“Kaiya, quit drooling over that man and come over here. I’ve got something to tell you.”
“You know, Lah,” Kaiya said when she reached her grinning sister, “you have the discreetness of a bull in a china shop.”
Rich laughter shook Kalilah’s shoulders. “I was only stating the obvious, Kai. You were drooling over Tyler the way my teething baby drools.”
Kaiya couldn’t help laughing. “What did you want to tell me, Lah?”
Kalilah looked away instantly and toyed with a stray balloon in her hands. Her eyes took in a distant gaze for a moment.
“What is it, Lah? You’re scaring me,” she said and looked around the yard to make sure her daughter was in perfect health condition. She saw the little girl happily playing with her cousins and cuddling them.
Letting out a deep sigh, Kalilah announced, “I invited Mom and Dad to the party.”
“What?” Kaiya couldn’t believe her ears.
Looking frustrated, Kalilah said, “I’m sorry, Kai. I had to. The twins told me that they wanted their grandparents here, and there was no way I could tell them no since it’s their party. I don’t like our parents, but the twins love them.”
Kaiya understood what her sister just told her. She would have done the same in her shoes. She would most probably do the same if Lili had asked.
“I’m sorry, Kaiya,” Kalilah’s voice cut into her thoughts.
“It’s okay, Lah. I don’t blame you. I understand that you had to; after all, they’re the twins’ grandparents. But I don’t want them anywhere near my daughter,” she firmly told her sister.
Kalilah sighed loudly, looking remorseful.
“I’m sorry, Lah. We’ll just have to leave before they come.”
***
Tyler took a sip from his beer and nodded at Finn who was handling the grill like a pro. Tyler’s gaze kept alternating from his daughter to Kaiya. His woman was looking exceptionally beautiful in a gold sheath dress that did wonderful things to her curves. His hands itched to take off the dress no matter how lovely it was and to see her glorious hair spread across his pillows.
A smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he took in the beautiful scene of children running around, calling to one another and just generally having fun. He laughed as he studied his daughter hitting a piñata shaped like a dinosaur. She kept on hitting it until it finally burst open. The children scampered from all directions to pick the goodies that fell from the torn dinosaur. There was so much exuberance; he couldn’t help laughing for a while.
Smiling, he observed as Lili ran to her mom with her goodies, and together, they sorted them out. When Kaiya returned everything to her child, Tyler surmised that none of them contained nuts. Kaiya had been freaking out about Lili mistakenly taking nuts at the party, so much so that Kalilah had called him aside and begged him to talk to Kaiya because she was driving her crazy with her nut-free paranoia. Tyler had laughed at the conversation before proceeding to tell Kaiya to ease off with her worry. Only then had Kaiya relaxed her stance concerning it. And now, seeing Kaiya obviously still worried about it made him smile. She was a wonderful mother.
“You two need to get a room already.”
Tyler straightened and turned to see Jalissa presenting him with a knowing look. She must have followed the direction of his gaze and seen it trained on her best friend.
Unable to think of anything witty to reply her, Tyler offered her a small smile. Jalissa took a can of beer from the drum and opened it. After taking a gulp, she stared at him.
“So, you’re talking to me again?” he said tentatively, unsure of her reaction since she was still very much loyal to her best friend. Not that he cared, but he didn’t like looking like an ogre before her.
She shrugged. “I guess. I’m no longer mad at you.”
Tyler let out a deep sigh of relief, and Jalissa laughed.
“No more jabs and threats when you see me?” Tyler asked with mock humility.
Jalissa laughed again. “Of course not.” Her face turned serious. “Hurt my friend, and I’ll make good on these threats.”
“I care too much about her to hurt her, so breathe easy.”
Jalissa peered at him intently, as if trying to read his soul. Tyler could understand her concern for her friend. After all, she had always likened them to two peas in a pod. They used to do practically everything together, and he didn’t think anything had changed between them. Even though Kaiya had a daughter now, he was sure that Jalissa didn’t mind at all. Tyler wished he could have a friend as loyal as Jalissa.
In what seemed like she was overcome by emotion, Jalissa covered the short distance between them and threw her arms around him for a moment before pulling away.
“You’re in love with her…”
