Trembling now, Lani wrapped her grandmother into a hug. “I’ll be back,” she whispered.
“Only you?” Puna asked.
“I meant we’ll be back. I hope.”
“Of course you will,” said Puna, as though it had never occurred to her that Lani wouldn’t. “You said it yourself. You’re a local now and this is your home. But don’t feel like you have to rush back anytime soon either. Believe it or not, I know how to pay bills, confirm reservations, make breakfast, and clean rooms. I was doing it long before you got here.”
“I know,” said Lani, knowing her grandmother wasn’t as young or spry as she used to be. “But it’s a lot of work for one person.”
“Especially one as old as I am is what you’re thinking.”
“I’d never.”
Puna smiled. “It is a lot of work, but with Maaike’s help, I can manage. Now book your flight, go to Boston, and put that poor boy out of his misery.”
“King me!” Easton told his seven-year-old nephew after his black checker’s piece had hopped over Skyler’s red one and landed on the last row.
“Ah, man!” A mop of straight, blond hair fell forward over Skyler’s forehead as he whined. He glared as he slammed another black checker on top of Easton’s. “You always win.”
“I haven’t won yet. But if that’s the attitude you’re going to adopt, I’m sure I will. Where’s your sanguinity, dude?”
“My what?” Skyler looked at Easton as though he’d just stepped out of a time machine. His blue eyes sizzled in frustration, and his pale, round face had a pinkish hue to it.
Easton held back a smile. “It means cheerfully optimistic.”
“Optim-what?” Skyler’s fuse looked ready to blow.
Easton knew that goading his nephew was a risky move. Skyler’s personality was nothing if not volatile, but it was also predictable. He’d either overturn the checkerboard and stomp away, or he’d do as Easton hoped—get some tenacity.
“I thought you were in school,” Easton said, pushing him further. “Don’t you listen to your vocabulary lessons?”
“Yes,” Skyler growled. “Last week we learned about armadillions and lumbering and troublemakers.”
“It’s armadillos, not amadillions. And you already know what a troublemaker is. You see one every day in the mirror.”
Skylers chubby fingers became fists and his cheeks reddened. But the checkerboard was still upright, which was a good sign. “I’m not a troublemaker.”
“You’re right. You’re just a quitter.”
“No. I’m. Not.”
“Prove it.” Easton nodded toward the board. “Show me you can win this game.”
Face still red, Skyler’s expression became one of complete concentration as he redirected his frustration to the board. He stared, he studied, and he kept his finger on pieces as he experimented with different moves. Finally, after what felt like hours, he pushed a red piece forward in a move that actually impressed Easton.
It impressed him so much that for the first time since he’d introduced Skyler to the game three years earlier, he allowed his nephew beat him.
Skyler’s hands shot in the air, and his body followed. “Yes!” he shouted. “I am the new Checkers king! No one can stop me now!”
Easton chuckled and mussed the top of Skyler’s head. “Let this be a lesson to you. Never, ever, ever give up. If you put your mind to something, anything is possible.”
But Skyler didn’t care about the lesson. He only cared that he was the new king of Checkers, and he couldn’t wait to gloat to his little brother, Caleb, and share the news with Grandpa—both of whom were trimming the bushes out back.
“You’re going to make a great father one day,” commented his mother from the kitchen. She slid a homemade pizza into the oven and brushed her hands together to rid them of the flour.
She’d meant it as a compliment, but it only served to remind Easton that it had been six days since he’d seen Lani, and he hadn’t gotten so much as a text from her. Had she seen his note? Read his article? Or had she pitched them without opening the envelope?
Maybe he needed to take his own advice and not give up. Why had he left Maui anyway? Why hadn’t he stayed and groveled his way back into her life like he’d groveled for so many invites?
Because when it came to this, he couldn’t. Like with Checkers, it was Lani’s move, and no matter how much he wanted to push her piece in his direction, he couldn’t do it for her.
