Page 74 of Hula Girl

Rafaela still has her back to us, but leaning back, I can just make out a pleased expression on her face.

“It’s okay,” I whisper back. “Your mother loves me.”

“Ha! Don’t you think you’re jumping to conclusions there, Surfer Boy?” Ava says with a laugh.

“Ford,” Rafaela says as she turns to us. “Una quesadilla?”

“Si, por favor. Muchísimas gracias,” I reply.

That gets a huge smile out of Rafaela. I watch as she looks at Ava and imagine she’s silently telling her,yes, I do love him. In turn, I give Ava anI told you soexpression, and she just shakes her head.

29

Ava

I’m up in the morning before Ford. We’d gone back to my place after Ford ate not justuna quesadillabuttres quesadillas. He was so full, but so happy.

Now he’s lying on his stomach in my bed, his bare tanned back exposed all the way to his beautiful pale butt. His face is turned away from me as I quietly go to the kitchen to start brewing coffee. As I watch the drips of the dark brew drop one by one before becoming a steady drizzle, I try to sort out my conflicting feelings.

We hadn’t talked about Ford’s surprise suggestion that I move to Maui. I sputtered out a quick and harsh rejection of that, after all. And he had made clear to my mother that he was committed to returning to Maui. Neither of us made any attempt to talk about the fact that as of now, we are set to go our separate ways in a few days with no plan to see each other again. Instead, we’re living in a weird state of denial where we’re sleeping together, enjoying each other’s company, and playing each other’s fiancée. It’s that wholeinvestingin each other thing that I had tried to avoid before throwing caution to the wind when he took me to the Dodgers game. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m going to get hurt with this thing. Because there’s just no good answer for how we can make it work.

With a sigh, I do my best to pull together breakfast for us but have to use what I’ve got, including bagels pulled from the freezer and bananas that are more brown spots than yellow.

“I’ll understand if you want to call off the engagement because of this paltry offering,” I say when Ford has roused himself and joined me at the dining table.

“Nope, not a deal-breaker. Especially knowing my future mother-in-law is so talented.”

“That was such a smooth move last night, speaking in Spanish to her like that.”

He laughs. “What? It was totally appropriate in the moment.”

“Speaking of appropriate … what should I expect with the party tonight?”

Taking a contemplative sip of his coffee, he thinks about my question for a moment. “Here’s how I expect it to go: Just like any other dinner party my father typically throws. Which means, a very nice catered event where the conversation is focused on him, and with guests that literally line up to tell him how wonderful he is. And I’d guess that after dinner but before dessert, he’ll do some sort of toast to us. That’ll be about the gist of our ‘engagement party’ since he never really intended to do this at all.”

“Oh,” I say with relief. “That sounds bearable.”

He rubs my hand. “We’re almost to the finish line with this thing.”

“Yep.” I force levity I do not feel into my voice. “Mission almost accomplished.”

“Honey, I know it’s been a bit of a roller coaster these last few days. But I sure have enjoyed taking this ride with you.”

I smile at that. I know he means it sincerely, but I can’t take any more of his sweet talk, so I steer my response toward something I know he’s happy to indulge.

“You never did make me scream your name,” I tell him and arch a brow.

He laughs. “That is so not true. You have screamed it plenty.”

I shake my head with mock solemnity. “Nope.”

“Oh, I see.” He stands, and I watch him warily. “Challenge accepted.”

When he reaches for me, I dodge out of the way while scrambling to my feet. He lurches left, and I go the opposite way. He lurches right and I go left. Then he comes straight for me and I let out a playful yelp and turn to run toward the other side of the apartment.

Of course, he catches up to me almost right away. He grabs me around my waist and lifts me in that way that he can, making me feel like I’m light as air as he carries me to the bed.

“What I am going to do to you,” he says into my ear, his voice a sexy growl, “is going to make you scream so loud the windows will shatter.” He drops me unceremoniously on the mattress. “You have homeowner’s insurance?”

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