Page 20 of Resorting to Romance

“To talk?” My voice squeaks out.

I wonder if Ebenezer Scrooge felt like this when the ghosts actually came as predicted. Or, better yet, when Marley, his oldpartner, showed up in the form of a ghost. I am looking at a ghost of my former partner and I can barely breathe.

The kitchen door opens and shuts. I barely register the soft swoosh and creak. My eyes are locked on Brad, but I feel him—Kai—come up behind me. And before I know it, he’s standing so close, the warmth of his body seeping into mine. We’ve been near one another before, of course, passing in the kitchen, or at times when I insisted on helping him with a repair. This feels different—like finding shelter in a squall.

Then, before I know what is happening, Kai has slipped his arm behind me and around my waist in a move that could only be called possessive. Music streams from down the hall in Noah’s bedroom—his favorite Kidz Bop songs motivating him to do the chore he resists most—and I nearly gasp at the thought that his father is in the house and he could stumble out here and find us all here … Kai with his arm around me, Brad staring at us with a look of confusion.

“Let’s take this out onto the porch,” Kai suggests in a voice I barely recognize—commanding, unwavering, pure strength.

Brad doesn’t say a word. His eyes keep bouncing between me and Kai, and then he says, “Yeah. Okay.” and backs out through the front doors.

Kai looks down at me, only shifting his arm the slightest to place his palm on my back. It’s been almost seven years since Noah’s birth. I was three months pregnant when Brad left. In all that time, no man has touched me, let alone placed his hand on the small of my back in a show of comfort and support. If I thought my knees were weak from the sight of my ex in my inn, the way Kai is touching me right now might be my undoing.

“I’m here, Mila.”

That’s all Kai says before he softly nudges me and leads me out to face Brad.

I don’t know why I lean into Kai. His hand remains on my back as we join Brad on the porch, his strong presence like a pillar. Maybe I should step away, handle this interaction in private, sendKai off to do whatever single men do when their lives are free of complications like ex-husbands showing up in the middle of an afternoon. But I don’t. I cling to Kai, silently, willing him to keep his hand or arm attached to me, as if removing it would sever something vital.

If I had known what Kai would say next, I might have backed away, or done something—anything but stay in his arms, allowing him to act as a buffer between me and Brad. But it’s too late. Once the words are out of Kai’s mouth, we both have no choice but to barrel forward.

SEVEN

Kai

I could never pretend something I didn’t feel.

~ Marilyn Monroe

“Who’s this?” Mila’s ex asks once the three of us are standing on the porch with the doors shut behind us.

I’m still acutely aware that Noah could come bounding out the doors any moment. I don’t know the full story about Mila’s ex, except he left her when she was pregnant. Do I really need to know more? Whatever else I might be lacking in details was written on her face when I walked from the kitchen into the main room of the inn.

And now, I’m standing here, with my arm around my friend, facing down the man who abandoned her and Noah, hoping she feels my solidarity.

Only, the way Mila’s ex asks that question—Who’s this?—sets my teeth on edge. He almost seems accusatory and possessive, as if he’s been gone on a long trip and returned to find Mila in another man’s arms. And something snaps in me. I can’t explain it, but my mouth takes on a mind of its own.

“Her boyfriend,” I say, staring him down with a look of challenge I feel all the way from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. “Kai.”

I extend my hand. “And you are?”

Mila gasps for one brief moment, and I’m not sure if her shock registers with her ex or not, but the way she leans into me tells me I didn’t misstep as much as I feared. She needs this—a temporary ruse—someone to stand up to this man who appeared out of nowhere on her property, throwing her for a loop the day after she got so little sleep.

She clears her throat and says, “This is Brad, Kai. My ex.”

“My pleasure,” I say, extending my hand further toward him until he takes it, which he does, reluctantly.

His eyes continue to dart between me and Mila and then to the spot where my arm is looped around her. I stand firm, holding my friend up, fully committed to this fabrication now that I started it. I’m not one to lie. Most people who know me would define my life as one marked by integrity.

I don’t know what came over me. But we’re in this now. At least it’s only one small fib. As soon as Brad is finished here, we can go back to life as usual. I’ll apologize to Mila, and from the way she’s still leaning on me like I’d better never let her go, I know she’ll get past my overstepping. I did it for her. I’d do anything for her, especially when she’s facing something alone or when she’s in need.

“I came …” Brad looks at Mila, obviously trying to ignore the fact that I’m here, intruding on this moment between them. “I came to let you know I’m opening a branch of my business here on the North Shore. And … well …” He looks at me and back at Mila. “Do you think we could talk alone?”

“No,” I say at the same time Mila does. She finishes her sentence. “Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of Kai.”

She glances up at me. I’ve never seen her so uncertain. Her face, which is usually glowing from time spent in the kitchen orthe usual way she busies herself running the inn, looks nearly ashen. Her eyes plead with me.

I smile down at Mila, hoping she can read my unspoken thoughts:I’m not leaving you. Then I return my attention to Brad. I don’t say anything to him either. I just stare into his eyes, man to man, letting him know he won’t be getting time alone with Mila on my watch.

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