Lani’s body quivered as she stood on the front porch, waiting for someone to answer. The home was larger than she’d expected, much grander than Puna’s thirteen-hundred-square-foot home. Built with beautiful red bricks, white columns flanked the entry and black shutters snuggled against each white-paned window. Her fingers played with the folds of her knee-length, turquoise dress, and her feet felt trapped in beaded flip-flops. It had been a long journey to get here, and she had no idea what to expect when that door opened. What if Easton wasn’t home? What if he’d told his family about the girl who’d been so quick to judge and send him away, and she was about to meet his family alone? What would she do? Ask to stay and wait? Or call another cab to take her… where, she wasn’t sure.
Maybe she should have sent a text to let Easton know she was coming.
A petite woman opened the door. She wasn’t slender or large either. Just… perfect. Shoulder-length, straight brown hair, skin that had begun to wrinkle, and green eyes that looked so much like Easton’s Lani nearly lost her train of thought.
“Hello,” said the woman Lani assumed was Easton’s mother. “May I help you?”
Lani cleared her throat, hoping her voice wouldn’t squeak. “Yes, actually. I’m, uh… looking for Easton Allard?”
“Oh,” said the woman. “Well, you’ve come to the right place. Come on in, and I’ll—oh, there you are.”
Standing behind his mother, Easton’s eyes glinted at Lani from under the brim of a black and red Boston Red Sox cap. Her heart came alive. It had only been about a week since she’d last seen him, but it felt like months—long enough for her to worry about how he’d react to seeing her on his doorstep.
His mom took a few steps to the side, opening a path between them.
Lani drew in a deep breath, trying to look more confident than she felt. “Hi. I’m here to… um… walk through the door. If it’s still open.” She could only imagine how odd that must sound to his mother, who probably had no idea who she was.
Since Easton still hadn’t made a peep, Lani turned to the woman and held out her hand. “You must be Easton’s mother. I’m a friend of his from Hawaii. My name is Lani Whitman.”
His mother’s eyes widened in surprise. She even mouthed Lani’s name before blitzing forward and flinging her arms around the stranger standing on her front porch. When she pulled back there were even tears in her eyes.
She grasped Lani by the shoulders. “Oh my goodness, you really do exist! I had my hopes, but when Easton showed up with a tropical fish in a bag that he’d named Lani, I couldn’t figure out if he was teasing me or—but now you’re here, a real live person, and so beautiful too, and oh my goodness, I don’t know what to say. Why don’t you come in? We’re just about to have dinner.”
Her arm moved from Lani’s shoulder to her waist, and Lani felt herself being guided inside—at least until Easton intervened with a hand on his mother’s arm.
“Mom,” he said quietly, then jerked his head toward the kitchen.
“Oh. Of course.” His mother’s hands dropped to her side, and she took a few steps toward the kitchen before pausing and looking back. Her shoulders relaxed, and her voice became calm and gracious. “There’s plenty of pizza, Lani, if you’d like to stay for dinner. Tonight, it’s just me and my husband and my two grandsons. And Easton, of course.”
Lani smiled, loving the warmth and kindness his mother exuded. “I’d love to, Mrs. Allard. Thank you.”
“Please, call me Gail.” She practically floated away, leav
ing Lani alone with Easton.
He took her gently by the arm and pulled her onto the front porch, closing the door behind them. A car drove past, a woman was out walking her dog, and across the street a neighbor mowed his lawn. But Lani didn’t care. Easton was staring at her in a way that made her forget to breathe.
“You’re here,” he said.
“Yes.”
“To stay.”
“For a few days, at least.”
He let out a breath and grinned. “What changed your mind?”
“You. And Pearl. And Puna. But mostly you. I loved your article.”
“Yeah?”
“And your blog.”
A twinkle appeared in his eyes. “And…?”
The question reminded her of all the times he’d hinted for invites in his endearing, not-so-subtle ways.
