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He jerked his head, reluctantly looking at me. “Sure, why do you ask?”
I eyed him suspiciously. “Okay, I guess we’ll pretend you don’t look like you’re about to blow a fuse.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t look like I could blow a fuse. I look perfectly normal,” he defended in his typically grumpy demeanor and I held in a laugh.
“Okay,” I sang, “but your perfectly normal looks like you haven’t been to the bathroom in a while.”
He whipped his head around, eyebrows up. “Oh, you think you’re funny?” he asked, trying to be serious, but I could see him struggle to keep the corner of his mouth from quirking upward.
He relaxed somewhat after that and drifted closer, but not close enough for my liking until the mayor’s booming voice sounded and we gathered around the stage with everyone else. The familiar scent of salt water and Cooper’s cologne assailed my senses, and I inhaled deeply, letting the familiar smell swirl inside of me, providing both comfort and excitement.
“Okay folks, first I want to thank everyone for coming out. I see some new faces out there, so that’s encouraging. I’m confident we can make this year’s Aloha Festival better than ever,” Mayor Kahale said to a round of excited applause.
“Now, we have our work cut out for us this year. As most of you know, our community center needs a lot of repairs and this tourist season hasn’t been as busy as what we’ve experienced in previous years, so this festival is our Hail Mary. But I know we are capable, so with the help of my trusty assistant here, Ms. Mahina, we will assign roles to your strengths, and if you aren’t sure what those are, Mahina has a sixth sense for figuring that out. Once roles have been assigned, we’ll split into groups and get to work! Let’s do this for Hanalei!”
The crowd cheered and started talking amongst themselves as Mahina’s small but sturdy form worked efficiently through the crowd with her clipboard, barking out assignments like a drill instructor.
I watched with amusement and leaned in close to Cooper to ask, “should I be worried about what you’ve gotten me into?”
He gave me a mischievous smile. “Now come Haley, do you really think I’d lead you astray?” The teasing in his voice warmedme. For a moment, he’d forgotten he was keeping his distance from me. Did he feel like he needed to protect himself from me?
Before I could answer his question, Mahina appeared before us. “Alright, you two lovebirds,” she started and any ease Cooper was feeling disappeared. He tensed up, giving Mahina a warning look, but she took his demeanor as a challenge—no surprise there. “I hate to break the two of you up, but I need you both for very different tasks. Cooper, can you spearhead the building of the booths again this year?”
“On it,” he said, “am I rounding up the same people as last time?” he asked, sounding all official, and I couldn’t help but smile. As a natural leader, this was right up Cooper’s alley. It was a huge part of what made him such an effective quarterback in the league. He knew when to lead and when to step back and let others shine.
“Sounds good to me,” Mahina said. “Now you,” she said turning to me, “I have big plans for you,” she said smiling and I glanced over at Cooper in worry but he just smiled as Mahina wrapped her fingers around my elbow and dragged me across the square to a group of children jumping and talking excitedly. “Children! This is Ms. Haley. Say hi.”
A scatter of “hi” and “hellos” came from children ranging in age from six to fourteen.
Mahina smiled at me, then explained. “These kids will paint a mural on the back of the grandstand and you will show them how... it needs to be done in the next few days,” she added as if it was an afterthought and I shouldn’t be concerned. My eyes widened as I examined the large space she was pointing to and the half a dozen children that stood before us. They all looked at me expectantly and for a moment I considered telling Mahina she was out of her mind but then a little boy only six or seven years old said, “we got this, right?”
Something kicked over in my head. I’d accomplished some hard things as of late, so why was I worried about something that came naturally to me? I smiled down at the little boy. “Yeah, we got this!” I assured him, along with the other kids.
“You all listen to Ms. Haley and come up with a game plan. Whatever supplies you need, let me know and I will provide them from the store,” Mahina said before moving on to the next group, leaving me with the smiling, eager faces.
The art teacher in me took over, and I started by learning everyone’s names then asking, “Okay kids, what ideas do we have for the mural? Maybe something that represents Hanalei?”
They began spewing out ideas about what represented the town to them and within a few minutes, I had the seed of an idea. An older girl loaned me her notebook and pencil, so I plopped down in the middle of the town square with the children surrounding me and sketched out a combination of our ideas.
It felt good to be in my professional element in the place that was feeling more and more like home. Coming to Hanalei started as an escape but now that I was surrounded by these kids who were so full of ideas and eager to help their community, I began to wonder what it would be like if I stayed—to become a part of this community that welcomed me with open arms.
As the kids and I were discussing the elements of the mural, I got this prickly sensation on the back of my neck as if someone was watching me. I glanced up to find Cooper across the square. He was clearly in an instructional mode as he discussed building the booths with people in his group, but his eyes were on me looking molten and possessive.
I suppressed a shiver, remembering a time, a million years ago, when I would catch him looking at me like that... and what would usually follow.Damn.My determination to not give into him was weakening beneath that gaze.
I tore my eyes away, forcing myself to focus on the kids and the task at hand.
Sure, being with Cooper again would be phenomenal, but it could also turn into a monumental disaster and I’ve had more than my fair share of those lately. Still, as I continued to feel his eyes on me, burning over my skin, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it wouldn’t be much longer before I metaphorically tapped out. A person could only want something so badly for so long before they finally succumbed to the temptation. And that was Cooper: all temptation.
Cooper
Icouldn’t keep my eyes off her.
It was just like when we were younger, except my hungry body had gotten a hell of a lot more creative over the last several years with all the ways it could enjoy Haley. It was a fantasy I’d succumbed to from time to time, and now that I’d actually had her in my arms again and tasted her, I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.
She was so goddamn beautiful over there with the light of the sunset creating this extraordinary halo over her hair. She’d worn it down tonight and as we’d walked to the town square earlier, I had to fight the urge to reach out and play with the silky strands.
She was truly in her element now, and it made her that much more beautiful. When we were in college, she was still trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her love of art. But later, after we broke up, Tess mentioned Haley had taken a jobteaching art to children, and it made perfect sense to me. It was easy to imagine her in a classroom, and as I watched her from across the square, it was clear this was something she loved doing.
