Page 54 of Big Island Summer
“We love you too.” Lani drained her coffee and stood. “I’ll stop hogging your time for now, though. Your girls missed you like crazy.”
“Not so much that a few new toys didn’t steal their full attention,” ‘Olena said with an easy smile. She stood and pulled Lani into a hug.
“Just give me the keys and I’ll get out of your hair,” Lani said once she’d released her.
“The keys?”
“To New Horizons. I need to start those murals today if I’m going to have time to finish them over break.”
“That’s right!” ‘Olena’s eyes lit up. “I’ll come help.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“Oh, hush. They can hang with their dad for an hour. I’ll at least help you move all of the furniture away from the walls.”
“Okay, thank you.”
“Are you kidding? Thankyou! I can’t wait to see what you do in there.” She grabbed the empty mug. “I’ll just be two seconds.”
Lani turned towards the front-yard flowers and stretched again, getting her arms and shoulders ready for a long day of painting.
Just a few minutes of talking to her cousin had left her heart feeling so much lighter.
So one person in Pualena didn’t like her. Big deal.
Yeah, Tenn’s mother was kind of a big one to have off side. But so what?
He had chosen her. They had found each other and made a family together.
That was what mattered.
And what’s more, she had all of her extended family and amazing friends here in Pualena rooting for her, surrounding her and her daughter with love.
“Ready!” ‘Olena stepped onto the lanai, letting the screen door slam shut behind her. “Let’s go make some art!”
16
Fern
“Ihear you, Theo.” Fern rocked him from side to side as he fussed. “Your bottle’s almost warm. Just one more minute. Almost there.”
He stopped fussing and stared up at her with wide, trusting eyes that melted her heart. They were beautiful, golden sunbursts on a field of gray, framed by dark lashes.
“I’ve got you, Theo. Lunch is on the way.”
He stuck his little bottom lip out, looking like he would burst into tears at any second, and she snatched the bottle out of the warm water that surrounded it.
“Good enough,” she decided after a quick test on the inside of her wrist.
She gave him the bottle, and he grabbed at it with both hands. She kept her hand on it too, holding it steady while he drank.
“You don’t have to guzzle,” she chided gently, walking across the tiny apartment to settle onto her loveseat. “I promise I won’t take it away from you.”
He stared at her, his faint eyebrows coming together in a scowl as he drank. She just smiled down at him, floating in that cloud where nothing existed beyond her and Theodore.
It scared her sometimes, how deeply she had come to care for someone else’s baby. She tossed and turned in bed at night, trying to convince herself to back away from her upstairs tenants before she got her heart broken.
Then Ethan would knock on the door, asking if she could watch the baby while he ripped up moldy carpet or replaced the mildewy cabinets with open-concept shelving… and she accepted with a joyful heart, because that meant another day with Theo.
