The large conference table was filled with a breakfast spread, New Orleans style. Buttery croissants and bagels of different varieties were laid out next to two trays of beignets. Lily stuck with a bowl of fruit, mostly pineapple, as Ellis went over the final details with Ron Black.

“Lincoln was approached by Kendell Warren. I assume you’re familiar…”

“Oh, I am,” Black said, lip quaking as though just the thought of Clairmont’s CFO left an aftertaste in his mouth. “Smart business fella gone to waste. He was married to my sister for fifteen years and lost his position with our company when she caught him with his secretary at their beach house. He’s been trying to get back into our pockets for five years.” Black tapped a pen against his empty plate, shaking what remained of powdered sugar from his lapel. “Miss Campbell, I’d like to personally thank you for your discretion.” He leaned toward her, extending a hand. “Ellis here tells me if Lincoln had gotten passed your password and into your iPad, then he and that rotten ex-brother-in-law of mine would have known our strategy and business projections for the next ten years.” He smiled at her then, rocking back in his chair. “Smart of you to keep those details off a paper trail.”

“Thank you, Mr. Black, I appreciate the confidence.” Lily liked the old man.  He reminded her of her grandfather; both had white hair and smelled of chocolate mints. “Mr. Ellis and Landry were adamant that I be discreet with your files. I was happy to oblige.”

“And good thing you did,” he said, taking her hand again. He released her and slapped the table, disturbing the still-full trays of bagels and cream cheese. “Landry, if you know what’s good for your firm, you’ll make this one a partner and do your best to keep her happy.”

“We’ll be sure to,” Ellis said for his boss, standing to lead Black from the conference room along with Landry.

Lily bid Black another goodbye and wandered to the large window at the back of the room. The building overlooked Loyola Avenue where nearly every building was decorated with fall accouterments. There were fall swags over doorways—groupings of artificial leaves in golds, oranges, and browns and gourds in the shop windows. The weather had turned cooler, still warm for November, though, and Lily thought of the differences between the New Orleans and Kaimuki, where her niece had begun her life with Ano.

Most days, Lily kept busy enough that thoughts of Zee and…everyone else on the island did not consume her. It had only been a month since she returned and Lily had dug in deep at the firm, discussing strategies for the suit against Clairmont and the deposition concerning the criminal cases against Clara and Lincoln.

“Lil?” Ellis called, drawing Lily’s attention away from the window and the shower of crepe myrtles falling around Canal Street. She smiled at him as he stood next to her, hands in his pockets as he joined her watching the activity below. “Landry has conceded.”

“On?”

Ellis laughed, and Lily liked the sound. “You,” he said, expression friendly. “He has finally admitted you are an asset.”

From his raised-eyebrow gaze, Lily thought perhaps Ellis expected something from her that she couldn’t give. Maybe a shout of joy, some stereotypical girl reaction to earning approval from the good ole boys in the club. A year ago, she might have allowed a thrill of excitement to show itself on her face. Now though, she was different. Everything was different.

“Vital asset,” Ellis corrected. He turned, leaning against the window to watch Lily. “Are you interested in being a junior partner?”

Those impossible words brought Lily’s snap of attention to Ellis. Junior partnership? No one got that so quickly. No one her age, at least.

“Wh…are you serious?”

Of course he was. Ellis wasn’t a kidder. He was friendly enough, but professional. He’d never been rude, had in fact been a bit of an apologist when his partner did arcane things that differed with Ellis’ world view and there had been a lot of them. But openly joking or teasing? No. That wasn’t Ellis’ style.

“Junior partner and a forty percent increase in your salary.”

“Forty percent.” She didn’t need him to clarify. Lily hadn’t misheard. That was the dream, the goal every associate and working attorney shot for when they joined the firm. But Lily had lived with only the firm and her work to fill the days since Zinnia left. She’d scheduled her life around her work, and it had sustained her. It had only sustained her.

Zee had been right. This wasn’t a life, but then, what would be? There was nothing keeping her in New Orleans. Nothing but the work she did and potential that Ellis offered her.

He kept her under a watchful stare, a hesitant flit to his eye, something that told Lily he didn’t understand why she hadn’t reacted or why she hadn’t immediately accepted.

“Isn’t that what you want, Lil? A future with the firm? Or do you want something else?”

She watched Ellis for a second, not seeing the dulled angles of his round face. Not seeing anything but what lived in her imagination. Lily turned, pacing around the conference room. Through the door that led into the office suites, there were associates and legal secretaries milling around Landry as he returned to his office; several more congregated near the lounge. Everyone had a purpose—files in their hands, conversations, rapid-fire and focused. And Lily realized she didn’t know any of their names. Not a single one. Those faces—most of them men—were new; associates who’d just arrived, some more familiar but not one name came to her.

She could recite the entire graduating class from her year at Kaimuki High. She knew their siblings, where their parents lived. She knew the children, most of the grandchildren of her former teachers she’d spent years studying under. Lily knew who her neighbors had been from the time she was five until she left for Yale.

