Chapter 4

"I'm not saying it will be the party of the year," Rebecca said, while the ocean roared behind her. "Party of the month, maybe. At least while we're here."

Nadia gathered her hair in her hands and debated putting it in a ponytail. As she tugged on it, however, she realized that her sunglasses were stuck in some of it. Disaster alert. She dropped her hair and pretended nothing was amiss. "I came to Hawaii to not party," she said. "I think. Mostly, I'm tagging along with the Warrens, and they're in full family-friendly mode."

Beside her, Caitlyn snorted in disbelief. "Even Eva?"

"You might be surprised. She loves her niece."

"Well!" Between Rebecca and Caitlyn sat Jane Wong, the third in that legendary throuple. As the only non-redhead, non-blond at the table, Jane also stuck out because she was by far the shortest. "You lot know me. I'm always up for a party, assuming it will be fun."

Rebecca rolled her eyes in Nadia's direction. "That's implied in the fact that it's a party!"

"You've never been to as many duds as me." Jane picked up her bottle of Perrier and tipped the last of its contents into her glass. "Including here in Honolulu. You'd think the parties in Hawaii would be the best of the ball, but noooo."

Nadia tuned out the rest of the meaningless argument. When you're outnumbered like I am, there's no sense in paying attention. Yet while Eva and the rest of her kin went to the aquarium, Nadia decided to take up Rebecca's invitation to grab lunch at an exclusive steakhouse that was usually booked weeks in advance. They even have a table right on the beach. When the wind blew in their direction, Nadia heard the crowds of Waikiki, but she was pleasantly surprised with how much privacy their intimate group had even with the next set of diners several yards away.

Besides, she rarely got to see Caitlyn and Jane so casual (and on holiday!) How could Nadia turn down such a divine opportunity? It beat going to the aquarium with a small child.

"Maybe we should go," Caitlyn mused. "It's not every day we're invited to a private party in Hawaii."

Nadia barely followed along with what these three were talking about. Something regarding an old acquaintance of theirs throwing a private party this weekend. Nadia didn't think it had anything to do with her until Rebecca indirectly implied that Eva and her wife should come as well. By all accounts, the hostess was someone Eva knew, anyway.

"Do you think there will be a dress code?" Jane asked. "I've gotten used to wearing this. I don't want to wear a suit."

"You packed one, though," Rebecca pointed out. "I know because I packed it for you."

"How helpful!"

Nadia stole a look at Jane's outfit. It's definitely different from what I'm used to seeing on her. Although Rebecca swore that Jane mostly wore T-shirts and sweatpants around the house, whenever Nadia saw her, she was always in fitted suits that turned heads wherever she went. Today, though? A bright blue bikini top and a matching linen shirt and shorts set. Jane's flat stomach and lean limbs made her look like a young and vibrant college student in that getup… not the forty-something businesswoman Nadia usually saw her as.

Jane was such a contrasting body type to Caitlyn, who currently wore a floral one-piece so commonly found on the island. A hydrangea flower bloomed behind one ear while the rest of Caitlyn's blond hair was pulled back into a half-ponytail. It reminded Nadia that she had wanted to put her hair into a ponytail…

"Gah." Rebecca patted down her hair. "It's so humid today. I'm frizzing all over the place. Sorry if it touches you."

"I'm fine." Nadia checked her phone. A photo of a fish tank had arrived, courtesy of Eva.

"Tell Eva that she has to come." Caitlyn crossed one leg over the other, the slit in her skirt showing off more than a little skin. Nadia had to politely look away again. While she had no desire to ogle Caitlyn, her insecurities dictated that she compare herself to a woman who was curvy in all the right ways. Not a shred of stretchmarks… impossible. Yet that was Nadia's fate: to compare, contrast, and be found wanting.

The waiter arrived before Nadia had the chance to respond to Caitlyn's remark. "Are you ladies thinking about dessert?" the waiter asked.

"I am stuffed like a bell pepper," Jane lamented. "Becca?"

"I'm saving room for dinner. Cait?"

Caitlyn lightly shrugged. "I've got leftovers to take back to the hotel."

Everyone turned to Nadia, who may have been the guest at the table, but it wasn't like her friends couldn't afford extra dessert.

"No, thank you," she said. "I couldn't possibly eat another bite." That was far from the truth. Her paella, while delicious, had been a smaller serving. Not like I should eat anymore, anyway. That was sooo many carbs. More rice than anything else.

"You heard it here first," Caitlyn said to the waiter. "Thanks, though. I'm sure the desserts here are to die for."

He left them their check and walked away. Jane smacked her hand on the leather-bound paper before Caitlyn had the chance. While the two of them hashed out who would pay, Rebecca stretched her arms above her head. Her tank top rode high.

She was practically perfect, too.

"Heeey, are you checking me out?" Rebecca said that with a smile when she lowered her arms, tank top once again covering her stomach. "Bit early in the day, but what the hell."

Nadia had to think fast. Sometimes, the truth – or something akin to it – was the best. "Have you been working out more lately? I think I detect some abs."

