Malta with My Best Friend’s Dad by Flora Ferrari

Chapter Twenty-Three

Kelly

The three of us sit on the roof, surrounding the small table, with Lena on one side and me and Kane on the other. Part of me thinks about sprinting for the door and running through the house, trying my best to disappear from this moment so I don’t have to think about what we’re facing.

Lena looks between us with her eyebrows knitted, narrowing her eyes, and yet she’s still got that little half-smile on her face. It’s the one I recognize well – the optimistic part of her that always refuses to let life beat her down, no matter what happens.

“So… is there any reason you wanted to talk or are we just going to sit here like weirdos?” Lena says, over our silence.

I giggle, lightening my mood from a fraction of a moment even as the momentousness of what we have to do hits me.

“Lena, we need to tell you something.” I take a deep breath, steadying myself. “But before we do, I want to say I love you, kay? I love you and you’re my best friend and I’m sorry for lying to you.”

She reaches over the table and takes my hand when a sob threatens to escape. I can’t stop the tears as she curls her fingers around mine, holding on tightly, transmitting all the love and devotion she’s always had for me.

It makes the betrayal so much worse, so much more meaningful, with this reminder of how supportive she’s always been.

“It’s okay, Kelly,” she says. “Please don’t cry. Whatever it is, it’s okay.”

“It’s not.” I sob, unable to fight the full force of the sadness. “When you find out—”

“Are you two together?” Lena asks, sitting back and folding her arms. Her gaze flitting between her father and me. “Because that’s how this seems. It’s the only thing that makes sense. The only news you’d both need to tell me.”

“Lena…” I stutter.

“Kelly, I know you’ve had a crush on him for a long time.”

I gasp, bringing my hand up to cover my mouth. “You do?” I whisper between my fingers.

Her lips twitch in a smile, giving me hope. But then her mouth twists into a grimace which takes it all away. “I found your notebook when we were like twelve, Kelly. Plus I saw the way you looked at him growing up. Honestly, it wouldn’t have meant anything to me if you told me. I wouldn’t have cared. But you never did, so I figured you wanted to keep it private. That was fine by me.”

The magnitude of her words slams into me, as I reach up and rubs tears from my cheeks. “I thought you’d hate me if you ever found out.”

Lena shakes her head. “Kelly, I could never hate you.”

“You were right, Lena,” Kane says from beside me. His voice is deep and rumbling, as heavy with emotion as mine is, except he’s not crying. “When you said we’re together. We are.”

“And what does that mean?” A warble enters Lena’s voice as she stares at her father, at the man of my dreams. “I don’t understand how you’ve been missing for the past three years but you two are together. And don’t give me any talk about it being a fling.”

She raises her hand when Kane moves to interrupt, a fierce look in her eyes. “Dad, I’m not done.”

I glance at Kane to find a sheepish smirk on his face, and despite the circumstances, I almost laugh.

It’s so unusual to see confident, dominating Kane put in his place like that. “Sorry, Lena. Go ahead.”

“I was just going to say… I’ve noticed you two looking at each other these past few days. I thought I was going crazy at first, but then it got harder and harder to ignore. It doesn’t seem like a fling to me. Which means it’s been going on for a long time. But it can’t have been going on for that long, can it? You’ve been ‘dead’ for three years… and three years ago Kelly was…”

“Of course it hasn’t been going on since she was seventeen,” Kane snaps. “She was a kid to me back then – damn-near invisible, so invisible I didn’t even recognize her when she arrived in Malta.”

He pauses and then glances at me with that same sheepish smirk. “No offense, Kelly. I might’ve gone a little overboard.”

“It’s okay. I know what you meant.”

I lift my hand to place it on his arm and then realize mid-move what I’m doing. Letting it drop, I shake my head, as though that can take back what I just almost did.

“Is anybody going to explain?” Lena snaps. “If you haven’t been talking for the last three years—”

“We haven’t,” I say. “I thought he was dead, just like you did.”

“But that makes no sense,” she says. “When did you start this, then? How long has it been going on?”

I glance at Kane. He’s wearing a polo shirt that shows how hard every part of him is, that shows his bulging muscles. His steel hair sparkles in the sunlight and dances on his grim-set jaw.

Then he smirks, letting out a short laugh. “When did you arrive in Malta?”

“Just over a week ago,” Lena says. “Why?”

Kane inclines his head. “Then you have your answer. That’s how long it’s been going on.”

“What?”Lena gasps. “So have I got it wrong? Is this just a fling?”

“No,” Kane growls firmly. “This is much, much more than that. Kelly and I are going to be together for the rest of our lives. We’re going to have a family together – she’s going to be the mother of your brothers and sisters, Lena.”

Lena sits back and lets out a long breath. “You two need to start making sense. How can any of that be true if this only started recently?”

