It broke my heart. Momma and I have always talked about Hawaii and how, one day, we would visit, maybe even move there, and here I am, getting ready to fulfill that dream by myself. She should be here with me.
I’m numb, and it’s sickening the only emotion that constantly breaks through is hatred. I blame so many people for how my life has ended up, for my mother’s death, but what hurts the most is how much I blame myself.
My mind is plagued with the shoulda, coulda, woulda’s. I should have insisted she leave Papi, demanded she come with me after I graduated. I should have found a better job and given Papi more money. That way he would have never owed Sal to begin with. I shouldn’t have gone to work that night. I should have come home earlier…
It doesn’t seem right that I’m still here, living and breathing, and my mom is in an urn in my luggage because I couldn’t even save enough money to give her a proper burial.
“Are you ready, Gianna?” Kendrick asks, dragging me from my thoughts. He pulls the SUV to a stop.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Chapter Two
You’re Aria Now
“Remember, you’re Aria Romano from Texas now. Your parents are Bianca and Rocco Romano, who are very close friends with Camille, the lady you’ll be staying with. You just graduated and you came to Hawaii to spend some time with Layla and Camille,” Detective Kendrick says.
I wonder what it would be like to really be Aria Romano. I wish this was a real vacation, and that I wasn’t just trying to hide out from the man who murdered my parents. I would give anything to have Aria’s life.
I climb out of the SUV and take a second to stretch. The first thing I notice is how clean and pure the air smells here. The second thing I notice is how peaceful the sound of the ocean is. I close my eyes and tilt my head toward the warm sun and just listen to the waves crashing on the shore.
New York was anything but peaceful, especially at night. I got used to going to sleep to the sounds of horns honking, dogs barking, and people yelling at each other. It may actually be difficult for me to sleep with such serene surroundings.
Kendrick closes the back door of the SUV. I snap my eyes open, the sound bringing me back to reality. He walks around to my side of the SUV and hands me my luggage. After I have my bags in hand, I take my first good look at my temporary home.
It’s a cute little cream-colored bungalow sitting maybe a hundred feet from the ocean. The front yard has two huge pine trees and is filled with bright, vivid flowers. Every time the wind blows, I catch their scent. Easily, this is the most gorgeous place I’ve ever witnessed.
I trail behind Detective Kendrick as he leads us down a hill on a stone-lined path and up onto the porch. I’m surprised when I start to feel nervous. I haven’t even given living with complete strangers a second thought. Lately, all of my thoughts and feelings have centered around worrying about Sal’s goons or grieving for my mother.
All the other worries I’ve ignored until now are starting to plague me. Worries like, Will they like me? and Are they nice? and the inevitable, Are they serial killers? Kendrick, obviously picking up on my uneasiness, clears his throat and draws my attention.
“Camille has been a close friend to me for years. She and her daughter are very kind, and I know you will feel comfortable here before you know it. I would never put you in a place where I didn’t think you’d be one hundred percent safe. Trust me.”
I only manage a nod before the wooden front door opens. I’m temporarily awe-struck by how beautiful the woman who answered the door is. She looks to be around Kendrick’s age, maybe a little younger. It’s easy to see that she’s a native of Hawaii. She has long, thick black hair that flows all the way down to her waist and a single pink flower behind her ear.
She’s very petite and she’s wearing a floor length, maxi dress that matches the pink of the flower in her hair. Her eyes are brown, her skin is tan, and she has a small scattering of freckles on her nose and the apples of her cheeks.
“You must be Aria. I’m Camille. It’s so nice to meet you!”
I jump when Camille pulls me into a hug. Some of my nerves start to settle at this simple gesture. I fight back warm tears as memories of my mother assault me.
When our hug ends, Camille turns her attention to Kendrick. I may just be seeing things, but I swear when she looks at him, I see so much love in her eyes. I wonder how they know each other.
“Mark, how are you?” Camille asks him as he leans down to kiss her on her cheek. Until this moment, I never knew Kendrick’s first name.
