Page 86 of Big Island Summer
Three days had passed, and it hadn’t happened again. She had barely even seen him.
To be fair, that was more her fault than his. She had made an excuse and bolted as soon as he had come back to the apartment, and she had kept busy in the days that followed.
She was terrified. She had been unintentionally keeping him at arm’s length to postpone any sort of rejection – or worse, the news that he was moving back to the mainland and taking Theodore with him.
Maybe some corner of her mind was convinced that if she put distance between them now, it would hurt less when the inevitable happened.
“No more hiding,” she said under her breath as she stacked the last of the pillows.
She missed them. She missed the low rumble of Ethan’s voice and Theo’s gummy smiles. Just being near them made her incandescently happy. Keeping her distance was stupid.
She would soak up whatever time she had left with them… if there was any time left at all.
And after that, well… she would figure things out.
She had been alone before. She would be fine.
Her steps were heavy as she walked up the stairs, but her heart soared when she caught the sound of baby babbling. Theodore had found his voice, and she loved to hear the grumbling sing-song of him trying out new sounds.
She opened the door without knocking. Before she could fully second-guess that impulse, she was overwhelmed by the richsmells of red sauce and parmesan. She closed the door behind her before any flies could get in.
“Perfect timing.” Ethan grinned at her from the kitchen, where he was pulling a big pan out of the oven.
“It smells amazing in here.”
“I made lasagna.”
“Made it… from scratch?”
“Yep!” His smile was the brightest she had ever seen on him. “I’m not much of a cook, but I’ve been making lasagna since I was eight. It’s my grandma’s recipe. I made my own sauce and everything.”
“Wow.” Her mouth watered at the bright smell of tomatoes and basil.
A happy screech pulled her attention to the left, where Theodore was clutching the bars of his playpen with both hands and smiling up at her.
“He’s standing!” she exclaimed.
“Yep! Pulled himself up for the first time a couple days ago.”
“I can’t believe it!” She crossed the room to stand in front of Theo. “Look at you!”
He screeched again and reached for her with both hands, then immediately fell backwards.
“Oops!” She picked him up and set him on her hip. “That was amazing, Theo!”
He responded with a string of happy, incomprehensible sounds.
“Is that a new tooth?”
“He has five now,” Ethan confirmed.
“New teeth, new skills. I don’t see him for a couple days and he’s a whole new baby!”
“Yeah, they do that.”
“You seem… good,” she said cautiously.
“I feel good.”
