“Worse, Dad. She’s an organic, fair-trade, special-Hawaiian-blend, coffee snob.” Leo smirked at me. “But she claims Ackerson’s is a close second.”
“If you grew up with my stepmother, you’d understand. Coffee is a big deal for us,” I said, forcing my eyes away from Leo’s again. “She owns three cafés.”
“Joe’s by Kennedy?” Adrian asked.
I nodded, surprised. “You’ve heard of it all the way over here? She’ll be delighted.”
“We’ve visited a couple of her cafés. One in Oahu several years ago, and more recently one in Maui,” Sutton said. “The last time we were there, the barista told me the iced mochas and iced vanilla lattes were their specialty.”
I laughed and held up my latte. “Yep, that’s us all right.”
“I’m confused. Your mom and dad get along well enough for him to write books about her and to have sleepovers for the holidays?” Sloane asked.
“Oh yeah, the six of them are best friends. It’s a long story in terms of how they got there. My existence is basically a result of grief and a poor use of protection.” I chuckled. “But I can give you the name of his first book if you want to read it.”
“Wait a minute.” Sloane studied me. “What’s your last name?”
“Uh-oh, she reads a lot of romance novels,” Adrian warned.
“Grimes,” I said.
Sloane’s jaw dropped. “As in Danny Grimes? That’s your father?”
I cringed. “You’ve read them?”
“Hell yeah, I’ve read them! I never pass up a good bisexual romance,” Sloane said, looking delighted with this revelation.
I laughed. “Well, that’s my stepmom, Kennedy.”
“Is she as beautiful as he made her sound?” Sloane asked.
“Yep. And according to every girl I grew up with, my father is also good-looking, but not as hot as my uncle? It’s all been very uncomfortable.” I laughed, figuring if she knew the whole cast of characters from the book, she’d appreciate the insight.
“Lav, those books are the ones I told you about! The one with the girl who loses her twin brother.” Sloane looked at Lavi who seemed to nod in recognition. “She hasn’t read them, despite my raving endorsement.”
“Well, from what I’m told just about everything in them is true—including my conception. Which is why I stopped reading them,” I said.
Sloane laughed. “Can’t blame you. Those books are steamy.”
“Hence the reason I can handle your sex jokes. None of them are about my parents so I’m good.” I finished off my latte.
“Your family sounds great,” Sutton said.
“Yeah, they are. I’ve hated being away from them for college. But I’ve come to love Boston too.” I quickly stole a glance at Leo who was looking down at his hands before looking back at his mom.
“Are you planning to move back to Oahu after you graduate?” she asked.
“Yeah, I want to be where my family is. I can’t imagine living away from them all the time.”
Leo pushed himself back from the table and walked to the kitchen while Sloane grilled me on more book-related questions. I answered on autopilot, more worried about him than I could let on. A moment later, he returned with an open bottle of beer and a hard seltzer. He set the seltzer in front of me wordlessly, and I quickly picked it up, letting my fingers brush his, desperate to provide any connection point I could in the moment. A quick stroke of his thumb over my fingers told me he knew what I was doing before he picked up his beer bottle.
I sipped the seltzer while I answered Sloane’s questions. After a few minutes of Leo pretending to be unfazed while Jace eyed him curiously and I stayed trapped in a conversation about my family, my phone rang. I glanced at the screen and saw my mom trying to video call me.
“Well, speaking of my family—this is them. Video calling me,” I said, holding up the phone. “They’re all very distraught that I’m not making it home tonight. They warned me several times when I changed my flight that I was cutting it close, but I didn’t listen.”
Leo tipped back his beer, taking several long swallows and I forced more words around the lump in my throat.
“Do you mind if I answer them? They’ll just keep calling if I don’t.” I started to push back from the table.
