I groaned. I wasn’t sure which auntie had told him. The auntie network was fast and fierce. A glance at my phone showed that he’d texted me during the shopping marathon.
Putting away the bag, I started looking at the outfits that had been delivered, knowing the aunties would want me to wear one of them tonight to dinner. Given there were cowboy boots and a cowboy hat on the bed, I was probably supposed to wear those, too.
I called Max back, though he was probably at work.
“Kai what happened? Auntie said you broke up with your boyfriend and now you’re in Nashville. I thought you’re going to Bali. Are you okay?” my brother asked. Max was older by three years. He was an accountant and lived in Los Angeles, where we’d grown up.
“No, not really. But the aunties are taking really good care of me. They just bought me lots of things. Retail therapy, you know.” Putting the phone on speaker, I started trying things on as I gave him the short version.
“Auntie Kiki canceled their tickets and the hotel? Classic. I wonder what they did.” My brother laughed.
“I’m not sure, but Logan’s mother called me this morning.” I rolled my eyes.
“I never liked him anyway,” my brother replied.
“You didn’t? I thought you did.” Since Logan often stayed on the island for holidays, I’d bring him with me to whatever local family member was hosting. It had been too hard for me to go back to Los Angeles after my parents died. Usually, Max flew out and joined me.
My mom had partially grown up on O'ahu. Her family wasn’t native Hawaiian, but had lived there for generations.She’d gone between O'ahu and Los Angeles as they moved back-and-forth for my grandfather’s work. Actually, I had lots of family in Hawai'i on various islands. I wasn’t quite sure how I was related to most of them, the stories always seemed to change, but it was nice to have relatives close by.
Not that my dads’ families weren’t kind and loving. They were just much further away. My mom had met my dads in Los Angeles when they were in college, which was a funny story, because my mother had gone to a Catholic women’s college. It involved finding one of my fathers hiding in the laundry room, because he was trying to sneak out after curfew and didn’t want to be caught by the nuns. Apparently, there was a tiny nun that was everywhere you shouldn’t be on campus at 3 o’clock in the morning.
“According to one of my friends, real friends, not ex-friends I’m no longer speaking to, they did manage to find a hotel. I’m pretty sure they’re paying for it with what Logan stole from my bank account.” I was still bitter about that, because he’d abused my trust so badly.
“Moving out and taking him off of everything was the best way to go. You should report him to your school. It seems like stealing would breach some kind of ethics clause,” he told me.
“I don’t want to sabotage him. I just want my money back and I hope the bank will do that. I’ll probably just stay with Auntie and the uncles until graduation. Also, I stole his car. Well, I stole my car. My name’s on the title. The cousins actually had managed to change the car locks, so he couldn’t simply try to steal it back andclaim possession.” I hadn’t known you could re-key a car like that.
He laughed. “I love that. Though you know you shouldn’t have done that–paid for that car for him. He’s never going to pay you back. None of these people are.”
My heart sank. I’d been naïve and let them use me.
We talked a little longer.
“I have to get dressed to go to dinner. I love you.” I ended the call and chose wide-leg, black pants and a sleeveless blouse, which went well with the black boots with the white stars on them. I’d bring my new purse. Though I’d probably get the most use out of the baby backpack.
My makeup was still done nicely, so I just fixed my hair, which was a bit of a hot mess. It was light brown, and wavy hanging to my shoulders, with the sides and back shaved.
I changed my earrings. They not only bought me a bunch of beautiful graded gold hoops for all my ear piercings, but they bought me a new eyebrow ring and nose ring as well. I took a step back and looked at myself in the mirror. Nice.
There was a knock on my door. Auntie Kiki called out, “Are you ready? Dinner reservations wait for no one.”
I came out of the room and spun around. “Will this work?”
Auntie Kiki appraised me. “That is a nice look. Don’t forget your hat.”
“Very sophisticated,” Auntie Mimi added. “I knew that bag was a good choice.”
They both wore boots and hats, along with fringed dresses with embroidery on them, and jewelry.
My hand went to my heart. “Thank you.”
I thought we were eating at the hotel, but we went somewhere else, to one of those extremely fancy restaurants, the kind with tasting menus and wine flights. I was so glad I wasn’t paying. This was way out of my budget.
But incredibly tasty.
“What? Your ex was so cheap that he never took you to a place like this?” Auntie Cookie took a bite of scallop.
“We never went out much. We’re just students. If we did, it was to this sushi place in town, or the little place on campus where we can get food late at night. We’d get poke bowls and sit and listen to the coquis,” I replied, taking a sip of wine. I never had a problem with it.
