“Nah,” Dedra said, already at the water cooler. “I think she needs water.”
Dedra rushed back out with the water. Kelli was about to follow her out and ask if something was wrong when her phone buzzed in her pocket. The drumming of her heart was no longer an excited one. The text was from the same person and she clicked on it.
We think you already know. If not, ask Daddy.
The dive Kelli’s stomach took was immediate and brutal. We? This was the confirmation she’d been dreading. The disappointment of knowing she hadn’t just been paranoid was even worse than it would’ve been before this weekend. But it still didn’t mean they were talking about Isaiah. She often had lunch or coffee with other guy friends she’d been seen with more often than just a weekend. There might still be a chance they were talking about someone else or even bluffing. It was a long shot, but she could only hope it would work.
You must have me mistaken with someone else. I don’t have a boyfriend.
Remembering Agnes was still waiting and then Dedra rushing out with water for her, Kelli slipped the phone in her pocket and walked out front. Dedra and Eve were both hovering over Agnes, appearing very concerned too. Eve glanced up at her and shook her head discreetly as Kelli sped up. “Something wrong?”
She reached them and touched Agnes’s shoulder. Her face appeared much paler than earlier, and she seemed a little listless. “I’m fine,” she said with a weak smile. “Blood pressure drops sometimes. It’s normal. I’m old. But it’ll pass.”
“You sure?”
Kelli’s eyes darted from Agnes’s to Dedra’s. She was giving her that same look Eve had, a very uncertain “I don’t think she’s fine” expression.
“Is there anything else I can bring you?” Kelli asked, even as her heart rate picked up again because her phone buzzed several times back to back in her pocket. “Anyone we can call for you?”
Agnes shook her head, reaching into her purse. She seemed winded but otherwise fine; though the expressions on Dedra’s and Eve’s faces still said otherwise. Kelli pulled out her phone and glanced at her messages. She had four from two different numbers: three from that earlier number and one from Isaiah. While seeing Isaiah’s name thrilled her beyond words, seeing the other text just before his made her heart ache.
“Are you sure there’s not anyone we can call to come get you, Agnes?”
Agnes shook her head again but asked if Kelli could bring her a little more water.
“Of course.” Kelli rushed toward the back, glancing down at her text messages. Something caught in her throat and she nearly stopped walking as she scrolled through the last three messages they’d sent her. None included any actual words, just three pictures of her and Isaiah in Seaport Village. In each one, Isaiah was either kissing her sweetly or staring into her eyes the way he had so much all weekend.
While it horrified her to think he might actually be in any kind of danger, her heart ached, knowing what she had to do. Continuing into the back room, she clicked on Isaiah’s text. It was simple enough, yet it almost choked her up.
Hey, it’s me, Isaiah. I’m off today. Maybe I can see you? Call or text me when you get a chance.
After searching in the fridge for a bottled water to bring Agnes instead of a small paper cup, Kelli stared at the photo she’d set as his profile picture. It was so tempting to respond to him. She’d love nothing more than to see him today. He was all she’d been able to think about since she’d last seen him.
Consumed with a sudden wave of anger and defiance, she began responding not only that she’d love to see him today but that she’d missed him. As she read back the embarrassing but honest text with a silly smile, another text notification popping up at the top of her screen made her smile go flat. Still feeling defiant, she nearly hit send to Isaiah’s text but then thought better of it.
The photo that popped up when she clicked on the other envelope had her breathing in deeply. It was a close-up of Isaiah’s face gazing at her with that breathtaking smile. They’d captured it beautifully. Only this time it was accompanied by a text message.
What a shame if something were to happen to such a handsome face. Talk to your dad, Kelli.
The feelings of defiance were squashed and replaced with the horrifying thought of something happening to Isaiah because of her. Would they really? Maybe if—?
Eve pushed through the door in complete panic. “Do you know CPR?”
“What? No, why?”
“It’s Agnes. She’s not breathing. I already called 911, but . . .”
Kelli dropped her phone in her pocket and rushed back into the front of the salon with Eve.
