Chapter 23

Kenna

A perfect last week of summer passed before tourists started to show up in town. Dec came over every night, spending it in my bed before he quietly snuck out the next morning, only to pick me up an hour later and drive us to the boat club. The renovations on the house were also coming along nicely. Liam came over one afternoon to help me install the new vanity in the downstairs bathroom. Dec placed a new light above the mirror and the tiny room looked brand new.

Saturday was the maiden voyage of the Boozer Cruiser and everything had gone according to plan. Reservations were stacking up for future weekend runs and Irene was already bitching about the increased workload. The gator boys had agreed to not harass the tourists, mostly because I promised them a daily delivery of donuts if they kept up their good behavior.

To celebrate the Boozer Cruiser maiden voyage, Dec drove me all the way to Key West to find a car on Monday. I didn't end up with a G-wagon or a Ferrari, instead thinking practically about life here in Florida. I bought myself a two-year-old Jeep, royal blue with tires big enough to make the rolltop bar above the door a necessity to get in. I had the sales guy remove the soft top before I drove it home, letting the wind slide through my hair. Dec followed me in his truck, calling me as soon as we got to Sunshine Key.

"Pull over on the causeway. I'll get a picture of you and your new ride with the ocean in the background."

I darted a look in my rearview mirror. "My hair is three stories high."

It was true. I'd finally ditched my flat iron for good, opting for an easier hairstyle in this humidity. I couldn't keep fighting nature herself, the curls my Irish heritage had given me.

"You're beautiful," Dec growled. My insides melted when he used that tone. I pulled over and he got his shot. He also put his hands on my hips and pressed me into the door of my Jeep while he kissed me. It was hard and deep and desperate like it always was between us.

A horn from the road above broke us apart. Dec rested his forehead against mine and grinned. "Why do I always feel like we're sneaking around like teenagers?"

"Probably because my mom lives with me and your dad is never far away."

It was true, the two parents were starting to get on our nerves with their constant presence. Then again, we were grown adults. There was no reason to hide our relationship, and yet we'd never broached the subject. I'd tried, several times, but Dec always had an excuse for keeping things hidden. I was afraid if I pressed harder, he'd walk away altogether, and right now, I was enjoying our time together too much to jeopardize it by pushing. Hard conversations would come later.

We went back to my house to work on the kitchen. The hideous Formica countertops were in the large dumpster in the driveway, along with the cabinets, thanks to working all week on the demo. The only items left were the appliances. I'd have to do dishes in the bathroom sink, a true pain in the ass, so I'd stocked up on paper plates and plastic utensils. The new cabinets were already in the garage, so Dec and I brought them inside one by one and got busy installing them.

"Honey, I invited Daniel over for dinner," Mom said as she breezed into the wreckage known as my kitchen.

Dec got a look on his face that spelled trouble. He'd taken to defending me, even if it took shining a mirror in my mom's face to highlight her selfishness. Normally I appreciated his support, but today I just wanted peace. I jumped in before he could open his mouth and say something that would start Mom down a path of theatrics.

"Great! How about you go to the store and grab something to grill on the barbecue out back?"

Mom considered it and then smiled. "Sure. I'll grab some wine too." I heard her take my keys off the little table by the front door and leave in my new vehicle.

Dec was staring at me.

"What?"

"Why do you let her do that?"

I sighed. I didn't have the energy to deny his accusation. My mother was an immature menace, and instead of taking the time to tell her why inviting someone over for dinner when I didn't have a working kitchen was a stupid idea, I caved. I'd been caving my whole life.

"I've tried to stand up for myself and it just leads to days of theatrics. Moaning and crying and accusations of hating her. It's just easier to go along with it."

Dec put his electric screwdriver down on the cabinet we were trying to install and cupped my face, pulling me close. His broad shoulders seemed to block out the world. "Maybe it's time she moved out."

I tried to avert my gaze, but he peered down at me with such serious whiskey-tinted eyes, I had to reply. "I know, but I'm not sure if she's staying in Sunshine Key. She hasn't decided."

One thick eyebrow lifted. "Have you decided?"

