Page 65 of Resorting to Romance

I shake my head. “Not you too!”

Kalaine and Bodhi slept the whole day and into the night. I heard them rustling around at two in the morning, getting food in the kitchen and talking in low murmurs to one another. But they settled back into their rooms after a while, and they’re both still dead to the world right now. Their internal clocks must be so wonky. It’s the downside of world travel. A week in Hawaii put them three hours behind us, but then Portugal is eleven hours later than Hawaii. Their days and nights are temporarily flipped.

Speaking of flipped, Shaka is sitting at my heels while I wash my breakfast dishes. He tried jumping into my bed last night, and it took more than a bit of coaxing to remind him he sleeps with Kalaine. Needless to say, she was tickled with the wholemy dog loves you so muchsituation. Emphasis onherdog. When I woke, he whimpered to come out of her room, so like the spineless manI apparently am, I let him out, and he’s been trailing after me ever since.

I look down at Shaka, “What? What do you want?”

Great. Now I’m talking to a dog.

He looks back at me like he’s got those hearts in his eyes like the ones on that emoji Kala uses when she texts me. It’s like he’s the dog version of a lovesick teen. And I’m the target of his misguided affection.

“Really, man? You’ve got my sister. She loves you. Go give her your puppy dog heart eyes.”

He sticks his tongue out to the side of his mouth for good measure, just to add to the potential cuteness factor—if you were into those kinds of things and thought they were cute, which I am not, and don’t. Then, when the whole tongue thing doesn’t work on me, he drops to the ground and tilts his head. He’s so pathetic, he’s the canine reminder of me when I crushed on this girl, Tootie, in ninth grade. Tootie Lynn had just moved to Hawaii from Dallas, Texas. She had long wavy blond hair and had been a cheerleader in her old high school. Tootie’s accent alone made me want to drop to the floor with my tongue out and my head tilted.

Call it camaraderie or call it being worn down by some form of mutt-driven waterboarding, but this dog has me bending down and petting his head, and then he rolls just the slightest like the true con artist he is, so he has my hand on his belly rubbing in slow circles and scratching his ribs while he lays there like he owns the place.

And, of course, this is the moment when my sister decides to wake from her Rip van Winkle slumber and amble into the kitchen.

“Oh. My. Gossshhhh.” She stretches and says in her scratchy morning voice. “That is the sweeeetest. Kai. I need my phone.”

“Take a photo of this and die.”

She just laughs as I stand up quickly before she can actually grab her cell. Shaka has the decency to roll over and trot to Kalaine instead of laying belly-up as a testament to my foolishness. So, Idon’t hate the dog as much as I did. I still don’t love him, let’s be absolutely clear.

Kala moves through the kitchen, grabbing down a mug and walking toward the coffee pot.

“You are a saint. You already made coffee.”

“Not only that,” I add. “I get bonus brother points for grinding the beans you brought back.”

“Kona coffee! I’m so excited.” Kalaine literally bounces on her toes as she pours her cup three-quarters full and then opens the fridge to grab the milk to top it off.

“I slept like the dead.”

“You doing okay?”

“Yeah. I’m great.” Kalaine holds her mug with both hands and leans into my side. “It’s good to be back.”

“It’s good to have you back. I thought you might want to stay in Oahu this time.”

“Nah. Makuahine was so over the top about reception details. I love her enthusiasm, and we needed to finalize things, but it would be a lot to deal with if I were there full time. Besides, this is where Bodhi and I want to be.”

“Our mom has waited forever for one of us to get married.”

“She has.” Kala takes a long sip of her coffee and hums.

“Oh! Speaking of …” Kalaine looks at me. “Makuahine brought up Aima. At first it was here and there, but by day three, she was mentioning her a lot. She even had her over two days before we left for Portugal while we were deciding on the food for the reception. It’s a good thing you called about Mila.”

“Why?”

“I think our parents had told her parents to try again at my wedding. She had a boyfriend for about a year, but they broke up nearly a year ago. She’s very, very single … and ready to … ”

I groan—audibly and long. “Hold that thought. Don’t even finish your sentence.” I run my hand through my hair. “Wait. Aima’s coming all the way to California?”

“She is. Of course. She might as well be our cousin. Howcould she not come? I want her to be here, Kai. I just don’t want our parents pulling their usual tactics on you two.”

“I thought she'd be at the Hawaiian reception, not the wedding here on Marbella.” I sigh.

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