But she didn’t know all her neighbors in her building or the names of the attendants in the garage. With Ellis waiting, Lily realized, though she loved the city, though it was fun and exhilarating and a wonderful place to live, New Orleans was not home. Would it ever be?

“Ellis,” she started, stopping her slow pacing to face her boss. “Can I think about it?”

“Of course you can,” he said, and by the expression on his face, Lily thought he might not want her to wait too long.

She had a choice to make and no idea how to do that.

The five o’clock traffic had thickened to a standstill when Lily made her way out of the building. The weather had been beautiful that morning and since she’d never bothered to replace her Cadillac after it had been vandalized, Lily had picked up her usual habit of leaving her condo early and walking to the firm.

She was surprised to realize how she’d missed the city while she’d been away. There had been Zinnia and beaches that stretched out into the ocean like some kind of waking dream. There had been the memories that no longer destroyed her to remember, but there hadn’t been a livewire feel like there was in New Orleans.

There was finally a reprieve from the summer’s blistering temperatures and the artists and street performers gathered around crowds of tourists to pocket change and sell their art. In the distance, Lily caught the scent of confectioner’s sugar and the sweet, rich scent of beignets the closer she came to Café DeMonde. It was good to be home, even if that home was only a replacement for the paradise and the pain she’d just left.

As Lily neared her building, she spotted a Range Rover blocking the entrance and the one next to the pharmacy that neighbored her complex. The Rover was black, the rims large, and it reminded Lily of the audacious vehicles she’d seen Ellis and Landry’s college-bound sons driving around the city. She thought it was weird, that the building manager would normally call the police to get the vehicle out of the way, but then it was New Orleans and folks dealt favors like gamblers dealt promises. Lily didn’t think much of the Rover or why it was there until she walked in front of it and on to the sidewalk to find Kona Hale leaning against the driver’s side.

“Lily Campbell.”

He was stretched out, his ankles crossed but stood when she came near him, that ever-present smile widening the closer she came to him.

“You following me, Hale?” It was a little suspect to her, seeing him in front of her building only weeks after she’d landed back in NOLA after leaving his cousin hurt by her accusation.

“Nah, Lil. You’re not my type. Besides, I’m a little pissed at you.”

“Oh.”

Kona moved away from the vehicle, arms folded as he stared down at her. “You know,” he said, “I got you to the island hoping you’d stay there.”

“I never said…”

“Only to have you wrecking things, literally, and coming back.” Kona shook his head, feigning a disappointed frown before his features relaxed. “You alright?”

“Is he?” she asked, voice low. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him, choosing instead to watch the street performers dancing near Jackson’s Square. She’d kept Keilen from her thoughts, tried hard not to let the guilt overtake her, but not all her waking hours could be spent working, distracting her from the reality of what she’d done. One conversation would have changed things. One conversation and an apology, but Lily was a coward. She knew that. Instead of taking what she wanted, instead of listening to her niece and her heart, she’d gotten on a plane and pretended she wasn’t leaving part of herself behind.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Kona said, knocking once on the backdoor of the Rover. Lily inhaled, her stomach twisting into knots before that door opened and Kona stepped out of the way, lowering to whisper in her ear. “I’m the king of regret, Lil. Learn from my mistakes.”

Keilen stepped out of the Rover, his face impassive, but kind. Lily’s breath caught just at the sight of him and she couldn’t get her fingers to stop trembling or keep the guilt from choking her.

“Don’t just stand there gawking at each other,” Kona said, pushing Keilen toward Lily before he slipped behind the wheel. “Invite him inside, Lil. Say hello, be nice. Text me if this all goes sideways, brah.”

Kona pulled into traffic and Keilen walked forward, still silent, his focus on Lily’s stunned expression. All around her the foot traffic moved along; the shuffle of tourists and locals moving around them as they seemed able to only stop and stare at each other. Then a cyclist took up most of the space on the sidewalk, coming precariously close to Lily and Keilen pulled her forward, slipping his hand to her waist to direct her away from the rogue biker.

“You alright, Lil?” he said, voice low, rumbling in her ear.

Her name spoken like that, something she’d heard a million times in her life, shot sensation after sensation in her chest. That had never happened before. It was a name, simple, sweet, but it had never sounded decadent, tempting. Only when Keilen spoke it.

For a moment, with him standing so close, Lily forgot that she’d hurt him. She forgot the wounded look that fractured his smile and stilled his breath when she accused him of being with Malini. But guilt is a virus not easily eradicated and the reminder of how she’d hurt him came back to her, had her stepping back, out of his reach.

“Yes,” she said, pushing back her hair, adjusting her skirt as she looked up at Keilen. “I…thank you.” She nodded toward the cyclist, already two blocks away.

He didn’t seem impressed by their surroundings; his mouth was drawn tight and a deep line moved between his brows as he moved his gaze around the crowd. “Strange city you got here.” He looked back at her, rubbing his neck. “These people are a little rude.”

