Page 36 of Dial A for Aunties

Fourth Aunt’s grin is as wide as a Cheshire cat’s. We’ll definitely be hearing more about this later, when Ma’s around to listen to Fourth Aunt boast about how she’s brought in good business for us. And I will have to nod and tell them that it’s true. Ma’s not going to like that.

“But where are you two off to?” Mrs. Sutopo says. “You’re going the wrong way. The hotel’s that way.”

“Oh, we just need to...” My brain short-circuits. We just need to what? I almost tell them that we’ve brought the wrong cooler, but quickly realize that I would be admitting a mistake to our clients. Big Aunt would have my head for it. No, I can’t tell them that. “We didn’t want to take up too much room inside the walk-in fridge, so we’re just taking this cooler back real quick.”

“Back? You mean back to the mainland?” Mr. Sutopo says.

“That’s a whole lot of hassle just to stow a cooler!” his wife says. “Nathan, dear, there must be a place for them to store it here. You can’t possibly have these lovely ladies traipsing all across your island and across the water on such a big day.”

“Of course,” Nathan says. “I’m as surprised as you are.” He turns to me and says, “You can store it in the walk-in fridge. It’s plenty big enough.”

“I really don’t want to trouble you.”

“It’s no trouble, really.”

“Nathan, dear, why don’t you help the lovely girl take the cooler back to the fridge? We’ll be alright here with Mimi. You take the buggy. We’ll walk,” Mrs. Sutopo says. She turns to Fourth Aunt and winds her arm through hers before saying, “Come, we must take so many pictures together. Oh my goodness, you are even prettier in real life!”

I watch in dismay as the Sutopos and Fourth Aunt walk away. “Um, I don’t think it’s a good idea to let them walk to the hotel. It’s pretty far, and it’s uphill—”

“I agree,” Nathan says, easily. “We’ll leave the buggy here for them, and I’ll help move this cooler back to the kitchen.”

“No, it’s okay, don’t bother, you must be so busy...”

He pauses, giving me that smile of his. Even after all these years, it still looks so disarmingly boyish on his rugged features,instantly taking years off and making him look all of five years old. “It’s going to be a crazy weekend, isn’t it?”

You have no idea, I want to say.

“Tell you a secret?” He lowers his voice and moves closer to me. My heart thumps painfully. “I may be pissing my pants a little at the thought of everything that needs to go well this weekend. Just a little. It’s a huge deal for us, and I just—opening this hotel was my dream. My investors are pretty nervous at the expense. I really need this wedding to go perfectly.”

I gnaw on my lip. Perfectly. Right. Which probably means no corpses being found on the premises.

Nathan rakes a hand through his hair and grimaces. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to spill everything. It’s just—” He smiles at me. “Seeing you... it’s amazing, Meddy, and so unexpected. I mean, seriously, what are the odds? I’m so glad you’re here. You’ve always got your feet firmly on the ground, and it’s great to see you.”

“It has been amazing,” I say, meaning every word. “And I’m so glad to see how well you’re doing. I mean, you opened your own hotel at twenty-six, Nathan. That’s incredible.”

He shrugs, blushing. “I had a lot of help. Met the right people at JLL, got seed money from my folks, got to know lots of investors... I didn’t do all this by myself. I just got really, really lucky.”

“Well, I’m sure you also worked your ass off.”

“A bit,” he laughs, and it’s exactly like the old times, as though we’ve picked up right where we left off. We meet each other’s eyes, and all of our beautiful history unravels in my mind’s eye. I remember every single detail—every kiss, the exact way his eyelashes feel against my face, the solid warmth of his hands—with aching clarity. “So, um, are you seeing anyone?”

My heart stutters, and I shake my head furiously. “You?”

“My family has been setting me up with various blind dates, but nothing has stuck.”

Oh god. I can feel my cheeks burning, because speaking of blind dates, mine’s in the cooler right next to him. As though reading my mind, he picks up the cooler handle and pulls, frowning when it doesn’t budge.

“It’s impossible to move it on this pebble path,” I babble. “Look, don’t worry about me, you’re slammed with work, and like you said, you’ve got investors up your ass. Just go, I’ll call for a bellboy or something.”

His frown deepens. “Let me do this for you,” he says in a gruff voice, giving the cooler a hard yank. The top of the cooler pops up a couple of inches for one heart-stopping moment before I push it back down. Jesus. I could pass out right now, I really could.

Nathan looks down at the cooler and cocks his head to one side. “Is that—”

Oh god. It is. It’s a corner of Big Aunt’s blanket sticking out like a fucking woolen tongue. I watch as Nathan moves in slow motion and reaches down to open the cooler. And I do the only thing I can, the thing I’ve been dreaming of doing for the last four years.

I grab his broad shoulders, feeling his muscles under my fingers, and pull him back to face me.

“Meddy—”

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