Page 158 of I Think They Love You

Denz’s hands fidget in his lap. “Sorry. I was an ass.”

Kami considers her aquamarine nails. They match her silk bow blouse. “Is that it?”

“Do you want the ten-minute Taylor version?” Denz grins. “Monologues are Dad’s thing.”

A beat.

“God, Denz.” Her eyes are shiny when she glares at him. “For months, I thought the aunties were right. That I couldn’t handle this. Balancing work and Mikah. And then you—my rock,who always drags me kicking and screaming to be great—confirmed their words.”

Denz’s stomach knots. “I’m really sor—”

“Don’t be.” She exhales. “What you said was bullshit, don’t get me wrong, but it made me think. So, I called Mom.”

“You narced on me?”

“We talked aboutfamily stuff. Love stuff too.”

“Did she talk about her and Dad?”

Kami nods, frowning. “I know everyone thinks I’m just like him—”

“Well, you are both Leos.”

She chucks an M&M at him. “As much as we’re alike, I don’t brush things off like he does. And I’m definitely not tough like Mom.”

Denz holds up a small space between his thumb and index finger. “A tiny bit.”

“I talked to her about all the pressure,” Kami explains. “Trying to manage my career while being a mom and girlfriend.”

“So,” Denz says, “pretty much everything?”

“And you know what? She said I’m right.” Kami laughs, a breathy noise like she’s still surprised. “That I’m allowed to make mistakes. That her and Dad made a ton over the years. But I’m not him. I’ll never let a company mean more to me than Mikah or anyone else in my life.”

A soft grin teases Denz’s lips.

“We’re not failures if we do things differently than they did,” she tells him. “We can choose different paths. A different way of getting there.”

Denz grabs a handful of M&M’s. He lets the quiet linger for a second. “Mikah likes Suraj,” he says, chewing. “How’d that happen?”

“I needed a babysitter the day of the flood. No Mom, no Nic, no you.”

“And you asked him?”

“I was so nervous. I wanted them to eventually meet. Just—”

“Not like that?”

Kami nods. “Suraj wouldn’t shut up about how long he’d been looking forward to it.”

Denz can almost picture that weird introduction.

“When I got back, I found them sleeping on the couch,” Kami says fondly. “Mikah was drooling on Suraj’s chest.”

An unexpected laugh leaps out of Denz. For some reason, he thought he’d be jealous. Other than Kenneth, Denz was always the male figure Mikah’s been comfortable with.

(And Braylon, but he’s not going there.)

But now there’s Suraj. Denz is okay with that. He can tell Suraj cares about Mikah.

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