“Quinn, haven’t you checked your phone?” she said. “We’ve been trying to call you!”

Her phone. Quinn had turned it on silent in case Ethan started sending her messages again, and she hadn’t even thought to check it on the way home. Now she pulled it out and touched the screen.

Six missed calls from Auntie Wang and three from Maria.

Her stomach dropped.

Such urgency could mean only one thing. There must’ve been a reply from the anonymous match. She bade them both goodbye and headed for the privacy of the cottage to call the woman back, taking deep breaths as she went in an attempt to still the sudden flapping of butterflies in her stomach.

This could mean everything.

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

A week in Maui had flown by, but finally something was happening. Quinn pressed the “End” button and put her phone down. She couldn’t believe it, but she had a meeting set up with the anonymous match. Auntie Wang said he wanted to talk to her in person before giving her any information. They set it for Thursday, which meant in three days she’d know something. Finally.

He wanted to meet at a restaurant in Napili called the Sea House and told Auntie Wang to have Quinn sit on the patio and order a strawberry daiquiri with two umbrellas so that he’d know it was her.

It was all so melodramatic.

She stood and went to the window. She could see across the lanai and into the house. Maria, Kupuna, and Alani were having dinner. Liam had gone home, claiming he was tired and had some work calls to make. Quinn had declined the invitation to eat and made a beeline for the privacy of the cottage to call Auntie Wang back.

Now things were getting real.

They still didn’t know what sort of connection the man was, other than it was close. Close could mean an uncle. A brother. Or—her breath caught as she whispered the words to the empty room—“a father.”

Quinn knew she should be feeling elated, but she wasn’t.

All she felt was terror.

A part of her wished that Liam had stayed, but the other part, the side that knew herself so well, knew she wouldn’t have told him. It was too personal, and she couldn’t deny that he wasn’t completely in the friend zone after the day they’d spent together. Sharing something so important with him would move him closer into territory that wasn’t fair to Ethan when—or if—she decided she wanted to work it out.