“I’m good, Camille. How are you? How is Layla?”
“Oh, we’re good. Layla will be happy to see you. It’s been so long since your last visit.” Verbally, nothing more is said between them, but so much is being conveyed through the emotions in their eyes. Kendrick’s eyes are showing guilt, and Camille’s eyes are swimming with hurt.
Camille breaks from her emotions first with a small shake of her head. Then she looks at me. “Well, let’s go inside so I can show you around.” She smiles and wraps an arm around my back to guide me inside.
The inside of the house is almost as gorgeous as the outside. It has an open floor plan with soft yellow walls and hardwood floors throughout the house. Right when you walk in, you’re in the living room. In the center of the living room is a white, stone fireplace with a TV on the mantel. There’s a white couch with two matching chairs and a coffee table. On both sides of the fireplace are white, closed doors.
To the right of the kitchen is a small kitchen table with four chairs, but what catches my attention is the view behind it. The wall is nothing but floor-to-ceiling windows with two glass French doors in the center. I instinctively walk over to them. The closer I get to the doors, the louder the sound of the waves crashing gets.
The scene is even more beautiful than I imagined. I’ve only ever seen water that blue on TV before. The sand is maybe fifty feet away from the back porch. It feels like my feet are begging me to move closer to the water just to feel the sand between my toes, a feeling I’ve always wanted to feel, but never thought I’d be able to.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Camille asks as she comes to stand next to me. “I’ve lived here my entire life, and sometimes I still find myself shocked by its magnificence. Couldn’t ever see myself living anywhere else.” She smiles out at the ocean.
I wish I could have grown up in a place like this. My stomach churns with guilt. My mom gave me the best life she could.
Almost as if Camille senses the change in my mood, she takes my attention away from the ocean by showing me the rest of her house.
“That door leads to my room and the other one leads to the room you’ll be sharing with my daughter, Layla,” Camille informs me as she points to the doors on either side of the fireplace.
As soon as Camille says Layla’s name, she walks into the living room, almost as if she heard her. I know instantly that she’s Camille’s daughter. They look almost exactly alike. They even have the same brown eyes and the same scattering of freckles, though Layla’s freckles are lighter. I only noticed them when she walked closer to us.
She smiles at her mom and I, but does a full-on excited girl screech when she sees Detective Kendrick standing to the left of us. She takes off in a dead sprint and he catches her when she jumps and flies into his arms. He hugs her tightly and they are both laughing by the time he puts her back on the ground.
“I’ve missed you!” She beams.
“I’ve missed you too!” Kendrick replies affectionately. He’s looking at her like a father would look at his daughter, but I know he can’t be her father because there is no denying that Layla is one hundred percent Hawaiian, like her mother.
“Layla, this is Aria, the girl who will be staying with us for a while,” Camille says. Layla gives me a welcoming smile and walks over to me. Like her mother, she doesn’t bother to shake my hand, but pulls me in for a hug instead.
Layla looks to be about my age
and is taller than her mother, maybe five-foot-nine. Like her mom, she has long black hair, but, unlike Camille, her hair stops about mid-back and has honey-colored highlights mixed in. She’s gorgeous.
“It’s really great to meet you, Aria. Have you ever been to Hawaii before?” She asks, and as soon as I shake my head, she launches into a spiel about how much I’m going to love it and all the things she’s going to show me. Her mouth is moving a mile a minute and I find myself wondering if she’s even taken a breath.
It’s clear, in seconds, that Layla has a huge and bubbly personality. The rest of the fear I had about the unknown family I’m going to be staying with melts away when I come to the conclusion that their kindness is genuine.
Kendrick walks over to us, chuckling at Layla. He kisses her on the top of her head, effectively shutting her up. She looks at me with a blush when she realizes that she was babbling.
“Sorry. My mouth tends to run away with me when I get excited.”