“It’s just crowded, and it’s Friday.” A group of half-dressed tourists wearing Mardi Gras beads, even though it was November, jogged on the sidewalk likely headed toward Bourbon, not caring that they took up the whole sidewalk, or that their language was something out of a bad foul-mouth sailor movie. “But yeah, sometimes people are rude.”

Part of her brain seemed broken. There might have been words Lily could have used to describe how she felt, staring at him with the reality that he was in front of her close enough to touch, but what those words were, she didn’t know.

She felt the trembling in her limbs increase, shifting to her arms, down into her fingers. Circling her arms to her waist, she prayed he couldn’t see how nervous he made her. “What…why are you here?” she asked.  Inwardly she cringed; her words had come out clipped, making her sound angry and bitter.

That line between Keilen’s eyebrows deepened as he stared at her, and a small vein near his temple pulsed. But then he exhaled, eyes sharp as he moved his gaze over her face and Keilen’s tense expression relaxed. “I’m here to bring you home.”

“I am home,” she said, not understanding if Zinnia had sent him, utterly confused why he’d agree to come.

He waited half a second before he took a step, tentative, careful but certain. “No, Lil. Home is where your heart is.” He waved a hand, gesturing to the traffic, to the Square and bustling activity around them. “This place is nice. It’s fun. But your heart isn’t here.” Another step closer and Lily realized she only had to reach her hand, move her wrist and she could touch his lips. “Come home. That’s where your ohana is.”

Lily didn’t understand how he could ask, why he would. Guilt hung around her like a noose, tightening with every flash of memory that came to her, the ones that reminded her how Keilen had looked the day he walked away from her.

“I…I can see Zee anytime she needs me. I’m a flight away and…”

“Zinnia isn’t your only ohana. You should know that. She…she’s not the only one who holds your heart.” Keilen touched her face, cupping her cheeks between his palms. “So do I. Since you were fourteen. It just took me a long time to realize you had mine too.” He tilted her head up until she felt the warmth of his breath against her bottom lip. “Please. Come home.”

“But you said I—”

“You did. I know that. I saw everything that happened after you left. I didn’t want…God, Lil, I was so mad that you didn’t trust me, but I was madder that you left. You left without talking to me.”

“You disappeared,” she said, eyes round as she watched him. She’d waited three days and no one had heard a word. “I got the message. That’s why I left. You were mad. You didn’t want to see me.”

“I didn’t want you to leave either.” His voice lifted, drawing the attention of several passersby, and Keilen shook his head, rubbing his neck. “I…Zee explained about Lincoln paying Mal, and I was still mad, about you swearing we were nothing—“

“I didn’t mean that.”

He nodded and Lily’s heart pounded at the smile he gave her. “I needed some space and stayed at my office, but, Lil, I didn’t want you to go.”

“It’s been a month,” she said, wondering what her niece had said to make Keilen get on a plane. “I don’t understand why you’re here. If you were so mad, why did you come?”

“Because I’d rather earn your trust than not be given the chance to try. Lil, sometimes you have to be willing to fall.” He stilled, watching her, focusing on her features before he spoke again. “And because I love you.” Keilen pulled her closer. “Because you love me too.”

“I…I really do,” Lily said, meaning the words even when Keilen watched her, holding his breath as though his next exhale would come only when she said yes. She couldn’t let him go on breathless. “I suppose falling is fine when you’ve got someone to catch you.”

She thought of a thousand reasons to send him back to Kona alone. There was her job, the opportunity Ellis had just offered. There was the work she could still do, the challenges she could set for herself and easily achieve if there were no distractions. There was the pain that lay waiting in Hawaii, where her life had more than once been destroyed by death. But as Lily watched Keilen, as the hurt she knew she’d inflicted set somewhere between his shifting smiles, Lily realized that standing before her, seeming to forgive, had not been an easy thing for him to do.

He’d been the fantasy, the hope she held for herself, and now she was the only one standing between what she could have and what she thought she deserved. Was it possible to get past the hurt, knowing that he forgave her, wondering if she could ever forgive herself? Even if she didn’t deserve it, Lily wanted him, she wanted the life she’d dreamed for herself all those years ago. She wanted it with Keilen. He’d come for her when he shouldn’t have. He’d come to bring her home despite the coward she’d been. He’d come to make sure she didn’t stay gone. That made all the difference.

It only took a minute, sixty long seconds, for Lily to make her choice. It came with her fingers flirting across his face. It came with his hands dipping low over her waist. It came with a kiss, and the promise that those touching lips offered.

“Keilen,” she said, her forehead against his mouth. “Let’s go home.”

He pulled away from her, fingers light against her face, and then he leaned forward, intent clear. The kiss was quick but certain and leveled any lingering doubts Lily had about where she wanted to be.

Keilen’s kiss reawakened that long-silent song that lived inside her, the one that promised home—her true home—was waiting. The one that promised forever.

The End