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“Hazard of the job,” Alexa said with a smile. “Sunrise and sunset are the two best times for photos. This session was for a couple visiting from Kansas. They’d just gotten engaged and wanted to book an engagement photoshoot.”
“Well, they knew you were the best,” Callie teased.
“Amen to that.”
The waitress came over, taking their orders. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over all the fresh fruit here,” Callie said as a waiter walked by carrying a tray of food for another table. “The guava and pineapple, plus all the papayas? Yum. I can never move anywhere that isn’t tropical from here on out.”
“Why would you need to go anywhere else?” Alexa asked. “Oahu is amazing.”
“You grew up here, right?”
“I came here in high school and never left. Military brat,” she joked.
“But your family’s not still here.”
Alexa shook her head. “Not on Oahu. My parents moved to Kauai after my dad retired from the military. I could’ve gone, too, but there’s more to do here. Plus, there’s no need to be that close. I love my family, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve got my own life to live.”
“Yeah, I get it. My family is still in California, but I pretty much traveled everywhere. I’ve been thinking of getting into blogging again.”
“Really? Like we talked about? Showcasing Hawaii,” she said knowingly.
“Yeah, I hate to just give up my career entirely. I’ll sort of be starting from scratch, but I need to start doing something and not completely draining my bank account. I figure I’ll go exploring today and get some ideas. It’s time for me to start living again.”
“You go, girl,” Alexa joked. “Now is as good a time as any with your man gone.
“Wait—how’d you know that?” Callie asked. “I didn’t even get a chance to tell you yet.”
Alexa smiled. “I might have gone out with Austin the other night.”
“No way! Why didn’t you say anything?”
“It was just a couple of days ago,” Alexa said with a giggle. “We met up for drinks, and one thing led to another....”
Callies eyes widened. “You slept with him?”
Alexa gave her a grin. “Well, I shouldn’t kiss and tell, but let me say—the man can kiss. And you know how he looks big when he’s standing right in front of you? Honey, he’s big everywhere.”
Callie spit out the water she’d been sipping, nearly choking on her laughter. “Oh my gosh,” she said, “I can’t believe you just said that. And wow. You and Austin.”
“Here you go,” their waitress said as she suddenly appeared, setting two Bloody Mary’s down on the table. She was around Callie’s age and pretty, but with dark circles under her eyes, like she was already tired this early in the morning. Callie glanced at her nametag—Riley. Wyatt had mentioned a Riley the other day. He’d been talking about his teammates, as she recalled. Was this the Riley he’d meant? Her gaze landed back on Alexa as her friend told her more about drinks with Austin.
“So what does this mean?” Callie asked as their waitress walked away. “Was it a one-night-stand type of thing or are you and Austin dating?”
“Well, it just sort of happened,” Alexa said, her eyes twinkling. “We didn’t define our relationship status or anything. We made plans to go out again this weekend, but the guys are gone now. He did give me a call to say he was heading out. Austin didn’t want me to think he was ghosting me, which I appreciate. I don’t mind waiting for him to come back, but blowing me off wouldn’t have been cool.”
“That’s good he let you know,” Callie said, but she still looked over at Alexa in concern.
“Don’t look so worried. We had fun. If it’s just a fling, then it’s a fling. I’m not racing to get married or something. I’m twenty-five and have plenty of time. I deserve to have a little fun in my life.”
“Yeah, but you’re my closest friend here in Hawaii. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Says the girl who’s also seeing a hunky Navy SEAL,” Alexa teased. “Yes, you told me about the hiking and waterfall, which sounds amazing by the way. Ah-may-zing,” she emphasized, her smile widening. “But a little birdie told me that Wyatt went to your place for dinner the other night. How we live in the same apartment complex and I missed that, I’ll never know.”
“Maybe you were with Austin,” Callie said, pointing a finger at her. “And I guess he ratted me out.”
“Ah. So logical. But I expected my best friend to fill me in on things like this. Now spill, girl! You two are absolutely dating, and I am one hundred percent here for it. He rescues you from a hijacking that made international news, you pick up and move to a brand-new place and accidentally run into him, and now you both are falling for each other. How perfect is that?”
Callie bit her lip, trying to hide her smile. She and Wyatt weren’t dating in secret, but their relationship was new. It felt too early to share much about it. Plus, he hadn’t even gotten back to her yet on the weird blog comments. He’d spoken with some IT whiz on base, but clearly, the men there had actual jobs to worry about. The comments may or may not relate back to the hijacking, but it certainly wasn’t a pressing matter for them. What if someone was really looking for her? Would she just stay here hiding out in Hawaii? Would she be putting Wyatt in danger because of his involvement? She wanted to know who’d left those remarks. Hopefully uncovering the truth behind them would ease some of her nightmares. Callie wanted to live her life fully, not hide away in fear. Until the rest of her life was in order, she could hardly put a label on what they were to one another.
