Her green eyes lit up. “Oh, definitely a Maui Wowie!”
“Great, bring us two of those, please.” He handed her the menus, and she went off to put in their drink order.
“Maui Wowies, huh?” Aroostine could feel her headache forming already.
He waved the topic away. “You asked me if I’m sure. I’ve never been more sure about anything, other than marrying you. You’re a talented lawyer, Roo. And you really want to make a difference. This is a way you can make a difference for your people.”
“And what about you? What’s changed so much that you’re willing to do this now?”
“I want to do this with you. I mean, I can’t do the lawyer part, obviously. But I want to help you solve problems and bring justice to Native Americans who’ve been getting the short end. As crazy and demented as Boom turned out to be, I feel like we—our culture—played a big role in making him that way. This is my way of trying to turn it around. And I think we make a pretty good team.” He grinned at her.
“Really?”
He pinned her with his intense blue eyes. “Really. And, there’s one more piece to this. It’s my way of turning around our relationship. I love you. I love us together. And I want to be here for you. Starting right here, right now.”
A smile crossed her lips.
“Right here, huh? So the watershed moment in our relationship is going to happen at The Pineapple Man in the Redmond Fields Airport?”
“Yep. When we’re old and gray, and we’re looking back on your career of distinguished government service and how you brought restorative justice to Native American tribes throughout the country, we can say, ‘and to think it all started with The Pineapple Man.’”
She burst out laughing at the ridiculous turn of phrase as all the exuberance and joy that had been building in her during their conversation reached a crescendo. The waitress returned with two hollowed-out pineapples full of Lord knew what.
He raised his. “To The Pineapple Man.”
She mirrored the gesture. “To us.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My sincere and unending thanks to Alison Dasho, who plucked Roo out of the pile, Mallory Braus, who may love my characters as much as I do and who certainly helped them to grow, James Pierce and Sara Peterson, who applied their eagle eyes to put a polish on the book, as well as to the entire Thomas & Mercer team for the care and attention they’ve provided to my characters and me along the way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2012 Frances Civello Photography
Melissa F. Miller is the USA Today bestselling author of more than half a dozen novels, including the legal thrillers Irreparable Harm, Inadvertent Disclosure, Irretrievably Broken, and Critical Vulnerability. She is a commercial litigator who has practiced in the offices of international law firms in Pittsburgh and Washington, DC. She and her husband now practice law together in their two-person firm in south central Pennsylvania, where they live with their three children.
Chilling Effect (An Aroostine Higgins Novel Book 2) Page 22