Page 86 of Total Ship Show

ARIS

Me: Adrienne, please talk to me.

Me: My brothers told me what happened and that’s all in my past.

Me: I told you about my past, remember? Adrienne, please.

Me: I don’t want this to be the end of us.

Me: We can make this work. I’m all in if you are.

Me: *Pic of us saving the turtles* I miss you.

“Still not a word from her?”Kohen asks as I watch him down a few pancakes in the hospital cafeteria with his wife, Kim. Their two twin babies having just been dropped off at the hospital daycare.

I shake my head. “She loved pancakes by the way. Thought I was crazy for not loving them.”

“You are crazy for not loving them,” Kim answers with a mouth full of Kohen’s breakfast.

“She’s reading my texts. I see she’s reading them. She’s just choosing not to respond and that’s gutting me more and more every day.”

“Have you tried actually calling her?”

I nod. “She doesn’t pick up.”

“Have you told her you love her?”

“No.”

“Maybe that would help.”

“No way.” I shake my head. “I want to tell her I love her face to face. Otherwise, she’ll think I’m not being genuine. She deserves genuine.”

“He’s right, Ko,” Kim tells him. “If Aris is going to say it for the first time, it sure as hell better not be via text. That text could be coming from anyone. She’ll never believe it.”

“That’s fair,” he says. “So, what should Aris do then? From a woman’s perspective? He’s in love with a woman who supposedly shared similar feelings but got scared and ran away. If it were you, what would you do? What would you want?”

Kim props her elbow on the table, her chin resting on the back of her hand. “Hmm. I feel like she needs a grand gesture, you know? Kind of like you guys putting that office together for me, remember?”

“So, like a gift?”

She shakes her head. “It has to be more than a gift. Gifts don’t necessarily mean much. It has to be a gesture that shows her how much you love her and want to be with her.”

“So, what? Like fly to L.A. and do exploratory surgery through the city until I find her somehow and then whisk her out of her apartment like Richard Gere does to Julia Roberts inPretty Woman?”

Kim’s face lights up. “Now you’re talkin’! I mean, I feel like a girl can’t say no to that.”

I move my gaze to Kohen who merely shrugs. “She’s not wrong.”

I rub my hand down my face. “This is a huge undertaking…trying to find one person in L.A. How would I ever find her?”

“A huge undertaking, yes,” Kim agrees. “But worth it when you find her?”

“Worth everything. I’ll complete the task or die trying. I just have to figure out where to start.”

Kohen downs his orange juice. “She didn’t give you any indication whatsoever of what she does or where she goes? Someone has to know her.”

Tell me more. You told me you dabble in acting but do side jobs as well?”

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