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I had decided to go in with no expectations, but as soon as my eyes settled on her, I realised how much I had expected from this reunion. And how glad I was about how it turned out. No discussion. No argument. Not even a slap in the face. It all seemed strange for a few seconds, and then it just felt like the good old days. How effortlessly we'd slipped back into the casual roles we'd occupied back then. How good it felt just to be around her, especially as she still delighted in the smallest things as if they meant everything. At the time, I hadn't realized it was true. Now I knew better. She wasn't the only one who had spoken wise words that night we had made the deal.
Before I left the bathroom, I wrapped the towel Nikau had thrown at me a few minutes earlier around my hips for lack of a better alternative. The hot shower had been necessary as the cold rain had soaked me. It was not the first thing that bothered me about Iowa.
I walked into her living room. I leaned against the doorframe with my arms crossed when I noticed she was sitting on the couch with the soggy package on her lap, and half the pastries were gone. There was powdered sugar not only on her fingers but also on her lips.
It was a sight that reminded me of the past. We had pulled all-nighters at weekends, only to wait outside the bakery early in the morning for one of the employees to sell usmalasadaslong before the shop even opened.
Nikau realized I was watching her, turned her head toward me, her long dark brown hair slipped over her shoulder and pulled down her top's strap. Her lips were parted slightly as she looked at me, forgetting to chew for a second. I could have sworn her mouth was watering, but before I could make a sarcastic comment, the expression was gone.
Instead, she shook her head. "You're so stubborn. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"You. And my sister once or twice, but you're still the front runner. Why am I so stubborn this time?"
"Because you'd rather stand half-naked in my doorway than borrow clothes."
"From your ex-boyfriend, mind you. I'm not walking around in another man's clothes."
"Just until your clothes come out of the dryer."
I shrugged indifferently. "I'll wait. Thanks."
She exhaled with effort before resigning herself to her fate and concentrating on the pastry in her hand. Other women would have called me crazy if I had shown up at their house withmalasadasas a birthday present. Nikau, on the other hand, looked as if she had never been happier.
I dislodged myself from the doorway, and sat opposite her. Hesitantly, she held out the box. "Do you want some, or will it ruin your steely six-pack?"
"You make it sound like I waste hours a day trying to achieve that result," I said indignantly, leaning forward and grabbing one before she could take them away.
The muscles were just a nice by-product of my time on the surfboard.
We ate in silence. For a few minutes at least, until the silence became too heavy and Nikau looked at me curiously. "You can just up and leave your resort?"
"Kaia takes care of everything."
"For how long?"
"One day." I could hardly tell her that I planned to take her back to O'ahu at the end of the day.
She nodded. "So you wanted to take a short trip… to Iowa?"
The skepticism in her voice amused me as much as it impressed me. Nikau knew me well enough to know I didn't just do anything. She just hadn't figured out what I was doing yet. I wondered if she succeeded in putting it all together. If she remembered our agreement. If she realized I'd come a year early because I couldn't stand wasting my time with women who saw me as money and expensive gifts and who would never sit in front of me in old, short, partly wet pajamas and eatmalasadaswithout a care in the world.
"I wanted to see you," I finally said.
"And how long before the paparazzi are outside my house? Will I read about you and me in the papers tomorrow?"
I pursed my lips. Even in a place like this, the gossip from Hawaii did not go unnoticed. "Only if you want to," I replied, my eyes narrowing slightly.
"I'm sure they're all dying to know why you flew to Iowa to visit a woman."
"I can already imagine the headlines. And how disappointed everyone will be because it's not the usual story." They'd probably get that from Nancy, who certainly had no qualms about selling her experience with me to the highest bidding gossip rag.
"So what kind of story is it, Kaden?"
I slowly leaned forward and held out my hand, motioning with my fingers for her to extend hers. Hesitantly, she leaned forward before giving me her hand.
Satisfied, I nodded, letting my eyes slide over the powdered sugar on her fingers and brought her hand to my mouth as I looked her straight in the eye.
She held her breath. My tongue flicked forward until I tasted the sweetness of the sugar. Nikau did not remove her hand. Nor did she make any verbal protest at the sudden invasion of her privacy.
