want my daughter happy and healthy.I want my family happy and healthy.I want my community happy and healthy.”
The implication being Tuli had ruined all three.
Tuli looked over at a stiff Lou in Hunter’s arms.Her mouth was pressed into a tense line.Hunter lifted his chin at someone on the periphery of the dance floor.
Then Hunter glanced over at Tuli.
And winked.
Community happy and healthy.
Tuli mulled those words over and over, rocks tumbling in a rushing flood.
Community healthy.
Community.
Tuli excused himself and stepped out of the tent into a dark, quiet area of the park, pulled out his phone, and started typing.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Too exposed.
Lou’s skin twitched.She couldn’t help but hear the whispers and sense the subtle pointing of friends, colleagues, and various aunties as Hunter glided with her around the dance floor.Sure, he was handsome in his brown leather vest and black shirt underneath, with bone and bead regalia in a thick choker around his neck.He loved the attention and made a big show of being her super nice cousin in public.
But she saw something different beneath his too-solicitous smile.
She hadn’t been able to ask him about posting that picture.Couldn’t speak the words.Why would he have done that?
He was Hunter.She’d grown up with him.She didn’t choose her relatives.
For a very brief period, she had chosen Tuli.
Lou wasn’t right for Tuli.Her chest ached.What she needed and what he needed and who he was, these were all very different things.Too different.Bridging them would be like walking across the flowing Yukon and expecting to reach the other side dry.
She lightly stepped on Hunter’s toes and jumped.“Sorry.”
He tightened up his hand, gripping her fingers.“Never a problem.Walk all over me anytime, coz.”He laughed, too loudly.
Others around him looked up and joined in the chuckles.
She ducked her head, then let her brain whirl, trying to talk about something safe.“Glad no one got called out for an emergency today.”
“Anyone going to have a medical emergency is here.No one’s at their homes to set fire to stuff.We’re good.”He paused and gave her an almost-boyish smile.“Besides, I don’t work for the fire department anymore.”
“Why?”
“Problems with management.”The words dropped like lead sinkers.
