“Could you come here?” Akemi didn’t consider the question before blurting it out.
She was so sleep deprived that her brain wasn’t working properly; there was no lag time between thought and speech. It felt way too vulnerable, and she wanted to take the words back the moment they were out.
“Amore, I would love to come, but I cannot leave my work until next month.”
“It’s okay,” she said quickly.
He cared about them, but they weren’t his top priority. He had a whole life there in Italy, and she had never asked him to leave it behind. Not for long, anyway.
She was afraid of what the answer might be.
“It has been more than three months,” he said. The mandatory ninety-day period had passed, and she was legally allowed to enter the Schengen Area again. “You could come here to Italy. I am working long hours, but my mamma would be happy to help you with Leo.”
Akemi winced at the thought of spending so much time with Bruna. “I don’t know. Italy is so far away.”
He didn’t insist, just nodded sadly.
“You are always welcome here,” he said. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too,” she said. But her thoughts had already tumbled onwards.
In that moment, even more than she missed her sometimes-partner, she missed her family. She missed her mom and her sisters and her childhood home.
“I think I need to head back to Pualena for a while.”
“Will you still be there for Leo’s birthday?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She had left the weeks around his birthday open, knowing that she would want to spend them with her family in Hawaii – she was just calling it quits a little bit sooner than she had planned. “Definitely.”
“I will join you there before his birthday,” Lorenzo promised.
Akemi nodded, but her heart twisted with a sudden pain.
November was months away, and she wanted him with themnow.
Jetting around the world by herself used to feel like freedom. These days, being far from the people she loved brought an unprecedented level of pain.
The bathwater had gone cool. She said goodbye and set her phone aside. Then she scooped Kaleo out of the bath and wrapped him in a towel.
He rested his head on her shoulder, content to cuddle for amoment, and she felt a sudden despair.
They were so lucky that he hadn’t been hurt.
Unattended in the kitchen, any number of disasters could have happened. The thought made her feel ill.
Suddenly, she was sick of travel.
She just wanted to be someplace familiar and safe.
“Okay, kiddo,” she said, resting her cheek against Kaleo’s soft black hair. “It’s time to head home.”
2
Laurie
Golden light streamed through the front window of the bookshop, illuminating the front table and its volumes on Hawaiian history and local flora.
A pair of tourists had their heads together over a travel guide, and a local auntie was perusing the shelves farther back in the store.
