“Oh, don’t worry, he’ll get what he deserves.” Auntie Kiki’s look went sly.
“Auntie, what did you do now?” Kai’s voice grew exasperated.
“Oh me?” Auntie Kiki’s look grew innocent. “I didn’t do anything.”
“What did you have the cousins do?” Kai inquired.
“Oh, nothing major. They just took off all the electrical outlets and put fish in there, then put them back on.” Auntie Kiki took a drink as if this was nothing.
“I turned in my keys. How did they get in there?” Kai shook their head. “Never mind, I only live on the second floor and the locks on the lanai doors don’t work right.”
“Why would they put fish behind the electrical outlets? Wouldn’t it start to smell after a couple of days?” Steven’s brow furrowed in thought.
“That’s the point isn’t it?” I added. “It starts to smell, and they can’t figure out where it’s coming from, because it’s inside of the walls.” How diabolical.
“You’re a smart boy.” Auntie Kiki gave me a look of approval.
“His physical therapy doctorate program somehow found out about all of this and was asking me questions.” Kai took another sip of beer. “I can understand how his advisor on campus knew, since it was all over the campus forums. Claire did say that my post had gained a lot of popularity in certain parts of the internet, but would his new program really have seen it?”
Auntie Kiki took a long sip of her drink.
“Auntie!” Kai gave her a look of fond exasperation.
It was easy to tell that these four women loved Kai very much and would do anything for them. Who knew what other things they’d done to torment her ex? We may never know.
“That program should know what they’re getting.” Auntie Kiki shrugged.
We finished all the snacks and drinks.
“We need to go. The car is almost here,” Auntie Kiki announced, checking her phone. “Thank you very much. Congratulations on winning.” She turned to Kai. “Don’t stay out too late. You haven’t finished packing and we need to be at the airport by three.”
“Yes, Auntie. Don’t worry, I’ll finish packing,” Kai promised.
The group chat was buzzing. I also got a few texts directly asking where I was. I just replied that we were out and ignored questions about Kai. My family groupchat was full of congratulations and excitement about attending the game on Monday in Portland. There had been a watch party in my honor at the local bar my family always went to.
“Kai, what do you want to do now?” Steven asked after the Aunties left. “Are you hungry?”
“A little. I feel bad that I’m keeping you from celebrating.” Kai looked down.
“We only have a few hours left with you. You wanted to talk. Do you want to go back to our place? I still have that bottle of scotch and the champagne. We also know a few quiet places if you want to get something to eat and talk there. We don’t want you to leave Nashville upset or confused, or thinking that any of this was a mistake,” I assured.
“But it was.” Kai’s voice broke.
“Oh, Starshine. It might be a case of mistaken identity, but I assure you, this week was hardly a mistake.” I held Kai tight.
“Why don’t we go home. We can order some Italian food and play whatever drinking game it was Ashton wants to play with that expensive bottle of scotch,” Steven suggested as he paid the bill.
Kai looked up at us and nodded slowly. “I think I’d like that very much.”
Chapter Twenty Five
Steven
Iignored the texts asking where we were as I sat in the back of Ashton’s truck, holding Kai. We pulled into our space and brought her up to our condo. I’d already ordered from the Italian place we liked, because I really needed some carbs and it was also nice and comforting.
The game had been both incredible and nerve-wracking. For a moment there, I thought that there was a good chance that we might lose or at least go into overtime.
But we’d won. Amazing.