“You,” she whispered.
His smile stretched wide, and his laugh was more breath than sound. “I’m grinning like a fool, aren’t I?”
“It looks good on you.”
He moved in close, and his palms cupped the side of her face. His eyes held warmth and tenderness.
“I love you, too,” he said. And then he kissed her. His hands threaded through her hair while his lips moved across hers. Lani melted against him, feeling invigorated and weak at the same time. She clung to him, loving the way his touch made her skin tingle, the peppermint on his breath, and the lingering scent of his aftershave. Lani used to think that surfing was the only place she could ever become completely lost to a moment, but that was before she’d met Easton, before she’d felt his kiss, before she knew what it felt like to soar.
When her knees felt ready to give way, Lani’s hands moved from his back to his shoulders and down his arms to his hands, where they stayed as she drew away.
“Before I let you kiss me again,” she said, out of breath. “We need to talk.”
“That sounds serious.”
“It is,” she said. “Very serious. I’ve just spent over nineteen hours on a plane or in airports. My luggage has been lost somewhere between here and Kahului, two of my three flights were delayed, I haven’t slept hardly at all, and other than two pathetically small packages of peanuts and drinks, I haven’t had anything to eat since my last layover in LA over seven hours ago.”
“In other words, I should be grateful you haven’t turned into Scrooge yet.”
She nodded. “There is that. But, more importantly, I need to know something. Is that normal? I mean, if I really commit to traveling the world with you, is this how it’s going to be a lot of the time?”
He laughed and pulled her into a bear hug, holding her close and keeping her upright. He smelled so clean that it made her more aware of how she probably smelled.
“Honestly,” he said. “You have to expect some delays and lost luggage, but once you walk off that plane into a fascinating new place, somehow it doesn’t matter anymore—at least not once you shower, change, and get some rest.” He combed his fingers through her hair. “We can start off slow and only do as much as you’re comfortable with, okay?”
“Okay,” she murmured into his neck, snuggling closer as the nineteen-hour journey finally took its toll. She would fall asleep any second now.
“How is it you look so amazing after all that?” he said.
“I don’t feel amazing,” came her muffled reply. “But I was smart enough to carry a change of clothes in my carryon, and I freshened up in the bathroom at the Boston airport. But I would give anything for a shower right now. And there must be a window open somewhere, because that pizza smells incredible.”
Easton chuckled and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Let’s get you a few slices, find you a shower and some comfortable clothes, and put you to bed. How does that sound?”
“Heavenly.”
He kissed her again, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and led her inside, where Lani was welcomed again, stuffed with the yummiest pizza she’d ever eaten, charmed by two adorable little boys, then turned over to the capable and loving hands of Easton’s mother, who found her some clothes, a toothbrush, and showed her to the guest room and bath. As Lani lay in bed, all cozy and warm, she couldn’t help but dream about one day calling Easton’s family her family.
One week later
Easton scrambled up the last boulder leading to the summit then reached down to help Lani do the same. A gray haze hovered over the low mountain range to the east of them, and the scattered cumulus clouds had begun to turn orange and pink. They’d arrived right on time.
He kept hold of Lani’s hand as they walked up the last small rise, then he shrugged off his backpack and pulled out some blankets, muffins, bananas, and juice. Lani helped him spread out the blanket, and they sat down just as the sun’s warm glow began to light the skies.
Not far from his family’s home, this hike had always been a favorite of Easton’s. He wanted to share it with Lani before she flew back to Maui tomorrow. Cora had insisted that she could manage without her indefinitely, but Lani had been taking care of the business side of the B&B for so long, she knew she needed to be the one to train Maaike.
“I need at least a couple weeks there, and then… I guess we’ll figure it out after that,” she’d said a few days earlier, her eyes filled with uncertainty.
But Easton already had it figured out. He’d had it figured out from the moment he saw her standing on his doorstep in Boston. Which is another reason he’d prodded her awake before the sun and dragged her up here to watch it rise.