I laugh for the first time since arriving. Layla visibly relaxes. I realize she was just as nervous as I was. It’s probably just as awkward for her and Camille to have a stranger come live with them for an undetermined amount of time as it is for me to stay with them.
“Why don’t you show Aria the room she’ll be staying in while I talk to your mom?” Kendrick asks Layla. She smiles, grabs my hand, and leads me to the door on the right of the fireplace.
Unlike the rest of the house, the walls in this bedroom are white. To my surprise, there are two twin-sized beds—one with a yellow and gray comforter, and one with a teal and gray comforter.
The beds are placed against the same wall, but are on opposite sides of the room. I can tell that the side with the gray and yellow bed has been claimed by Layla because of the clothes and makeup strewn about the bed.
Layla blushes and starts picking up the clothes. “Sorry. I would have picked up this morning, but I was late for work.”
Then I notice the uniform she’s wearing. I wouldn’t have even thought her outfit, a pair of khaki shorts and a white polo shirt, was a uniform if not for the small sewn-in words across the top right corner of the polo: Nani Resort.
I walk to my bed and throw my suitcase on top. “Where do you work?” I ask.
“Oh, I work at Nani’s Resort. It’s a huge tourist resort. I run the lemonade stand on the golf course. I love working there. It’s a plus I get to work with my boyfriend, Pika. He gives surf lessons to the guests with his best friend, Kulani. I could get you a job there if you want. My boss, Roger, is cool, but his son, Seth, is a slime ball. Oops, I’m rambling again.” She laughs.
“You can get me a job?” I ask, unable to hide my hopeful tone. My parents had nothing in life and they had even less in death. I don’t know how long I’ll be staying with Camille and Layla, but I do know it won’t be forever.
I need to find a place to live after all of this is over because going back to New York isn’t an option. In order to do that, I’ll need money, and in order to get that, I’ll need a job.
“Oh yeah! You can come with me tomorrow and I’ll introduce you,” Layla says.
“Thanks!”
“No problem.”
She spends the next thirty minutes showing me the rest of the room. There’s a bathroom connected to our room and another set of French doors that lead to the beach. I wish I was here under different circumstances. That way I could really enjoy all of this.
Layla finishes the tour moments before Detective Kendrick knocks on our door and peeps his head in. “Can we have a minute, Layla?” He asks. With a nod, Layla exits the room.
My stomach is in knots when I sit on the bed. Kendrick pulls up a desk chair to sit in front of me. I know it’s time to say goodbye, and I’m dreading it. I’m as comfortable as I’m going to get here with just meeting Camille and Layla, but I’m not ready for the one person I’m familiar with, the one person that I completely trust, to leave.
“How are you feeling?” he eventually asks.
“Honestly? Awkward,” I mumble.
“It will get better, Aria,” he says. It’s on the tip of my tongue to correct him, to tell him my name is Gianna, but then I remember I’m not that girl anymore. “I’ve talked to Camille. She knows you’re under protection, but she doesn’t know the whole story. I cannot stress it enough to you how important it is to keep your true identity a secret.”
I nod and bite back a sarcastic reply. Of course I know how important it is to keep my identity a secret.
He hands me a manila envelope and a phone. “Everything you need is in that envelope. Birth certificates, social security card, everything. My private number is programmed in that phone. Please, no other calls to New York besides me.”
I take a deep breath when the heaviness of the situation makes itself known again. This is not a vacation.
“Do you have any questions?” Kendrick asks me after he allows me some time to gather my thoughts.
“How long before the trial?” I ask quietly.
“Salazar goes before the judge next week, then a date will be set. It could be up to six months.” My heart drops at this news. I don’t know if I can make it for six months living in fear.
“I’m going to try my hardest to get it pushed up as early as possible. New York wants Sal behind bars almost as much as you do. In the meantime, you can handle this, Aria. You’re much stronger than you think.”
He spends the next thirty minutes going over the dos and don’ts of Witness Protection before finally saying goodbye and promising to check in with me as soon as possible, leaving me with an aching heart and a broken spirit.
