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Kai’s shoulders rounded as he lowered his gaze and breathed a heavy sigh. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. All I knew was that I couldn’t stop the words that were pouring from my lips.
“At first, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I spent too much time trying to figure out how to have my cake and eat it too. I wanted to keep my job and protect yours.”
My clammy hands trembled. It might have been from all the coffee I’d drank that morning, but I was pretty sure it was from the rush of emotion surging through my body.
I’d fallen for the guy in front of me. Fallen hard. Did I dare remind him? Would it sound like more empty words from an untrustworthy mainlander? Why was I so unsure of myself all of a sudden?
I dug deep one more time and found fearless, action-hero Beth—the woman who’d finally discovered her courage last night. “The harder I fell for you, the more scared I was to tell you about what Chuck wanted me to do.”
His eyes shot up to meet mine as Lolani gasped and hid her smile behind her hands.
“I couldn’t imagine living in a world where you hated me. I wanted to have everything all figured out before I told you anything. But everything blew up in my face before I ever got the chance.”
After a long moment of silence, Lolani raised her index finger as if asking for permission to speak. “So, when exactly was it that you realized you love my son?”
I don’t know if it’s possible to experience a face cramp from smiling too big, but I was pretty sure Lolani was about to find out.
“Mama!”
“What?” She shrugged. “I’m a part of this conversation too, you know.”
My stomach dipped when Kai looked back at me. “Maybe we should take a walk down the beach.”
“Oh, yes!” Lolani bounced on the balls of her feet. “Do that. Take a long walk. You know, your father proposed to me on a stormy beach just like—”
“I’ll be back soon, Mom,” Kai interrupted his mother, but it didn’t dampen her spirit. She winked at me as I set my luggage down beneath their awning.
I felt Lolani’s eyes on us as we walked in the sand until a stand of palm trees and bushes finally came between her and us. Why that sweet woman liked me so much, I’d never know. But it sure was nice to have her on my side.
Kai was quiet as a rumble of thunder rolled in from somewhere far out to sea. It didn’t feel right to talk yet, but the silence wasn’t exactly comfortable, either.
My stomach was in knots. He’d suggested this walk to give us a little privacy, but what he wanted to do with that privacy was still a mystery. Maybe he wanted to make up. Maybe he wanted to tell me off without his mother by his side to poke him in the ribs.
I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take the suspense, but I kept walking down that beach with him, just the same.
“So, what are we doing wrong?” He said the words so suddenly, I jumped.
I could think of a lot of things we were doing wrong. We weren’t communicating. We were wasting our time on the beach being miserable. I was wearing an old uncomfortable pair of shorts that didn’t even fit right in the caboose.
Okay, technically that was something I was doing wrong—Kai wasn’t responsible for my bullheaded refusal to purchase clothes the next size up when it was clearly needed.
“Well,” I started speaking cautiously, “I think we need to work on our communication skills. Two people can’t fix their problems if they don’t talk things through.”
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye and held back a smile. He seemed to want to laugh at me again. That was a good sign, right?
“That’s good relationship advice,” he said, “but I was talking about that marketing report you brought over. What’s my family doing wrong on the marketing side of things?”
Right. Of course he was talking about business. My face heated exponentially at my misunderstanding.
“Sure, yeah, I was going to get to that, too.” I cringed at my lame attempt at saving face.
“You were?” The side of Kai’s mouth curved up into a teasing grin.
Honesty. That was what every strong relationship needed. If I didn’t want to blow my chance to make things right with Kai, I needed to be honest.
“No, I wasn’t. I thought you were talking about us.”
He nodded. “We’ll get to us in a minute. First, I want to know what's inside that report."
