Chapter 5
5
Ezra
In a matter of minutes, I’ve canceled my date. People get scammed online all the time, but deep in my marrow, I feel it. This is real. I respond to @islandboykane —a.k.a. Kane Adams—right away, and within a minute, we switch to video.
A teen with a mop of blond hair pops up on the screen, and behind him, a wooden sea turtle hangs on the wall of the bedroom I would stay in when I visited my father as a kid.
“Uh, hi,” he says, his expression etched with apprehension.
“Hey.”
Silence.
My heart is racing and my mind is swirling too quickly to form coherent thoughts.
Cam knocks the side of my leg, urging me to carry on.
I inhale deeply and hold it for five counts before letting the breath out slowly. “I don’t even know where to begin. How am I just now hearing about you? Rob never mentioned another kid.”
“Probably because he didn’t know about me.” He scoffs. “And I didn’t know about him either.”
Bewildered, I blink at the kid. “ Okay ? ”
Kane goes on to explain that his mother recently passed away from an aggressive form of cancer. Shortly before she died, she contacted Rob, and with a blood test, they confirmed paternity. Kane’s mother, Wren, lost both her parents in a car accident when she was eighteen, which leaves my dad as the kid’s next of kin.
I try holding back the tears in front of him, knowing this has got to be a difficult subject, but I can’t help it. “How old are you?” I choke out.
“Fifteen.”
“Fuck.” So young. “Does Rob know you’ve contacted me?”
He heaves out a breath and shakes his head.
“How did he take the news when he found out about you?”
Kane curls his lips inward. “He was shocked, maybe?” He lifts one shoulder and lets it fall. “I don’t know. He doesn’t say much. It’s weird, you know? And this is even weirder. Talking to you. I found some information about you in a drawer here and, I don’t know, I thought maybe you’d want to meet me?” He gnaws on his lip, his attention dipping to his lap. “It’s stupid. I’m sorry. I should go.”
Heart lodged in my throat, I clutch my phone tighter. “Wait.”
This kid has been through hell. First losing his mom and now living with a total stranger. That’s got to be scary.
“I do.”
Kane stares into the screen. I can’t quite decipher the color of his irises, but his eyes glisten with hope.
“I do want to meet you. I-I’ll figure it out. I’m a teacher, and summer break starts soon. I could come to Oahu then.” This kid deserves to have someone in his life who’ll show up for him. Lord knows my— our —father won’t.
“Really?” He perks up, his face brightening.
“Really. Let me call Rob and sort some things out, then we can make plans, yeah?”
His jaw is clenched tight as he nods, like maybe he’s holding back emotion the way I’m trying to.
“It was great meeting you, Kane. Hang in there, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.” He blinks rapidly. “Thanks, Ezra.”
After hanging up, I sit in silence for I don’t know how long. Cam, being the kind of friend he’s always been, sits quietly by my side.
Eventually I call my dad. According to him, Wren was a one-night stand years ago, and he doesn’t even remember her. Repulsive .
“You know what it’s like for bachelors like us. I could have a million kids running around this island for all I know.” He laughs, the tone laced with a kind of pride that makes my stomach turn over.
“I’m nothing like you,” I grit through clenched teeth.
“Oh yeah? You’re single, aren’t you? Approaching forty and free just like your old man.”
Biting back a growl, I bolt up straight, my spine rigid. “I’m married now.”
Clearly, I’ve lost my mind, but the word vomit doesn’t even faze me. I couldn’t care less about lying to my dad. I’d say just about anything to get him to shut the fuck up about how he thinks I’m just like him. Especially when the only things we have in common are our dark hair and our single status. We don’t even share the same last name. I said I have a wife, so what? It’s not like he follows me on social media or ever comes to New York. We barely talk; he’ll forget all about this conversation in five minutes.
“Since when?” he asks.
“We eloped last month.” The lie rolls off my tongue seamlessly. I’m fully committed to the act now. And completely ignoring the way Cam nudges my leg .
From there, I quickly divert the conversation, mentioning that I want to meet Kane, and he drops the subject.
Just as I’m itching to end the call, sick of the sound of his voice, he says, “When you come this summer, bring that wife of yours, yeah? I want to meet her.”
My heart sinks. Shit .
“I, uh?—”
“Unless she doesn’t exist?”
Dammit. The man is seriously calling my bluff?
“Remember that time you had an imaginary girlfriend?” He laughs down the line.
Irritation flares in my gut. “I was six.”
“What about that chick in high school? I told you to bring her, and you never did.”
“Dad.” I huff. “There was no way her parents were going to let her hop on a plane to Hawaii with her seventeen-year-old boyfriend.”
Fuck, the man doesn’t have the first clue how to be a parent, clearly.
“It’s okay. No need to lie. People like you and me don’t need an ole ball and chain.”
“I’m not?—”
“We can teach your new brother how it’s done.”
I don’t even bother to ask what he means by that. He’s delusional if he thinks I’ll let him bring a fifteen-year-old kid to a bar like he used to do with me. History will not repeat itself.
Refusing to add fuel to the fire, I take slow, deep breaths to regulate myself.
“Fine, I’ll bring her.”
After I’ve ended the call, Cam asks, “What the hell was that?”
My chest pinches painfully. “I panicked, man. I can’t stand the idea of him thinking I’m anything like him. It fucking pisses me off.”
“But a wife ?” His eyes bulge. “You couldn’t have said girlfriend instead?”
“I told you, I panicked. You know he makes me lose it sometimes.”
Sighing, he nods once. “What are you going to do?”
“Fuck if I know.”
Where am I going to find a wife?