2-1/2 weeks later
Isaiah
As much as it hurt, and it still pissed Isaiah off that it did, he was officially giving up on Kelli. Not only had she not responded to a single one of his texts or calls, he’d snapped at people who didn’t deserve to be snapped at more than once now. All because of the horrid mood he’d been in over this.
It was a onetime deal, and she’d pretty much warned him that was all it would be from the very beginning, regardless of the undeniable chemistry bullshit she’d laid on him at the end. He’d been stupid to think she might actually change her mind since, even after giving him her number, she still hadn’t offered him her last name. Her giving him her number had likely been just to avoid an awkward end to what he’d considered a perfect weekend. Clearly, she was hoping to make a clean break.
Isaiah knew he could get his cousin Moe involved to track her down using her phone number because the recording on the voice mail his calls were always sent to was really her voice. But his pride was not about to let him go there. If she’d wanted anything more to do with him, she would’ve answered her fucking phone or responded to the too many texts he’d already sent her. He’d never been pathetic when it came to anything, much less women, and he wasn’t going to start now—not even for her. That last text he sent her was the last she’d hear from him unless she took the initiative. But the way he felt now he wasn’t even sure he’d respond should she reach out at this point. It was irritating as shit that Isaiah had never felt so hurt by any girl in his life. Yet each day that’d passed with no word from this girl he knew so little of, stung like hell. He was done.
Fuck her.
Chapter 3: My Girl
1-1/2 weeks later
Isaiah
Isaiah wasn’t even all the way down the back door steps when he nearly gave himself whiplash, doing a double take. For a moment, he had the insane idea that maybe he’d done so much thinking of Kelli in the last month he was beginning to see her face where it wasn’t. It couldn’t be her. Why would she be here? He peered at her, still not a hundred percent sure it was her. Then she smiled as she said something to his sister Emi, who she was sitting next to. It was definitely her and his heartbeat sped up. He’d never forget that smile. It almost made him smile as well, but he still felt too stunned.
Was it possible she was a friend of Emi’s? Or was Kelli here for him? Other possibilities raced through his mind as he took a couple more steps down the porch into his uncle’s backyard, where family and friends were gathered. She sat there continuing her chat with his sister. Just like everyone else in attendance, she appeared as laid back without a care in the world. Then their eyes met and locked, and her sitting up straight with a jolt said it all. She hadn’t come here for him. Kelli was as stunned to see him here as he was to see her.
“Sai,” Nathan said breaking Isaiah from his thoughts. “I was beginning to wonder where you were.”
Isaiah glanced at him, taking the beer Nathan handed him. Before he could ask about Kelli, his brother smiled big, turning in her direction. “Check this out.” He started in Kelli’s direction. “There’s someone here I want you to meet.”
Isaiah followed him as the wheels in his head spun wildly. The tiniest of hopes that maybe she was there for him were squashed the moment their eyes had met. Kelli still hadn’t taken her eyes off him, a
nd Isaiah could feel in his gut this wasn’t going to be a happy reunion. He turned to his brother, who was smiling a bit too big, even as he brought his beer bottle to his lips. That’s when he noticed it: the twinkle in his brother’s eyes and how overdressed he was for Manny’s backyard shindig. It felt almost as if things slowed and they were walking in slow motion as he turned to back to Kelli. She, too, was a bit overdressed for a backyard gathering. Were they on a date?
Overwhelmed with panic, Isaiah gulped. He felt too dazed to come up with even a single excuse why he might need to make a mad dash back into his uncles’ house and back out the front door so he could get the hell out of there. More than anything the pain was back and it was even more brutal now.
Emi, who still sat with Kelli, leaned in and said something, motioning in Isaiah and Nathan’s direction. Kelli’s eyes widened in what appeared to be the same horror Isaiah was feeling. Emi very likely had just let Kelli in on who he was—Nathan’s brother. Obviously, she hadn’t had a clue whose brother she was now dating. Was it possible she might’ve been seeing Nathan before the weekend she spent with Isaiah just last month? Was that why, even after the unexpected amazing connection Isaiah thought they’d had, she’d blown him off like she had?
