Page 28 of Big Island Summer
Emma had mentioned that her brother was a widower. Fern had expected someone older.
This man was her age, maybe even younger. He had a thick head of dark auburn hair and green eyes flecked with gold. A reddish stubble covered his jaw, and his skin was golden in the afternoon sun.
The baby was even more beautiful, with sunburst eyes and a gummy grin between two fat cheeks. His head was covered in strawberry-blonde fluff that stood all on end.
“Hi.” His voice was low and warm. “I’m Ethan.”
“Fernanda.” She forced herself to stop staring at the baby and stepped back, gesturing for him to come in. “Fern. Pleased to meet you. Who’s this little guy?”
“This is Teddy. Theodore, technically.”
“Helookslike a Theodore! Hello there, little man.”
“Emma mentioned that I have a baby?”
“She did. And she said that the lease would be month to month?”
“Yeah. Is that alright?”
“I’m more comfortable with that, yeah. I’m open to long term, but signing a one-year contract with a stranger feels like a bit much, you know?”
He just nodded, eyes scanning the lackluster kitchen.
“It has two bedrooms, though we were using them as a bedroom and an office,” she said, leading him through the tiny hallway and into the master bedroom. The place was still furnished; even if she had wanted to try moving the king-sized bed downstairs, it would have taken up every inch of her new bedroom.
“We?” Ethan asked, still looking everywhere but her.
“My ex and I were living up here. It’s just me now, so I downsized. I’ll be living downstairs, and there will be yoga classes down there six days a week. You have your own entrance, of course, and you can get in without cutting through the class, so you can come and go whenever.”
“There won’t be too much coming and going. I’m just looking for a quiet spot for my son and me. I have a teenage daughter too, but I don’t expect I’ll be able to convince her to budge from the tower room at her aunt’s house.”
“At least she’s not far.”
“That’s why I’m here,” he admitted, finally looking at her. “We’re not promised any set amount of time. I don’t know where my daughter will jet off to at eighteen, but I want to be here for her while I can.”
Fern nodded, and an awkward silence stretched out between them. She had to force herself not to coo at the baby, who was chewing on his own fist. She stepped away and opened the double doors out onto the balcony.
“This is my favorite part,” she told him. “The view.”
He stepped out to stand beside her, and they stood looking out over her Pualena neighborhood for a long time. It was a lively vista filled with tall trees and all kinds of houses. The ocean sparkled in the distance, a line of blue-gray beneath a white sky.
Eventually, he went back inside and started going through each room methodically, testing taps and sockets. His small son started to fuss, wriggling in his father’s one-armed grip.
“Can I hold Theodore for you?” she asked, holding her arms out for the baby.
He straightened and turned to look at her, his expression somber. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I’d like to.”
Ethan hesitated a moment, then handed his son over. He shrugged off the backpack too, and tossed that onto the king-sized bed.
“His stuff is in there. The furniture is staying?”
“Yes, it comes furnished.” She held Theo in both arms and swayed from side to side, an instinctual and rhythmic motion that she didn’t even notice at first. “Is that alright?”
“That’s perfect.” He went through the rest of the house, and Fern wandered around with Theo in her arms. When he started fussing again, she found a teether in the backpack. He went after it ferociously and rewarded her with a huge grin.
Sometime later, she found Ethan looking inside of the fridge.