"I think so?"

His lips tugged to the side but the smile died before it got started. "Very convincing, Kenna."

He let me go and spun back around to the cabinet before I could come up with a response. What did he want from me? Until my divorce was final, I didn't feel like I could make a firm decision. Until that door was closed, I had no business opening other doors. That wasn't necessarily true—I could do what I wanted, when I wanted—but I didn't want to take that old life of mine into the new one. I craved a clean break.

Mom came back with four steaks, a bagged salad mix, and three bottles of red wine. I raised my eyebrows at the number of bottles, but she just gave me a brilliant smile and pushed me out of the kitchen to take a shower.

"Get clean and put on something nice. You'll feel like a new woman!"

I doubted that, but a shower did sound good. Installing cabinets was hard work. By the time I came downstairs in a sundress I'd bought when I went shopping with Char, Daniel's booming voice came from the living room, along with Mom's tinkling high-pitched response and Dec's grunt. They were all seated around the couches, Daniel and Mom snuggled up like a little couple. I wasn't sure how I felt about our parents dating, but then again, what I thought didn't seem to matter. No one looked my way as I took a seat on the couch next to Dec.

"Dec, come on," Daniel said sternly.

Mom's eyes were round and watery. Oh dear God, what had I walked into?

"I think it's only natural, having been Maeve's friend for ten years, that I'd wonder why her only sister never came to visit." Dec was using a low growling voice that did not melt my insides this time. Every muscle I possessed tensed.

Mom gasped. "Are you going to let him speak to me this way, Kenna?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, clinging to the very last nerve I had left that hadn't frayed in the weeks that Mom had been staying with me here in Sunshine Key.

"Honestly? I'm wondering the same thing. You never told me the story either, Mom." At her gasp, I tilted my head, softening toward the woman who'd never been much of a mother to me. "She's gone already. Why not clear the air?"

Mom's face went through a few different emotions, the longest one being hurt, before she settled on mad. She leaned forward, away from Daniel's protective arm, practically vibrating as she pointed straight ahead at nothing.

"She knows exactly what she did! She slept with Kenna's father!"

My entire body jolted. Dec laid his hand on my knee to steady me.

"You told me you barely knew my father." My hand went immediately to the charm bracelet on my wrist. "That he only gave you a baby and this bracelet before he ran out of town never to be seen again."

Mom lifted her nose in the air. "That's the jist of it."

I gaped at her. Why was she withholding information about my father? "Mom," I snapped. Her head whipped in my direction. "Tell me everything. And this time, don't leave anything out!"

She frowned at me, shooting a quick glance at Daniel before looking back at me, resigned. "Fine. I met Ronan my junior year, his senior year. He was a transfer student. His accent was adorable. All the girls were half in love with him that first week, but toward the end of the school year he chose me. He gave me that bracelet and told me it was his mother's. He loved me, Kenna. He really did. We went on several dates before we, uh, you know."

"Slept together?"

She nodded and kept going. "It was only after that night in the back seat of Daddy's car that I found out he was dating several other girls too. Maeve being one of them." Mom's nose went in the air. "I told her that he was mine and she laughed at me. Said I was dumb if I thought Ronan would pick one girl when he could flirt with all of us. That little tramp slept with him even after I told her I loved him."

Mom swiped at her eyes dramatically before continuing. "He'd gone home to Ireland before I found out I was pregnant with you. Maeve and I had already quit speaking to each other, so I packed up my clothes and left, hitching a ride until I got too far along to feel safe out on the open road. Ended up in a pregnancy center in San Francisco and you know the rest."

All of us were silent, digesting that information as Mom continued to sniffle. I had so many questions tumbling around in my head I wasn't sure which one to choose first.

"So wait, my father didn't know about me? And neither did Maeve? What about your parents?"

When Mom refused to answer, Daniel put his hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles. "It's okay, love. This was all a long time ago. No harm in giving Kenna answers. We don't think less of you."

Dec made a noise in the back of his throat, like he didn't agree with his father, but he kept his mouth shut. Mom finally lifted her nose in the air again.