Nathan rarely brought girls to meet the family, let alone small intimate gatherings like this one where even more extended family would be . . . unless he was finally serious about one. Fuck.
What felt like the longest walk of his life finally came to an end when they reached her. Like a deer caught in headlights, Kelli continued to stare at him, appearing completely stunned.
“Sai,” Nathan said with that same twinkle in his eye. “This is my girl, Kelli Santana.”
Kelli’s eyes went even wider, and it was only then that she unglued her eyes away from Isaiah and turned to Nathan. “Kelli, this is my older brother, Isaiah.”
Isaiah forced a smile, waiting as time seemed to slow almost to an excruciating halt. Kelli seemed to say something to Nathan as Isaiah’s aching heart was torn between taking the initiative by admitting they’d already met or not saying anything yet.
Kelli suddenly turned to Isaiah, extending her hand out to him. “Nice to meet you.”
Apparently, she wasn’t going to even mention that they’d already met. Isaiah would’ve spared Nathan the details that would’ve made this even more awkward. But they didn’t have to all out lie. Though he supposed there would’ve probably been too many questions they could’ve easily flubbed, so he nodded. “Likewise.” It was all he’d offer as he worked his jaw.
Nathan must’ve mistaken Isaiah’s reaction to Kelli as something else because he smirked with a shrug. “Her friend’s having a photography exhibition in the area,” he explained. “I didn’t want to totally blow Manny’s birthday party off, so I thought, since we’d be in the area, we could stop by for a little bit first.”
Isaiah nodded, glancing around and casually taking in his brother’s comment. He hoped his gut feeling was right about why Nathan felt compelled to explain his bringing Kelli by to meet the family, a girl he’d never once mentioned before. That it was Nathan’s way of saying, “It’s not what you’re thinking. This isn’t anything serious.”
He didn’t want Kelli to think he was asking because he cared because he shouldn’t—not anymore. But for his brother’s sake, Isaiah needed to know. He made sure the question was asked as casually as possible. “So you two been going out long?”
“We’ve known each other a few weeks,” Kelli said, sitting up a little straighter.
“Ah.” Isaiah nodded.
That cleared that up. She hadn’t met Nathan yet when she’d spent an entire weekend with Isaiah.
Under him.
On top of him.
On all fours in front of him, crying out his name in ecstasy.
All the while gazing in his eyes with that same unexplainable exuberance in her eyes. The same one he’d felt all weekend.
Squeezing his beer bottle and gnashing his teeth, he’d been about to make a break for it—make some excuse for why he needed to get the fuck out of there ASAP—when Nathan added more.
“Technically, we only got together for the first time a couple of weeks ago, but we’ve known each other for what? Almost a month?” Nathan turned back to Kelli, touching her shoulder. “Was that how long ago it was when we first got called out to your salon?”
Got together?
Isaiah met Kelli’s troubled eyes again for a fleeting moment before she turned back to Nathan with a forced smile. He’d be the first to admit he didn’t know much about her. But she’d done enough smiling their one weekend together for him to know her insanely happy smile. This wasn’t even close. That smile was just one of the many things he’d never forget about her.
“Something like that,” she said then took a sip of whatever it was she was drinking.
And that was Isaiah’s cue. He couldn’t stand there and look at her for even another minute. “Well, it was nice meeting you.” He forced his own smile then turned to Nathan. “I gotta get going.”
“You’re leaving?” Emi asked, as surprised as he knew both his siblings would be. “But you just got here.”
“Yeah.” He thought quickly. “I have this golf tournament I can’t get out of. I signed up for it way back with a few guys from the station. It’s a team thing. They need me there. But I didn’t wanna blow off Manny’s thing either, so I just stopped by to say hello.”
Technically, it was true. He really did have a tournament he couldn’t get out of—next weekend. He glanced at Kelli one last time. She seemed as unsettled about this unexpected run-in as he did.
