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I pulled back to study him. “But you’re doing okay though, yeah? No new concerns?”
He chucked me under the chin with his knuckles like I was still a scrappy fifteen-year-old kid. “You worry about yourself. Besides, it’s my birthday. I’ll eat all the damn cake if I want to.”
“That’s why I got you your favourite.”
“Red velvet cake?”
“You know it.”
He gave me another hug. The first one he’d ever given me had taken me off guard. I remembered how stiff I’d been, completely unfamiliar with an older male giving such easy affection. Mike hadn’t minded though. I didn’t know if Kai had told him about my home life or if he’d been able to read it on me somehow. But he didn’t let go. Just held me until I’d relaxed.
I’d ended up sobbing against his chest, unleashing a whole childhood worth of trauma on a man who was practically a stranger.
From that day on, he’d been so much more.
The other solid presence in my life tutted and pulled me from her husband’s arms and into her own. “Give me my boy. I need to squeeze him.”
My boy.Two words. Five letters. Such a minute expression, but it never failed to warm my heart.
“Hey, Di.” I tucked my chin on her head, breathing in her grounding scent. It might’ve been decades since I’d seen my birth mum, but with Di in my life, it’d been a long time since I’d felt like I was missing out. “Missed you.”
She pulled back to swat at my arm, demonstrating where Ruby got her violent streak from. Thank god she didn’t have a spoon. “Where have you been? Why haven’t you come to see me?”
I couldn’t help it. I looked at Kai. For once, he was totally unguarded. He was biting his lip, his eyes swimming with emotion. Hope? Bitterness?
Or love?
I smiled at Di, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “Sorry, Di. Been busy. Tell you what, I’ll come over this weekend, and you can put me to work.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t think I won’t, Silas. My poor garden has never been without you for so long. I’ve got gutters that need clearing and a veg patch full of weeds. And don’t even get me started on the patio. Another week, and I’d be getting the jet wash out myself.”
“Oh, don’t do that. I’ll get it all sorted for you,” I promised, giving her another squeeze.
“I can help,” Kai cut in gruffly. I jerked my head around to see him watching me closely. “We can both get it sorted.”
It felt like someone had uncorked a bottle of champagne in my stomach. Was Kai saying that because he was hoping we’d be returning to our friendship? Or because he was ready to take me seriously?
Unable to analyse it with his family watching, I gave him a curt nod before greeting his siblings. Louis got a half-hug, half-back clap, but Mia was fully lifted off her feet and twirled in a circle.
Then Kai was there. I didn’t know when he’d got up, but he was moving towards me, his face determined.
I had just enough time to lift my arms before he crashed into me. I rocked back a step at the force, but his arms wrapped around my back. Keeping me safe.
He pulled me close, his face buried against my neck. I could feel his heart pounding against my chest, his breath raspy against my skin.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. He was practically crushing me to him, his fingers clinging to my back to the point of pain. “I’m so fucking sorry, Si.”
The champagne feeling was back again as hope rushed through me. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to reach up and embrace him back. I breathed him in, feeling like I was drawing my first full lungful of oxygen in several days. I kept doing that until I felt dizzy. Drunk on Kai.
“Can we talk?” he whispered against my neck.
I started to nod, but my eye caught on someone at the table. Tristan was watching us closely, something like realisation on his face.
I pulled back quickly. Everyone was watching us. Di and Mike looked bemused, used to us being affectionate with each other.
Kai’s siblings looked…worried. Louis was rubbing his chin while Ruby shrewdly studied us.
It was a reminder that this wasn’t the time or place for any discussions. As much as I wanted to drag Kai somewhere private, I couldn’t do that with his family waiting.
