Page 114 of Resorting to Romance

I’m not sure what she means by the least she can do. Maybe to make up for coming on so strong? Whatever her motive, I’m grateful we had that talk.

After Aima joins us in the living room, the four of us sit sharing memories we have from our childhood in Hawaii and visits Bodhi’s made there since then.

When it’s time for them to go, Bodhi loads a golf cart with their bags and surfboards.

“We’re going to head over to the dock,” he says. “Do you want to drive Aima to the resort and meet us there?”

I agree to drive Aima to Alicante. On our ride, she assures me that she’ll guard my secret as if it is her own. She even says,I only want what’s best for you, Kai.

After seeing Bodhi and my sister off on the ferry, I drive directly to the inn to talk to Mila. We had an amazing time at the wedding last night. I held her hand during the sand ceremony and gave it a squeeze. I don’t know if she understood I was trying to tell her I wanted that to be us one day.

After what happened this morning, I have to let Mila know about Aima.

Then I’m going to figure out what I need to do to move things forward between us.

When I pull up, Noah is in the front yard of Mila’s Place throwing a ball, then walking over to where the ball lands and throwing it across the yard in the other direction.

“Hey, boss man. What game is that?”

“Catch.”

“Doesn’t catch usually involve two people?”

“Yeah. But Mom had to take a guest to the resort because she got sick and they have a doctor there. Jasmin’s inside in case anyone needs anything while Mom’s gone, so I’m playing catch with myself.”

“I see. Well, do you mind if I play catch with you for a little while?”

“Nope. It might even be better that way.”

I chuckle.

We throw the ball back and forth using our bare hands until I remember there are gloves in the equipment shed. We pull twoout and throw the ball back and forth, back and forth. Noah gets better at catching and throwing the longer we play.

“Unko?” he asks me.

“Yeah, boss man?”

“There’s a Bring Your Dad Day at my school tomorrow.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. But I don’t want Mom to worry about it.”

“Okay.”

“I’m okay without a dad that day.”

“Are you? Because I bet your mom would come if you asked her.”

“I don’t want her to come. Every kid there will have a guy for a dad. Not a mom.”

Man. I feel my jaw clench. I want to grab Brad by the collar some days. This is one of them. A kid like Noah should not have to worry about who’s coming to dad day. Why do they even have dad day? Why not parent day? Or bring an adult you admire day?

“You could come,” Noah says so simply.

“Yeah?”

“I want you to. But I don’t want Mom to know. She’ll just cry or something.”

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