12. Lani
Lani
“How’s it going?” Tenn asked as he walked in.
Lani tossed her tablet to one side, where it landed on the couch with a gentle bounce.
“That good, huh?”
She huffed out a laugh. “It’s fine. The drawings are done, but I’m having trouble getting it formatted.”
“You’ll figure it out.” He sat beside her and draped an arm over her shoulders.
“I know.” She sighed. “It’s just fidgety and annoying.”
“Try it tomorrow when you’re rested.”
“I have to get the girls out the door first thing in the morning to get them to that game up in Waimea. And I feel like I’ve been working on this for ages. I just want to finish the thing so that I can see if it even sells.”
“It will.”
“I just…” She looked towards her tablet, hating the process and itching to get back to it at the same time.
“Give it another try after dinner.”
“Good idea.” She slumped in her seat, finally relaxing into his embrace. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know. Being frazzled and distracted. Being pulled a dozen different ways at once.”
“Is there anything that I can do to help?”
“You already cook all of our meals in addition to running the restaurant. What more could a girl ask for?”
“Well…” He ran a hand over her head, brushing the hair back from her face and massaging her scalp at the same time. “If you think of anything, let me know.”
“Mama!” Rory ran in and vaulted over the side of the sofa. “Can I do Italian?”
“Sure.” Lani pulled up the app that she’d downloaded and handed over the tablet.
“Grazie!” Rory snatched it and ran off.
“She’s been consistent with that,” Tenn said.
“Yeah, she’s getting pretty good. She’s even further along than I am.”
He pulled away so that he could look her in the eyes. “You’re doing it too?”
“Sure.” She frowned up at him, surprised by his tone.
“You never said that you were learning Italian.”
“Well… yeah. Rory and I are learning it together.”
He removed his arm from around her shoulders and scrubbed the palms of his hands against his pants, something that he only did when he was really agitated.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. It feels weird that you didn’t tell me.”
“I’m… sorry?” She gaped at him in surprise. “I didn’t think I needed to. I mean, we’ve talked about me taking Rory over there for a visit…”
He nodded curtly, not meeting her eyes.
“I want to be able to understand what her family is saying.”
“We’re her family,” he said vehemently. “They’re just her… relatives.”
Lani was shocked silent, but she reached for his hand.
He let her slip her fingers through his, and she felt some measure of relief.
“They’re her family too,” she said softly.
“Her life is here. They’re not a part of it, not really.”
“But they want to be.” She scanned his face, trying to understand why this bothered him so much. “Extended family is important. My grandparents, my aunts and uncles and cousins… I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without them. Rory deserves to know where she comes from.”
“She comes from you. She’s yours.”
“Well, yeah,” Lani said, but her forehead pulled together in a frown. He was echoing what she had told herself a thousand times, but those assurances felt hollow now that she knew the names and faces of her daughter’s Italian relatives. They were real people, and they loved her daughter.
“She has family here already. Cousins, community. Us.”
“But she deserves to know both sides of her family, Tenn. I thought that I had robbed her of that. Now I have the chance to make things right.”
“Is her life here so bad?” he demanded. “Is she lacking for anything?”
“No, but I won’t deliberately cut her off from half of her family! Why would I do that?”
“We don’t know anything about these people!”
“They love her. Lorenzo thinks that she hung the moon, and he’s a good man. His mother calls her all the time, even though they can barely talk to each other. She just wants to see her face. Rory will grow up to hate me if I cut her off from them.”
“She could never hate you.”
“I owe it to her to keep the lines of communication open.”
“Okay,” he said, leaning away. “Okay.”
She peered at him. “Is it?”
“Olivia has no contact with her mother’s side of the family,” he said quietly, looking down.
“It’s not the same thing.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Aren’t her mother’s parents both alcoholics? Have they even tried to stay in touch?”
“You don’t know anything about Rory’s grandparents.”
“That’s why we’re going to learn. I can’t get to know them if we can’t understand each other. And I’m not sending her over there without me, not at this age. Anyway,” she added, her throat tightening, “they’re the only grandparents she has.”
He sighed and slumped back against the sofa cushions. Then he brought their joined hands up to his face and kissed her knuckle, just behind the delicate golden ring that had once belonged to his grandmother.
“You’re right,” he said after a moment. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She moved closer and put her cheek on his shoulder.
They sat like that for a long moment and then, reluctantly, he released her hand.
“I need to go check on the chicken,” he said, standing.
“I’ll go reclaim my tablet and tell the girls to set the table.”
“Hey,” Tenn said, and she turned back to face him. “What’s the name of that app?”
“The one that Rory’s using?”
“Yeah. If we’re going to do this, let’s do it as a family.”
She crossed the room and stood on tiptoe to give him a kiss. “I’ll send it to you.”
“Okay.” He kissed her again, then kissed her forehead before he moved away.
“Hey,” she said, catching his hand.
He turned back to look at her.
“I love you.”
The line between his eyebrows disappeared, and his smile was soft. “I love you too.”
“Girls!” Lani turned and moved down the hallway, her heart light. “Dinner time!”