Chapter Three
Bastardo!
The faster I run, the louder the sound of my feet pounding on the dirt trail gets. After Detective Kendrick left, I spent some time studying the file he left for me, trying to memorize, in detail, everything about Aria until I was called to dinner.
Camille and Layla have both tried their best to make me feel at home, to make me feel as comfortable as possible, and, for the most part, I do. Well, as comfortable as I can feel.
That’s not the reason I’m out here in unfamiliar woods, running out all of the emotions swirling inside me.
No, all this anger and sadness I’m feeling came from watching Camille and Layla together. Their relationship is easy, and it took hardly anytime at all to see they are way more than just mother and daughter. They’re best friends.
Now I’m missing my momma something fierce. My mom was also more than just my mom. She was my best friend, my only friend. She’s gone, and it feels like so much more than my mom has been taken from me.
When I saw such a loving relationship between Camille and Layla at the dinner table, I wanted to punch something and burst in tears all at the same time. This led to me needing to get out of that house as soon as possible. In the middle of a tasty dinner of pineapple glazed ham and veggies, I abruptly stood up and excused myself to go for a run. I changed into a pair of yoga shorts and a black t-shirt, grabbed my phone, and was off without another word to either of them.
So, here I am in the woods, running. I know I look like I know what I’m doing, but, in reality, I am lost. I was calm around thirty minutes ago, when I first realized how lost I was, but now that the sun is setting and I’m losing the light, I’m starting to freak out. It doesn’t help that I don’t have service and can’t pull up the GPS on my phone or make any phone calls.
I finally stop running. After taking a couple minutes to catch my breath, I look around. I don’t really know exactly what I’m looking for, maybe a sign that says this way home with an arrow pointing me in the correct direction.
After another ten minutes, it becomes painfully clear that that sign isn’t coming. I’m trying to decide if I should continue to run and hope that I’ll eventually find my destination or if I should scream for help until someone comes to my rescue.
The bushes behind me start to rustle. My whole body stills and my breathing stops. I whimpe
r when I imagine what scary ass creature is about to jump out from behind that bush and maul my face off.
“It’s just a bunny. A cute, fluffy, brown bunny,” I whisper to myself as I begin to slowly and casually walk away. My casual demeanor is gone in a flash when the bush shakes again. I let out a pathetic shriek and take off running for my life.
Reasonably, it would have been safe for me to stop running about three hundred feet ago, as I’m sure that whatever beast was about to kill me is long gone by now. But, me being me, I talked myself into believing that the beast is no longer a beast, but a Freddy Krueger-looking man with any number of torture devices to slay me with.
That’s why I’m running faster than I ever thought was possible for me, and I’m doing it all while looking behind me. All of a sudden, I slam into a tree and the wind is knocked out of me.
I’m so busy catching my breath that I don’t realize that the tree has grown two arms and two hands to catch me before I fall flat on my ass. When I catch my breath and can see straight again, I realize that I’m not in the arms of a tree, but the arms of a human.
“Are you okay?” the human mumbles.
For the zillionth time today, I screech and jump back, away from the human who has incredibly strong arms and a smooth, rumbling voice. This time, though, I fall on my ass.
“Are you okay?” That smooth voice asks me again. I hear a hint of a Hawaiian accent this time. I lift my gaze to look at the human talking to me and immediately suck in a breath. The human is the most gorgeous human I have ever seen. I’m not exaggerating.
You can stop calling him ‘human’ anytime you want now, Gia…er…Aria.
Like Camille and Layla, tree man is a native of Hawaii, if his accent and tan skin are any indication, but, unlike them, he doesn’t have brown eyes. His are sapphire blue. The bottom half of his face is hidden behind a black, five o’clock shadow. His hair is brown and hangs above his shoulders in small dreadlocks in a halfway up, halfway down style.
Love, Unexpected Page 2