“It was nice meeting you too,” she said softly with that same forced smile again.
Isaiah nodded, not saying another word to her, and walked away. He could only pray the discomfort of today’s meeting would be one she’d prefer to never repeat again.
~~~
I had NO idea you two were brothers.
Now she texted him? Isaiah had only read the text preview as he’d driven. Having witnessed too many tragic accidents caused by distracted drivers on their phones, he’d tossed the phone onto his passenger seat without reading the rest. Even now that he was safely parked in his driveway, he stared at the preview of that text and a follow-up one, not sure he wanted to read the rest of either. The preview of the second text was even more annoying than the first.
I started to respond to your texts more than once, but . . .
Did he believe either? He supposed it was possible she hadn’t known they were related since they’d never exchanged last names. But if that were the case, this confirmed what he’d since accepted. Everything he’d felt by the end of that weekend with her and thought she had too, had been all in his delusional head.
Despite this confirmation, the memory of their perfect weekend had him smiling bittersweetly. Kelli had often fallen into a wistful trance, usually right after one of their more profound kisses, much like the trance Isaiah had almost fallen into now, thinking of that weekend with her. How perfectly comfortable he’d felt around her, so quickly. As comfortable as she claimed to feel—he could’ve sworn he’d felt it from her—she then ignored every last one of his calls and texts. Now that she was seeing his brother, he was supposed to return her texts?
“Fuck that,” he muttered as he deleted both texts without reading either and got out of the car. Did she really think it mattered now whether or not she knew Nathan was his brother? That he’d want to hear or discuss her reasons for not having returned his calls or texts? Obviously, it wasn’t for lack of interest in a relationship since she’d been getting together with Nathan for weeks now.
The only thing that mattered now was that she wasn’t planning on dicking Nathan around. Nathan wasn’t exactly an angel when it came to women. Isaiah wasn’t too worried about his brother getting hurt. As far as he knew, Nathan had never stuck with one girl for more than a few weeks, maybe a month tops. But this had been the first time he’d
brought one around to an intimate family thing. Normally, Isaiah and the rest of his siblings just heard about Nathan’s dates. He’d often said he was in no way ready to settle for just one girl in his life. He had goals in his career he wanted to focus on first. So there was still the chance Isaiah could avoid having to have the awkward conversation about the extended weekend he’d spent with Nathan’s new girl.
Isaiah clenched his jaw as he walked into the home he shared with his brothers. It occurred to him, just as he dropped his keys on the kitchen counter, that if anyone could make a man like Nathan—hell, any man—change his mind when it came to relationships, it’d be Kelli. This could be even more troubling, not to mention irritating, than he was thinking, but he’d still play it by ear before deciding on whether or not he should come clean with Nathan. There was still a very good possibility that his brother would be dating someone else as soon as tomorrow.
He was in the middle of checking his other messages when his phone vibrated in his hand as another text popped up on his screen. This time there was no avoiding reading the entire text from Kelli, and he frowned the moment he realized it.
I just want you to know I haven’t slept with Nathan, and I had no intention to, even before today.
Beyond irritated, he tapped away at the screen, debating whether or not he should just call Nathan after sending this bitch a text. Making it a point not to address anything else she’d texted him about, he finished typing the only thing that mattered and hit send before he changed his mind.
Is my brother with you now while you’re texting me all this bullshit? Did you tell him about our weekend or do I have to?
He tossed the phone on the bed, surprised by how worked up this had him. The more he thought about it, the more incensed he grew. How dare she? Even though she insisted spending an entire weekend with a total stranger as she had with Isaiah was a first for her, he wasn’t buying it anymore. No big deal. He could live with that. Isaiah should’ve figured hooking up with guys she just met was the norm for her the moment she agreed to getting a room with him. She wouldn’t be the first easy lay he’d been out with. He’d just made a bad call, thinking there’d been more to it for her as there’d been for him. He wasn’t even mad at her about it. She’d been honest from the beginning.