Page 52 of Big Island Summer
“I mean he’s turned into aconnoisseur.” ‘Olena’s tone was gently teasing, but Lani saw pure adoration in her cousin’s eyes. “He starts with cinnamon and ginger, then fancy Kona coffee and raw cane sugar.”
“Best coffee ever. Can I get the recipe? I want to make some for Tenn.”
“I don’t know that there’s a recipe, exactly, but I’ll ask him to jot something down.”
“I’m surprised he went for a lychee orchard instead of a coffee farm.”
“He thought about it. Even looked at a few places.” ‘Olena’s eyes softened. “But the lychee orchard was the closest thing that he could find to Pualena, and he knew that I would never want to leave my hometown.”
“Even when you were divorced, the man was devoted to you.”
“He was devoted to the girls,” she deflected, looking away.
“He could have driven back and forth from the coffee farm to have the girls half the time. He adoresyou.”
“Yeah,” ‘Olena relented, her cheeks coloring. “He does.”
“Enjoy your honeymoon?” Lani teased.
Her cheeks went full crimson, and she changed the subject.
“Where did Rory and her dad go today?”
“She calls Tenn ‘Dad’,” Lani corrected her softly, “but her ‘babbo’ picked her up first thing this morning for a Kona beach day.”
“Wow. You’ve come a long way from supervised visits – and it hasn’t even been that long.”
“I trust him,” she said simply. She thought it over as she took another sip of her (seriously phenomenal) coffee. “He worships the ground Rory walks on, and she loves him. Plus, he’s made it clear that he can’t stay in Pualena forever. His family needs him back in Italy.”
“And what happens then?”
Lani shrugged. “We cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“He isn’t pushing for anything in writing?”
“No. We’re building trust, I guess. I might need something in writing if Rory goes there alone for a visit – not that we’re anywherecloseto that happening – but as long as he wants to visit her here…” she trailed off and shrugged. “It’s not like he can take off with her. She doesn’t even have a passport.”
“Sounds like things are going as well as you could have hoped for.”
“On that front, yeah. Everything’s good.”
“Oh no.”
“What?” Lani turned to look at ‘Olena, who was watching her with a mixture of amusement and concern.
“Which frontareyou fighting on?”
“I don’t know that I’d call it fighting, exactly…”
“Spill. And I don’t mean the coffee. That stuff’s expensive.”
Lani laughed and took another long drink of the best coffee she’d ever tasted.
“Are things okay between you and Tenn?”
“Yeah,” she said quickly. “We’re great.”
“So? What’s the problem?”
