Page 6 of Big Island Horizons
They said their goodbyes and hung up.
“The community center is ours,” she said with relief, turning back to Nate.
“You secured it for the co-op?”
She waved the question away. “For everybody. For Pualena.”
“You’re amazing, Lei.” The way he was looking at her put her hackles up.
What right did he have to look at her all soft and mushy like that? The man had left five years ago, coming around only when it suited his schedule. He swept in, disrupted everything, and sailed off again. Always.
She sat back down on the step, on the opposite side from her ex-husband, so that she could look out at her yard instead of at him when she spoke.
“I’m taking it over.” Excitement crept back into her voice in spite of who she was speaking to. “We just need to fix the place up and pay the bills. No rent.”
“That’s great.” He put his hands together in front of him, looked down, and cleared his throat. “Whatever you need, I’d be happy to help. That’s what I wanted to tell you. I’m here to stay.”
“You told me that already,” she said flatly.
“Yeah, but did you believe me?” he asked, gently teasing.
In spite of herself, ‘Olena smiled. “No.”
“Well, I mean it. No more shipboard jobs. I’m done.”
“What’s the plan?”
“I saved up enough to buy a place. I want something with plenty of space, where I can start a local business. Orchards, maybe. I’m not sure yet. I’m waiting for the right property to come up, as close to Pualena as I can find. For now, I’m renting a place here in town. I want to spend more time with Lulu and Kiki.”
She nodded stiffly. She didn’t want to give him more time with the girls; they were her whole world. But she wouldn’t refuse him, either. They adored their dad.
“I could start by joining you all at the beach tomorrow,” he said.
“Fine.” Begrudgingly she added, “Thank you.”
His hand moved closer, but at the first electric brush of his skin against hers, she pulled her hand away. She couldn’t get sucked into that, into him. Not again.
He meant what he said. She knew that.
In this moment, he wanted to be a full-time dad. Wanted her. Wanted to be a family again.
But the Big Island had always been too small for Nate. Sooner or later, he would leave again. And the more she let him in, the harder it would be to pick up the pieces when the inevitable happened.
“You told me to go,” he said, so quietly that she almost didn’t hear him.
“I begged you to stay!” she shot back.
Both things were true. She had begged him not to leave her alone with two babies, not to go back to the job that kept him away for months at a time. She had even given him an ultimatum, her or the job. And he had still chosen his next contract over being there for Kiki’s first steps.
On his first day back, she had served him with divorce papers. Better to have no husband, she had thought, than one who was never home.
“I wasn’t ready to quit my job.” Nate’s voice was low, pleading. “I had just been promoted, and the money was too good. I wanted more for our girls, for us. And now I can build that.”
“We just wanted you home.”
“I’m home now.”
“Five years too late.”
