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She wanted to march back into the day care and ask them what they were doing trying to force a boy petrified of the water into the deep end of a pool. Po wouldn’t even take a bath. And they were trying to get him to swim in nine feet of water?
At the same time, she knew it wouldn’t make any difference, and besides, Po shouldn’t have bitten anyone.
Not that she couldn’t understand why he had.
She felt frustration well up in her as she stared into the face of her beautiful baby boy. She wished she could fix him. Before the tsunami, he’d been the first kid in the water and the last out. Now she wondered if he’d ever swim again.
“Am I in trouble now? Big trouble?” Po asked, his dark eyes sad.
“We don’t bite, Po,” she said sternly. “Ever.”
Po nodded, his eyes growing wide, his bottom lip quivering just a little bit. She hated to see him like that, especially when she knew it wasn’t all his fault. But she couldn’t not punish him, either. So while she wanted to hug him and tell him it would all be okay, the ghost of her tiger mom in her head told her, Two wrongs don’t make a right.
“No TV today,” she added.
“Mom!” he protested.
“I mean it.” Even if her son wasn’t completely in the wrong, she still had to lay down the law. Yet as she watched his little shoulders slump over in resignation, she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Should she have caved and told him it was fine to bite some crazy woman who tried to throw you in the deep end of the pool? She couldn’t help but second-guess herself, something she’d been doing quite a lot in the past year.
Po may have gotten kicked out of day care, but why did she feel like the one who was failing?
Jun glanced at her watch.
“My Tai Chi class!” she exclaimed, realizing that she had just a few minutes to get there and no time to find a sitter. “You’re coming to Mommy’s class.”
After a hectic drive, Jun managed to pull into a spot not too far from the beach. She grabbed her bag and took Po’s hand, guiding him down the sand-strewn path next to the parking lot, which led to the swaying palm trees and sparkling blue ocean. Already, most of her class had gathered and she hated that she was late. It was unprofessional and unlike her.
“Come on, Po. We’ve got to hurry.” She wondered why Po was always so fast when he was running from her, usually bolting straight toward a busy street, but when she wanted to get somewhere, it was as if his feet had grown lead soles.
This day just felt as if it had taken on a life of its own and was quickly spiraling out of her grasp.
“Hey, do you need a hand?” The deep rumble of a voice behind her made her whirl. Following her across the asphalt parking lot was Kai Brady. He grinned, showing his beautiful white smile in his smooth tanned face. This time he was wearing a shirt, but it didn’t change the power of his magnetic pull.
Her heart lurched, and she was acutely aware of her windblown hair and the fact she was late, harried and completely disheveled.
What on earth was he doing here?
CHAPTER FOUR
KAI OFFERED TO take Jun’s bag, but it was clear by her expression that she wasn’t going to let it go. She stood there looking uncertain, clutching her boy’s hand, and he wondered for a minute if she was actually not glad to see him. He wasn’t used to cool welcomes. Po, however, didn’t disappoint.
“Kai!” the little boy cried, his voice pure joy as he whipped his tiny hand free of his mother’s grasp and ran to him. Surprised that the boy even remembered him after all these months, he grinned. The boy charged straight to Kai, arms wide. Po’s enthusiasm was infectious as Kai instinctively picked him up and swung him in the air, causing him to squeal in delight.
“Good to see you, Po!” Kai said, and meant it. Seeing him happy and healthy meant something. It reminded him how precious life was. In this moment of pure joy, Kai didn’t think surfing even mattered. He wondered why he had stayed away from Po for so long. The elation on his innocent face warmed Kai’s heart. He felt better than he had in months.
Kai caught the disapproving look on Jun’s face and put Po down, suddenly noticing how much the boy had grown in a year. He’d lost some of the baby fat he’d carried then. His dark hair was shorter, but the devious smile on his lips as his mother whispered something in his ear was exactly the same. In his hand, he clutched a plastic Spider-Man figure, and he was dressed nearly head to toe in clothes depicting the web slinger.