Rebecca was on the verge of guffawing. It was Jane, though, who responded. "Our Becca? Hitting the gym? Honestly, when was the last time any of us went to the bloody gym?"

"I go about once a week," Caitlyn said.

"Really? Where the hell are you going to the gym?"

"There's one in our building! Honestly, have you never noticed?"

Jane remained perplexed. "In the building we live in? Or the business building?"

"The gym in the Thomas-Cole building is pretty swank," Nadia said. "I used to go before moving into Warren Manor." The gym in the main house is… well, I'm not sure who is using it besides me, but it's top-of-the-line.

Caitlyn snapped her fingers. "That's the one. I skip lunch once a week to hit the gym instead. Usually, the day after we have Becca's big pot of stew for dinner. I can't eat again until the next dinner, anyway."

Rebecca rolled her eyes until her head turned in Nadia's direction. "This is what I deal with every day. Now it's worse because they're married again."

Neither Caitlyn nor Jane heard their mutual girlfriend. Instead, they continued to bicker over who told the sensational truth about a simple gym.

"Anyway," Rebecca continued, "I have not been going to the gym. Super nice of you to compliment me, though."

Nadia knew when to give up. "Guess I've been noticing such things lately.

"Thinking about becoming a lifter?"

"Yeah, right. Last thing I need is to bulk up more."

"Please. You're the perfect size."

What does that mean? Nadia decided it was best not to ask. She might not like the answer, no matter how much it was supposed to be a compliment. Like Eva is always complimenting me. At some point, it doesn't mean anything anymore. It wasn't that Nadia wanted her wife to never compliment her, but since the beginning of their relationship, Nadia struggled to tell the difference between earnest compliments and meaningless comments that only served to make the person giving them feel better. You'd think I'd know the difference by now. Unfortunately for Nadia, things were never that simple.

Her brain was often the antagonist of her self-image.

"Where is Eva right now?" Caitlyn asked. "Will she be dropping by to say hello?"

Nadia shook her head. "She's with the family. At the aquarium."

"Aquarium?" Jane was once again incredulous. "I didn't even know there was an aquarium around here."

"It's across the street from the zoo," Caitlyn said.

"Really? What zoo?"

"You're kidding, right? You've never noticed the giant zoo at the end of the boulevard? Toward Diamond Head?"

"I never have a reason to travel that way."

"We drive once around the island every time we come here!"

Rebecca sighed. "As I said, it's only gotten worse."

Nadia wasn't even part of a throuple, and already she was exhausted simply watching these three have lunch.

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"Eva, come over here!" Henry's hand appeared in her line of sight long before his beacon of blond hair. "You must see this. They are feeding the eels."

Eva couldn't say that such a combination of words had ever appealed to her before. "Hurry, Eva!" she imagined a roguish type urging in her head. "We must make haste! For they be feeding the eels!"

Monica stepped aside as Eva approached. Between both of her parents, Abigail hopped up and down as if she had never seen anything so exciting. Eels, huh? Eva stopped when she reached her niece and placed both hands, palms down, on the girl's head. Abigail reached up both of her hands and waved at the blank eyes staring back at her from the tank.

"They look so funny!" Abigail vibrated in her sundress and thick sandals that did not prevent her from the blisters that Monica attempted to prevent. Yet that's exactly what happened after the family decided to walk from the condo to the aquarium. It's always farther than you think it will be. Henry and Eva had alternated carrying Abigail whenever her feet grew tired – which was often.

Eva's fingers threaded through her niece's fine hair. "They're definitely something."

Each eel in the tank was curious about mealtime, but few were interested in putting in the effort to get any food. The exception was one pinkish-white moray eel whose bulbous face and lazy jaw gently snapped at the water. The hook carrying lunch danced around its face. Every time he reached for it, the person holding the hook pulled it farther away, encouraging the eel to come out of its hole.

It was soon joined by three other eels, some of them short, some of them long – all of them hilarious as they put in the least amount of effort possible to get lunch.

Abigail continued laughing. Monica walked away and sat on a bench. Henry scooped his daughter into his arms and lifted her higher until she got a good view of a small and round eel slamming into one of its big brothers. "Are they playing?" Abigail asked. "Or fighting?"

Eva chuckled. "Weird. That's what they used to ask about your father and me."

"Fighting," Henry said.

"Only because you kept picking on me. Couldn't be seen hanging out with your sister?"

"You are several years younger than me. I was not the rational man I am now."

"Rational! Yeah, sure."

Eva also walked away from the eel tank, although she did not join Monica on her bench. Instead, Eva wandered by the seahorses and checked her text messages.

There was one from her wife. A pleasant surprise.

"Apparently," Nadia began, "there's a party we might be invited to. Jane and Caitlyn are convinced you probably already know the host. Someone named Belle Cherise? I've never heard of her, but you know everyone I don't."

Eva stared at the name, wondering if this was a trick question.

"Yeah, I know Belle," she wrote. "She's an ex-girlfriend of mine."

Eva hesitated before sending that text. She never knew how her wife would take confessions like that.