“Not crawling, returning on my own two feet to see my wife and my son.”

Even in the shadows, Franklin looked older and thinner, rougher around the edges. “You lost that privilege when you walked out on them.”

“Well, I’m back now.”

Koji’s heart pounded. He wanted nothing more than to make Franklin disappear once and for all. The thought was unsettling. He breathed in slowly and said, “Get in the truck. Let’s go for a ride.” He wanted Franklin away from the house.

Franklin watched him for a moment. “And what if I don’t?”

“Then you’ll lose them for sure making a scene out here,” he said, getting into his truck. A moment later the passenger door opened and Franklin climbed in, bringing with him the ripe stinks of alcohol, tobacco, and sweat.

“You do understand that they’re still my family,” Franklin said. “It’s my blood that runs through Daniel’s veins, yeah, and no one, especially not you, will ever take my place.”

Koji lit a cigarette. “You gave up your place years ago.”

Koji drove toward Onekahakaha Beach, knowing the road would be empty and quiet so early in the morning. Franklin lit another cigarette and relaxed when he saw where Koji was driving them to, the place of their boyhood adventures, the beach where they’d first met Mariko.

“Just like old times,” he said.

“Why are you back?” Koji asked.

“I’m here to visit my family,” Franklin said, smiling.

Koji knew better. “Why are you really back?” he asked again.

Franklin was quiet for a while, staring at the dark road illuminated by the headlamps. “I ran into some trouble in Honolulu,” he finally said, blowing out smoke.

Koji turned down a dirt road and then another before he stopped the truck at the edge of the beach. He turned to face Franklin. “You better not have brought your troubles back with you.”

Franklin smiled and said, “‘With this ring I thee wed, and all my worldly goods I thee endow. In sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, till death do us part.’ I think those are the words Mariko and I recited.”

“Mariko doesn’t have anything,” Koji said, hating that he was taking the defensive.

“She has the house.”

The house. Koji swallowed the words like a bitter tea. His anger rose so quickly he didn’t have time to think. His fist struck Franklin hard several times in the close confines of the truck before he stopped, leaving Frank with a bloody nose, a split lip. Who’s the pretty boy now? Koji thought. He was breathing hard as he watched Frank open the door and stumble out of the truck. His knuckles stung.

The next thing Koji heard was Franklin laughing.

“You’ll never have her,” Franklin said, slamming the door shut, wiping the blood from his nose with his sleeve. “You can pretend all you want.”