Page 134 of Resorting to Romance

“You remember that day?” Mila looks over at me, a soft smile on her lips.

“I do. I wish I remembered the day we met.”

“I remember it.”

“You do?”

“Of course. You were the ‘hot new surf instructor’ the island was raving about.” She puts air quotes around,hot new surf instructor. “I had a few guests that summer who wanted to learn to surf, so I drove them over to Alicante and walked into the shack. It was your first week on the job and the guys who had been running things before you had you wearing flippers everywhere you went and approaching all the customers by saying, ‘Just keep swimmin’.’”

I run my hand down my jaw. “Can we possibly not share thatparticular story as our first meeting? You know, in years to come, or like ever, with anyone?”

“I think I recall you putting a goldfish in Ben’s water during his first week of work, so …”

“We have rites of passage in watersports. What can I say?”

“Just keep swimmin’?”

“Mila …” I fake a warning tone.

She turns back to the letter.

My chest feels like someone pumped it full of helium. She’s one third through and she hasn’t kicked me off the porch yet.

She gasps softly and covers her mouth. The letter falls out of her hand and flutters to the ground.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Kai? You’ve been falling for me?”

“I have. I am. I love you, Mila.”

“You … love me?” Her eyes are wide. Then she shakes her head in disbelief. “Noah was right.”

“Noah? He told you I loved you?”

“Tonight. At bedtime.”

I smile.Noah. He’s got my back. And I’ll always have his.

“I don’t want to overwhelm you. But, yes. I do. I’m madly, completely in love with you, Mila. You’re all I think about. When I wake in the morning, I walk through my house wondering what you made for breakfast. I picture you serving your guests and getting Noah ready for school. Throughout the day, I reminisce about things you said, your facial expressions, your laughter … our kisses.”

Mila looks at me with a softness in her doe eyes. Her eyebrows draw up in the middle of her forehead. She’s still here, listening, so I grab this chance to tell her she’s everything to me—a chance I hope leads to the rest of our lives together.

“I find reasons to come here when there aren’t any. I want to check on you, to make sure you’re alright. I know you can manage your life, but I don’t want you to have to. I look forward to the times you lean on me for something—a repair, alistening ear, even this whole charade. I want to be there for you.”

She’s still gazing up at me with that expression of either wonder or shock, I can’t quite tell.

“I love you, Mila. And I’ll wait. I don’t want to push you. If you’re not ready—if Noah’s not ready—I’ll wait. I’ll be your friend and I’ll wait for you to be ready. If you say you want me, I’ll wait for years for you. But I hope we don’t have to wait because, honestly, it feels like we’ve already been waiting too long and I don’t want to waste another day we could have together being separated and confused about what we are to one another.”

When she looks down at her hands, I think I’ve lost her. I approached the sea star with too much desire and overwhelming emotion and she’s about to shut down and retreat.

But then, she looks up at me, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“I love you too, Kai.”

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that? Did you say …?”

“I said, I love you. I didn’t expect this. I even fought it—not because of you, but because of my past. And because of Noah. But things change. A woman can change her mind, and apparently, her heart.”

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