His words were a stab in an already open wound. “He’s on a new drug that could give him up to five more years.”
Han didn’t answer, just eyed me with something that looked a lot like scorn.
“You wouldn’t have done the same thing for family?” I asked.
Something much colder replaced the scorn in his eyes. It made his face appear hard as stone. “In my experience, blood family isn’t worth such sacrifice. Especially any family member who would put you in the position of having to give your life savings to a criminal.”
“No, I chose to do that. Because he’s worth it, no matter how long he has to live.”
I thought about how my father taught me to surf, then took me to his best friend, Bill, to get coached when I told him I wanted to take it seriously. He’d believed in me, even when Mom and Mika thought I was crazy for pursuing pro surfing as a career.
“He’s a good man,” I insisted to Han.
“No, he’s not,” Han insisted back. “It was naïve and rash of you to come to Aloha Ballers yourself. If he got into the debt on his own, you should have let him get out of it on his own. It was not your place to do that for him.”
What’s funny is that Dad had pretty much said the same thing. He’d been livid the following day after Mom left, when I let him know I stopped by Aloha Ballers to pay off his debt just so he wouldn’t continue to worry about it.
“You shouldn’t have done that, Jazzy. You should have let me take care of it. K Diamond and his crew are bad news. Anything could have happened.”
Yeah, I knew that—now. But it wasn’t like I would’ve sent my dad, who wasn’t able to get too far without a walker these days, into the same situation. A chill went down my back at the thought of what they would have done to him when they found out he couldn’t pay the interest.
But I put on an easy-breezy tone to tell Dad, “Well, everything went fine. So we don’t have to worry about K Diamond’s thugs coming after you anymore. It’s over.”
But it wasn’t over. That had been a lie. Here I was in the ocean with a guy who insisted I belonged to him for the next two years.
That had been the unspoken second part of Bill’s lesson. Sometimes you paddle to jump on the big waves, and they still take you out anyway.
I turned my face away, bitterly disappointed with Han for reasons I couldn’t quite explain. I didn’t know what I was expecting from him. Some empathy, I guess, not for him to regard me like I was an idiot.
“The waves aren’t picking up, and it’s been a couple of hours, so that’s probably enough for today,” I muttered. “Plus, I’ve got to take a whizz.”
I didn’t stick around for his response, just laid myself flat on my board and half-paddled, half-bodysurfed back to shore—I’d lied about the waves. They were starting to pick up again.
But I really did have to pee, so I snatched up the backpack I left on the beach and headed toward the white stone structure that housed the women’s restrooms. Like most of the public beach facilities in Oahu, this one was pretty gross. So I changed out of my wet clothes as quickly as I could before crouching over the metal toilet—and wondered why I’d never gotten into the habit of peeing in the ocean like a ton of other locals did.
Upside, concentrating on something else for a while put the conversation with Han in perspective. I wasn’t even sure why I got so angry.
I guessed he reminded me a little too much of my last in-person conversation with Brad.
I just don’t see why you’re throwing your career away. Yeah, I get that he’s your dad, but he’s going to die whether you stay here or not.
Brad, who I’d been dating for two years at that point, hadn’t understood my dedication to my father. So, of course, the sketchy gangster who I’d only met, like, two times officially didn’t understand either.
Anyway, I was feeling pretty silly as I left the bathroom. Then I got to feel even sillier when I slammed into somebody.
I looked up to apologize, but the sorry died in my mouth when I saw who I’d bumped into in the open-air vestibule.
It was K Diamond.
I took a step back and informed him, “The men’s restroom is on the other side of the building.”
K Diamond glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, my bad. Must’ve gotten mixed up.”
But he didn’t move. Just stood there, exuding slimy danger.
My dad might’ve gotten sick, but I was still the daughter of a literal drill sergeant. I immediately assessed the situation, glancing all around.
