"Gina, you can't do this. I will not allow you to come back to the hotel with me."
"What are you talking about? It's not your decision anyway. If you heard the way she spoke to me—"
"Gina, listen to me. I did not come here to make you disrespect your parents. You brought me here to meet them. You just cannot—"
"I can and I will."
Kofi let go of me and folded both arms across his chest. "No, you are not."
"I already told you I'm coming."
"There is no way I am leaving here and taking you with me."
I pushed both hands into my hair, scratching my scalp. "You don't understand. Things are only going to get worse between Mom and me."
"Then you have to find a way to get along with her."
"You can't make me stay."
Kofi sighed and circled my arms again. "No, I cannot, but do it as a favor to me. Your mother already has a bad impression of me. Do not make things worse."
I could have made a flippant comment about him losing all the contractions in his speech, but he might have thought I was crazy, so I kept that observation to myself.
Behind him, Garth and Anna-Lise stepped onto the verandah.
My escape was going to be now or never.
Kofi squeezed my arms and lowered his voice. "Please act like the considerate woman I've come to know and go back inside your parents' house. I will call you when I get to the hotel."
We stood there in suspense—me glaring at him and him returning an impassive stare—until I huffed and gave in. "Fine, but I'm only doing this as a favor to you, like you asked."
"I know." He kissed my forehead, then stepped away. "Thank you."
With one hand, Kofi took hold of the suitcase and with the other he laced our fingers together. "You did say your mother made you crazy, but you forgot to tell me how crazyandthe crap you do when you are provoked."
I didn't feel the least bit like laughing, but Kofi painted a funny picture. I swallowed my amusement when we moved toward the doorway.
When we walked inside, Daddy and Mom sat in adjacent sofas and my father was in the middle of a sentence.
"Excuse me." Kofi addressed Daddy. "Mr. Chu, Gina will be staying here."
Daddy's gaze shifted to mine and it took everything in me not to make a snarky remark. It would have been directed at Mom and she would have ignored it, so I saved my energy.
Daddy got off the sofa and shook Kofi's hand. "Thank you."
Without glancing in my direction, or saying another word, Kofi walked out of the house leaving me alone with my parents.
