Denver releases my hand and runs his fingers through his hair. “I don’t want Aya to know anything. I have to be inconspicuous, or she’ll know something is going on. I’m going to need to call Isla and try to handle this on my own before things go further. I don’t want her showing up out of the blue and ripping the rug out from below Aya’s feet.”
Part of me considers it wrong to stand between a mother and her child, but she ran away. She left. That doesn’t make her a mother. It makes her a coward. Aya doesn’t deserve to feel that type of loss again.
“I agree. I think that’s the best way to go about this. That way you’ll know what you’re dealing with before you talk to a lawyer.”
“Do you know how stupid I felt after she left? The thought never crossed my mind that she’d leave. It should have, though. She didn’t want kids. She was so detached from Aya and never motherly toward her. I did everything, even with the little time I had in between shifts at the recruitment center.”
“Why do you think she’d suddenly change her mind?” I ask.
“Money. She’s money hungry. She convinced me to marry her, so she could utilize the military benefits when I was deployed. Unfortunately, it’s common for women to pick up military men just to collect the benefits.”
“But you’re out now. What could Isla be expecting?”
“Child support, I guess. She’d take what she could and would take care of herself instead of Aya.”
Personally, I’d like to handle this woman. She doesn’t deserve to get anywhere near Aya. “Do you know where she was living?”
“Her family is in Oahu. She lived there her whole life. I never ran into her, and I didn’t hear from anyone except her stepsister who she had no relationship with. She could have left the islands for all I know.”
“Denver, you’re going to be okay, and so will Aya. It won’t be hard for anyone to see the facts and act accordingly. Trust me, okay?” I wrap my hand around his stubbly cheek, forcing him to look at me. “You have fought through worse and survived. You will make it through this and win.”
He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his chest. “Aya has been my world, Kai. I have to protect her.”
“You have a plan to do that, and I will help however you need.”
Denver stands up and brushes the sand from his shorts and reaches his hand out for me. “Thank you,” he says, wrapping his arm around me as we head back toward the pool bar.
“Don’t thank me. No one was there for me when I needed a shoulder to lean on, and I promised myself if I ever knew someone who needed support, I’d be there so they wouldn’t have to go through shit alone. Plus, it’s a bonus that you’re hot and I kind of like you a lot.”
“It is a bonus that I’m hot. Maybe that’ll help with the judge too,” he says.
I nudge him with my shoulder. “Your jokes get worse when you’re in a bad mood.”
“Are you saying my jokes are good when I’m not mad?”
“Eh. We’re getting there,” I tell him.
We walk up to the bar, spotting Aya dangling her legs from a barstool, sipping on a smoothie. “I hope there’s no alcohol in that drink she’s sipping on,” Denver says.
“There’s no alcohol in there,” Noa shouts over to Denver. I take it Noa knows Denver pretty well. Either that, or Noa has a track record of doing dumb things.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Denver says.
Lea is making a flower out of a napkin, and Noa has his three cups and a ball trick out. I see they’ve kept her well entertained.
“Is everything okay, Dad?” Aya asks.
“Yeah, what’s going on?” Lea asks.
I try to give her a look, but Lea is as subtle as a bull in a China shop. “What’s with the faces, Kai?”
“I think we’re going to head home,” Denver says. “Ladies, the show was amazing. We loved it. Thank you for inviting us.” Denver was excited to experience a luau, and Aya was even more excited. I’m sad the night has to end like this.
“I’ll walk you guys to your truck,” I tell them.
“Goodnight,” Denver says, waving at Lea and Noa.
“Goodnight, Bro. Good night, Princess Aya!” Noa says.