"No, he didn't know about you. I didn't know how to get ahold of him a continent away. And Maeve didn't know either until you were a year old. She'd gotten married to your uncle and hired a detective to find me. I told her I was fine and so were you, but to leave us alone. She didn't, of course, threatening to come to California if I didn't give her regular updates about our lives. So I called her once a year for exactly a half hour, as you know. Our parents wouldn't have helped me. They had no use for a granddaughter born out of wedlock." She shifted to me, a softness in her gaze. "Things were different back then, you have to understand. We had everything we needed, you and me, Kenna. We didn't need any of them."

Life hadn't been easy growing up with Mona as a mother, but I supposed things could have been worse. Mom loved me, even if she was still a spoiled prima donna with only a vague grasp on the responsibilities of motherhood.

Dec stood. "I'll be right back." He left, climbing the stairs and stomping around in my bedroom. We were all quiet when he came back down with a dusty photo album in one hand. He handed it to my mother.

"She said to give this to you if you ever came here. I was waiting for the right time."

Mom put a hand to her mouth, as if to stifle a gasp. Her hands shook as she laid the photo album in her lap and began to flip through. I watched as a smile took over her face, replaced with a sniffle and a sob, only to be stifled by shocked laughter. Daniel handed her tissues and she blotted her face and blew her nose. Dec sat next to me again, his arm around my shoulders and his fingers playing with the ends of my hair.

"You okay, sunshine?" he whispered.

I snuggled further into his side, needing his strength and not caring if our parents saw us canoodling. Hopefully he wouldn't push me away. "Yeah, I think so. You got more out of her than I ever have."

Dec shrugged, looking sheepish. "I'm not as nice as you."

I snorted softly. "Ain't that the truth."

"It's okay, love," Daniel was saying, trying to console Mom when the laughter stopped and only the tears continued.

She shook her head, one hand clenched around a tissue in a fist and the other hand jammed to her mouth. She drew in a ragged breath and dropped her hand. "It's not okay. I left my sister and never forgave her. I was too proud to put the past behind us and now I've lost Maeve forever."

Mom fell into Daniel's shoulder, her face crushed in his chest as she sobbed. Daniel wrapped his arms around her and looked at us over her head. He glared at Dec, as if my mother's hysterics were his fault. I stood up to take the photo album off her lap and sat back down, flipping through the pictures myself. In every single one, the girls looked like twins, Mona just slightly smaller than her big sister. They were smiling, some in dresses and others depicting them with dirt or food all over them.

The second to last picture showed a young auburn-haired boy between the two sisters, Mona's hand on his torso like she was claiming him. There was cursive writing below the picture.

I promise you I didn't even kiss Ronan. He only had eyes for you and I'm sorry for not seeing how serious you were about him.

After I stared for awhile at the one and only picture I had of my father, cataloging the similarities and differences, I flipped to the next page. The last picture in the album was taken probably in high school before Ronan came into the picture, their arms wrapped around each other as they grinned at whomever took the photograph. There was more cursive writing below the picture.

This is how I will always remember us.

I squeezed my eyes shut and felt sorrow move through me. So much sadness because these two sisters didn't talk. Didn't air their grievances and make things right between them.

Dec eventually stood to get the steaks on the grill. Dinner was a somber affair, all of us grieving Maeve in our own way as Mom told stories about her sister. When Daniel left for the night, taking Mom with him in the rideshare back to his place, I asked Dec for some privacy tonight. He nodded, understanding that I needed some time to process everything I'd learned. Dec kissed me goodbye and headed for his house.

I went upstairs and got ready for bed, eyeing the hideous urn in the closet, safe from all the construction dust.

"Good night, Aunt Maeve," I whispered, closing the door and climbing into bed.

While I grieved for my aunt Maeve and the father I never knew, I also grieved the eventual end of whatever this was with Dec. If he couldn't talk to me about his past, we'd end up as wrecked as the two sisters. I didn't know what it would take to get him to open up to me, but I was starting to lose hope.

And the last thing I would ever do again is give a man my everything while he gave nothing in return.