Page 18 of Christmas in July

This is too much, too fast, and I barely have time to process any of it. Is it really happening to me? Good things? I didn’t think it was possible. Or if he likes me, must there be something wrong with him, like all the rest? Maybe my curse has lifted. Maybe his visit to the holy site of Mauna Kea purified him, and broke my curse, and turned him into the perfect man.

Or maybe this is all part of his game. I saw The Tinder Swindler movie! Am I getting played? Am I about to get conned and scammed and wake up with several hundred thousand dollars of debt?

Should I maybe check my excitement, and turn it down a few notches? I don’t want to. I take a few deep, calming breaths. Then I grab my phone, and take a picture of the shoes on my feet, the dress, and the note, and send them to my sister.

She video calls me immediately. "Holy shit, Lei-Lei. What the hell is going on? What kind of freaky, nasty things did you two do last night for him to give you giftslike that?"

"Nothing!" I nearly shout through the phone. "Nothing, Kai, we just cuddled, I swear. I think I’m losing my mind here. Is this real? Teddy isinsanelyhandsome and so, so, sweet and kind. Men like this don’t exist, right? Look at this hotel room," I say, walking through the suite and showing it off to her. The bedroom is on a second story loft, so I have to climb stairs to get there. "He got the Presidential suite."

"Ohhh, I see. You got some patriotic, Fourth of July, hot sausage on the barbeque action!" Kailani says with a giggle.

"No, I did not."

"Some Monica Lewinsky-style secret rendezvous?" she offers.

"No, no, no, Kai, you're not listening to me. Nothing happened. He was just a total gentleman. He’sjust nice.”

"Hmmm," she says thoughtfully. "That’s very strange and suspicious. Did you ask him the questions?"

"No. Not yet."

"Leilani!" she says with surprise, scolding me. "You slept in the same bed with a guy without asking him the questions? You would never let me do something so reckless.”

"It all just happened kind of fast, and I thought I was never going to see him again, and I didn't realize that he liked me this much—if he does seem to like me?"

"I think helikes yougirl! Now go take a freaking shower, your hair looks like a porcupine sat on your head, and your eyeliner is all smudged. It looks worse than when you put it on during an earthquake, and you think it looks good, but actually it just looks like you put it on during an earthquake.”

I grumble softly. “It’s not my fault that there’s literally an earthquake every time I go to put eyeliner on. That’s just how bad my luck has been, for years.”

“Well, your luck seems to be changing, girl! So, go fix yourself up. I will not let you wear a Versace dress without at least trying to drag a brush through your cavewoman hair to get the twigs out."

"Good point," I say, touching the unruly mop on my head, feeling a bit startled. "I should get ready."

"Let me know if you have a chance to visit Sam's mom sometime soon," Kailani reminds me. "My future mother-in-law!"

"I will soon," I assure her. "But I better fix my hair now!"

"Go, go, go, go, go," my sister says, mimicking the motion of waving pom-poms. "I would kick you in the butt if I were there, to make you move faster."

"I love you, too," I tell her with a fond smile, before hanging up.

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