“So this is the hike that Facebook and Instagram shared with the world, huh?” she said as she ate a banana. “I can see why. The views are beautiful, especially at this time of day. Everything looks golden.”
“In another month, it’ll be even more golden when all the leaves began to change. Now that is a stunning view.” He brushed the crumbs of a muffin off his lap. “To be honest, I understand your feelings about Kapu Aina more than you think. Although it’s nice to see people enjoy this particular trail, I’m still a little miffed that we have to come at this hour if we want it all to ourselves.”
She set the banana peel on the ground and pulled her knees against her chest, curling her arms around them. “I don’t want to leave tomorrow,” she said, resting her cheek on the top of her knees so she faced him. “We haven’t really talked about when we’ll see each other again, and I hate not knowing how long it will be. Promise me we’ll work things out soon.”
“Why not work them out right now?” Easton slipped his hand into the front pocket of his backpack and closed his fingers around his late-grandmother’s diamond ring. As her only grandson, she’d given Easton the ring two days before she’d passed away, telling him to keep it for his future wife. Easton had placed it in a small wooden box in the top drawer of his dresser, where it had stayed until this morning.
Now he clutched it in his fist, trying to remember some of the words he’d been rehearsing for the past week. He drew in a shaky breath, and his palms began to sweat. He didn’t usually get nervous or anxious, but he suddenly felt like he was standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, mustering the courage to leap while praying Lani would be willing to jump with him.
“Everything okay?” Lani asked, her expression worried. “I’m not trying to pressure you or anything. I mean, if you’re not ready to make immediate plans, I understand. It’s just—”
“Lani.”
“Yeah?”
“Will you marry me?” he blurted. It wasn’t eloquent, he wasn’t down on one knee, and the ring was still clenched in his sweaty hand. But the question had flown out regardless.
She lifted her head from her knees and stared at him, eyes wide, mouth partially open.
He was botching this big-time. Easton tried to slow his breathing, so he could think and formulate some words into sentences. But his mind was a whirlpool, every word being sucked down into a dark abyss.
Get down on one knee, came the first coherent thought. So Easton rolled t
o his knees in front of Lani and pried his fingers open. “I know it’s fast. I know you’re not expecting this. And I know I should have probably said something before now, but—”
“Yes!” Lani threw her arms around him, nearly knocking him over. He had enough presence of mind to close his fingers around the ring, so it didn’t fly away. And then she was kissing him, hungrily and happily. Easton’s future had never felt so bright.
Overhead, the sun continued to rise, like the promise of a wonderful new beginning.
Lani finally pulled back, half laughing and half crying as Easton slid the slightly too-big ring on her trembling finger. “It was my grandmother’s,” he explained. “The day she gave it to me, she told me that someday I’d meet a woman I’d want to spend the rest of my life with, and that I should give this to her when the time was right. She said you’d be the only daughter-in-law and might feel like an outsider at times, so she wanted you to have this ring so you’d know that she would have loved you like her own granddaughter.”
Lani’s other hand flew to her mouth. She pressed it against her lips before waving it in front of her face like a fan. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and down her cheeks, glinting in the sunlight.
“I’m sorry,” she sniffed. “I’m just really… happy. I love the ring. It’s beautiful and special and… means a lot. Mahalo.”
Easton smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes. “So it’s a yes, then.”
“Yes. Of course it’s a yes. I already told you it’s a yes.”
“Good, because I think my mom is already planning the wedding. She adores you, you know.”
“Tell her to plan away. I don’t care about colors, or food, or decorations or anything. I’d just like it to be in Hāna, if that’s okay.”
“It’s more than okay.”
He took Lani’s face in his hands and really looked at her. A whiff of apple and wildflowers took him back to the first day he’d met her, when she’d asked him to climb through the window to get into the bungalow.
Not Always Happenstance (Power of the Matchmaker) Page 20