Page 65 of Big Island Summer
“Thank you for dinner,” she said after she had scraped the last of the white rice and green curry sauce out of her bowl. “That was delicious.”
“Thank you for joining me. For watching Teddy and… for listening.” He reached out and took her hand in his. “You’ll tell me if his time with you gets to be too much?”
“It won’t.”
“I don’t want to take advantage.”
“With all of the work you’ve been doing around here, it’s more than a fair trade. And even if you weren’t…” she shrugged. “I love spending time with him. Honestly.”
“Good.” He squeezed her hand once, like he was about to pull away… but neither of them did. His eyes traced the lines of her face, fixed on her for the longest they had since he had moved in. Almost imperceptibly, he leaned forward. And so did she.
A cry from Theo broke the spell.
Fern jumped to her feet and went to pick him up, acting on instinct.
“I’ll get a bottle going.” Ethan was on his feet too. He mixed up a serving of formula and put it in the bottle warmer, then set about clearing the table while it heated.
Her eyes followed him across the room as she swayed from side to side, hushing Theodore and rubbing his little back with one hand.
In her heart and in her gut, the cozy domestic scene felt soright.
Looked at objectively, it was more than a little bizarre.
What were theydoing?
Fern wasn’t sure. She only knew that there was nowhere on Earth she would rather be.
20
Emma
Kai crouched next to her in the garden, dark hair shining in the summer sunshine.
“Now what?”
“Now you put the seeds in the furrow. One at a time. Remember to give them space to grow.”
Most garden books advised planting close together and then thinning if everything actually sprouted, but Emma could never bring herself to kill the tiny plants just for growing too close together. She gave each seed the room that it needed. And then, when some of them inevitably failed to sprout or were devoured by snails as seedlings, she filled in the gaps later on. It was a patchy sort of succession planting, but it worked for her – and without killing any baby radishes.
“How much dirt on top?” Kai asked.
“Just enough to fill in the furrow. And then you can tamp it down a bit. Gently, like this.” She pressed her hand flat on the warm soil, relishing the feel of it.
He moved down the row, diligently planting the seeds one at a time.
“Do you want some more?” she asked when he finished.
He shrugged, wrinkling his nose. “Do I have to?”
“No, you don’t have to.”
“It’s kind of boring. No offense.”
“None taken. Why don’t you go throw the ball for Dio?”
“Okay!” He ran out of the garden, gate swinging open behind him.
“Kai, the gate!” she called after him – but he was already gone.