I look at Kane and he looks at me, and then I arch my eyebrow. “Do you want to explain, or shall I?”

* * *

Lena grips the edge of the table and sits back, letting out a long breath as she shakes her head slowly. “So let me get this straight. You two fell for each other instantly, like the second you laid eyes on each other, just over a week ago?”

“Yes,” I murmur, waiting for the part where she turns vicious and hateful. And I wouldn’t even be able to blame her. She’d have every right. “When you put it like that, it sounds crazy…”

“That’s because it is crazy.” She laughs, but there’s a strange quality to it, almost like it could turn into a scream at any second. “This is just…”

I bite my lip and resist the urge to reach over and clasp onto Kane’s hand, squeezing down so I can try and feel some of his warmth and support, try and feel something to make any of this okay.

But then Lena laughs again, lighter this time.

“Dad, you’ll tell me the truth, won’t you?”

“Always,” Kane says firmly, his voice deep and confident. “I know I had to leave and I’m sorry for that, Lena. I’ll never stop being sorry for that. But that was to stop those monsters from hurting you.”

“But right now, if I ask you a question, you’ll be completely honest with me?” Lena stares hard at him, her expression firm like she’s going to say something very important. “Because I need to know. I need to be certain.”

“I promise, Lena.”

“Are you and Kelly in this for the long haul? Because that’s all that matters to me. Yeah, I won’t lie. I think it’s pretty shitty that you were sneaking around behind my back, that you kept this is a secret. But if it all happened so fast… and so much craziness has been going on. So I can sort of get it. But I need to know.”

“Forever,” Kane says, passion infusing his words, making my skin prick and tingle as warmth bubbles up inside of me. “I know it’s difficult to believe, but that’s the truth. I’m going to be with her for the rest of my life. We’re going to have a family together, all of us.”

Lena nods, neither smiling nor frowning. She’s approaching this with a calm I never could’ve foreseen. She faces me.

“And do you feel the same? Do you want the same?” she asks me.

“More than anything,” I say quickly.

I can’t stop my voice from flaring with all the love stowed inside of me, with all my hope for the future shivering through me.

“I want to be with him. I want to have children with him. But I don’t want to ruin what we have, Lena.”

“Are you saying you’d break it off if I had a problem with it?” she asks, a bite in her voice.

I flinch and sit back, as though her words have struck me, my mind turning her question this way and that as though I can make some sense of it. But I’ve lied to her enough already, and there’s no freaking way I’m going to carry on.

“I don’t think I could,” I tell her, doing my best to meet her eyes. “I’m sorry, Lena. But we tried. For days, we tried to ignore each other. But Jocko noticed our secret looks. You noticed them. It’s just so freaking difficult not to become consumed with each other. So no. I’m sorry, but I don’t think so.”

Lena holds my gaze for a while longer, giving me no indication about how she feels. But then the corners of her lips twitch and her smile spreads, wider and wider until it’s like there’s a song of joy moving through her.

“Okay.” Lena nods. “I get it now. I understand. If this is real. If this isn’t some fling—”

“No,” I say.

“No,” Kane growls at the same time. “It’s real. I promise.”

“Then I can find a way to be happy for you both. Because the bottom line is this… I can’t lose either of you, let alone both of you. I’m pissed off that you went behind my back like I said, but I can see how difficult it must’ve been, how sudden. If you’d been sneaking around for months or years, I don’t think I could forgive you. But just over a week? Yeah, yeah, I can deal with that.”

“I’m so sorry.” I reach over the table and take her hand, squeezing it softly. “I’ll never do anything like this again.”

She giggles. “Well, duh. I only have one dad. And it sounds like you two are in it forever.”

I can’t stop myself from breaking down at her words, the tears springing into my eyes and sliding down my cheeks. Lena lets out a sob and stands, walking around the table.

Bolting to my feet, I wrap my arms around her and we hug each other tightly, both of us filled with the importance of this moment, with the gratitude of being able to remain friends. I move my hands through her hair and she squeezes tightly against me.

“Dad, get over here,” Lena says, waving over at Kane.

I turn as a smile lights up my face, and then Kane grins and swaggers over. He loops his arms around us both and we stay like that for a long time, as the Maltese sun glows down at us, as our future lays out before us like a glittering, inviting road.

“I’m so happy you don’t hate me,” I say once the hug ends, taking a step back and dabbing at my eyes.

“Kelly,”Lena says firmly. “I’ve already told you, there’s no way I could ever hate you. Ever. So get that silly thought out of your head.”

You know, one day I might be your stepmother, I almost say, but I bite the words back at the last moment. I can’t presume that Kane is going to ask me to marry him.

We haven’t even said the L-word yet.

ButLena has given us her blessing, and that’s the most important thing.

A flare of worry ignites inside of me, disturbing the moment.

What the heck are Mom and Dad going to say when they find out?