Pieces of Me by Pua Ramona (small books to read txt) 📕

She laces her fingers through mine and says, “Don’t forget about me.”

I feel tears in my eyes and tell her, “That will never happen, you’re my bestie.” I know she’s crying because I can feel her tears on my arm. “I love you Leila”

She wraps her arms around me and says, “I love you too Sina.” I see my sister and Megan sitting next to us and they both look sad as well. Leila moves a little to make room for them.

Mona looks at me and says, “How long are you going to stay away this time?”

I roll my eyes and say, “We’ll be back for the holidays.”

My sister looks at me with a sad smile and asks, “Are you serious? Will you really come back?”

I pull her in for a hug and say, “I promise.” I give her my pinky and she starts crying quietly, locking hers with mine.

“Thank you for coming back home Sis,” Megan says. I feel my heart break a little. I’m ready to leave here but not to leave my sister.

“I’ll factime you every day until we come back for the holidays.”

She sucks in a little bit of air and says “I’ll be waiting for you.” And I feel my tears on my cheeks.

Mona is sitting next to Leila and I reach over to grab her hand. “I’ll facetime you too, Sis. Thank you for keeping Daniel in his place and out of trouble.” She gives me a sad smile and I see her tears fall. “I love you Mona.”

She holds my hand tighter and says, “I love you so fucking much Sis. Just make sure to come back home.” I smile at her and we sit there listening to everyone around us.

It isn’t too long until we hear Luka call for us. “You guys want some s’mores or nah?” We look at each other then look back at Luka with our eyes rolling, who doesn’t want s’mores? We make our way to where everyone is and I see Eli laughing at something funny that June-Bug’s telling him and it makes my heart happy to see that Eli is getting to know my family. He looks over to where we’re standing and gives me a smile that is only for me. My stomach flips and my face feels warm.

“You love him don’t you?” I’m startled by Reese who’s crept up beside me.

I give him a sad smile, “You can’t help who your heart falls in love with.”

He wraps an arm around my shoulder and says, “I get it. I just want you to be happy.”

I thread an arm around his waist and say, “I love you Reese, and thank you for loving me.”

I hear Reese clear his throat as he says, “I love you too Sina. I’m glad you came back, just make sure to stay in touch this time, yeah?”

I hug him for a few more seconds before Luka calls over, “Sis, jam session. Are you in?”

I look over to where Luka’s sitting and shout “Heck yeah!!”, with a big smile on my face. I take Reese by his hand and we make our way to where everyone is sitting around the bonfire. Reese goes over to sit where Leila and the girls are and I take a seat between my brothers. Luka starts strumming his guitar and all I feel at that very second is how much I miss Daddy.

I’m not sure what Luka’s playing until I hear June-Bug humming. I feel a piece of my heart breaking. It’s one of Daddy’s favorite Samoan songs Moe I le po masina. I look over to see if Mama is paying attention and see that she’s already in tears with a sad smile on her face. I am happy that I came home, because seeing my family has made me feel closer to Daddy. I look up and see that the night sky is clear, the stars are bright and the moon is full. And I know everything is going to be okay, because I can feel Daddy all around us. My eyes are closed as I sit here listening to my aiga singing. It’s one of the things that kept us close throughout our childhoods, our jam sessions. I sigh and smile when I feel the breeze all around me. I look up and whisper “I love you Daddy.” I can feel eyes on me, so I look over to where Eli is sitting and see tears in his eyes. I hold my hand over my heart and give him my last smile. He does the same, and I feel my heart crack a little because he knows that I’m saying goodbye.

Chapter Thirty-One

Eli

I sat there with my heart in her hands and I knew she was saying goodbye. My emotions were taking over and I couldn’t stop my heart from breaking into fucking pieces so I let it happen. I sat there and said “I love you forever.” I knew she knew what I’d said, because she had tears running down her face. I hate myself for making her fucking cry, but I needed her to know where I stood and that she owned my heart. Even after she leaves back to New York, she’ll always have my heart. I don’t want to let her go, but I have to for now. Reese and I haven’t really spoken to each other and I don’t blame him, but I fucking miss him. He stands up from where he was sitting with Lei and walks over to me. I’m not sure how to start a conversation so when he sits down I nudge his shoulder.

He looks at me with sad eyes and says, “I’m sorry man. I was fucking pissed off at you for hurting her again, but I get it.”

I give him a little head nod and say, “Becca doesn’t want the baby.”

He gives me a what the fuck look