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I zone out of the conversation and my gut roils. Immediately, I know this is the thing he was trying to tell me yesterday, and I wouldn’t let him. I’m certain of it. And now, whether I want it or not, I’m thrust back to that place we were before. All my muscles tense with betrayal.

When I tune in again, I stiffen when Casey says Adam is heading for the airport right now. With the new information, I methodically step out of the pantry, move like a cat through the entry hall, pick up my purse and the Jeep’s keys, and slip out the front door without a sound.

It’s not until I’m buckled into the Jeep that I pause to take out my phone. I have two unread text chains. One is an urgent text Amelia sent this afternoon. The other unread text is from Adam. It’s the same text stream I’ve been avoiding, but now, it’s been bumped to the top with a new message.

I take a deep breath and open one at a time. It turns out, Adam received the letter I mailed him. That’s how he found my phone number. He remembers me. He wants to see me. And it’s true, he’s leaving for the airport right now. I swallow.

I stare into space, thinking about everything I need to do in a short amount of time. This is really going to happen, after all these years.

“I just wanted to thank you for talking to Gio about adding someone to the team. I’m so stoked.” Matt startles me when he leans in the open window. His gaze travels past my shocked face and to the passenger seat. “Wait, are those Tina’s famous cookies?”

“Uh, yeah,” I say while my heart and my head are fighting over Adam and Gio, along with some surprising news from Amelia. “You can have them if you do something for me.”

Matt’s eyes brighten. “Anything, anything. Gio never lets me try them. He’s such a cookie miser.” He makes grabby hands for the bag.

I hand them over because they don’t matter anymore. I don’t feel like eating them now. My stomach is turning with anxiety but not shock.

Somewhere in my heart, I always knew Gio was keeping me from Adam. I allowed it because the more time I spent with Gio, the harder I fell for him. In the end, I didn’t want Adam to come between us.

But now that he has in a roundabout way, there’s something I need to do. This is the reason I came to Hawaii, after all. I can’t have this thing hanging over me. I promised myself I wouldn’t let any ex-boyfriend, good or bad, haunt me ever again.

Matt opens the cookie bag. On the first bite, he acts out and proceeds to dance in the driveway like no one’s watching.

“Matt, pay attention. I need you to do something for me.” I smack the Jeep’s door to awaken him from his dreamlike state. “Are you sure you can you handle this very important task?

Matt nods, his eyes wide and cheeks bulging with cookies. He snaps his feet together and stands like a toy soldier. He spurts crumbs as he says, “Yefs, mfa’am.”

47/

giovanni

Don’t Talk With Your Mouth Full

“Matt! What happened? Where’s Sophia going?” I run toward him.

“Foo maa mairporft,” he says with a mouthful of food.

When I translate his garbled words to the airport, I grab my head and spin, looking for someplace to land, but there is no place without Sophia here. She is my place.

My anxiety leaps to the worst-case scenario. Somehow, and I don’t know how, Sophia knows about Adam.

She’s on her way to the airport to meet Adam.

“Phflying ouft.” Matt continues, spitting out a few words at a time as he continues to chomp. “Badadam. Bhags packudd.” He swallows. “Leaffing pfearly.” He crams another coconut cookie into his mouth.

I stop trying to translate after I decipher the phrases, flying out, Adam, and leaving early, and then stare at what he’s holding. My alarm bells scream. It’s a clue.

“Where did you get that?” I stare as he double-fists cookies.

“Sofffhia. Theyrr auh-mazing, ddude. Youg gotta eaf onef.”

He lifts a cookie to my mouth, but I smack it away. It flies and lands in the lawn. Matt’s wide eyes and mouth are frozen in shock at my reaction.

I can’t eat cookies. I’m in panic mode. With my mind quickly processing, I think I’ve parsed out what’s happened.

Sophia was in the pantry searching for cookies. The vent is always open, and you can hear everything outside. She probably heard Casey and me talking.

I may be reaching, but it’s all I have at the moment. It’s the only thing that makes sense. She heard the truth, and she didn’t like it. So, now she’s on her way to the airport to find the asshole. By holding her back from Adam, I sent her right into his arms.