When it finally came it was quiet, nearly a whisper. “You’re right. Thank you.”
It wasn’t very convincing, but it was a start. They might only be spending a week together, but he wanted Paige to return to the mainland feeling like a million bucks. It wasn’t normally his style to double as lover and therapist, but he’d never met a woman so...broken before. She had no reason to be. He was the broken one, and he had more confidence in his little finger than she had in her whole body. It simply wasn’t right, and he was determined to fix it.
At the same time, he started to regret chastising her on their evening out. Whether or not what he said was true, it seemed to quiet her. Their dinner went by with him trying to make conversation and her giving as many one word responses as she could muster. It was nearly painful. When the crew announced that there would be dancing and live music on the upper deck, he jumped at the chance.
“Would you like to dance, pulelehua?”
More silence. “I’m not a very good dancer,” she said at last.
“That’s okay. I can’t see how bad you are.”
That earned a chuckle out of her. “All right. What about Hoku?”
“He has four left feet. We’ll leave him to the side for a little while.”
He took her hand and he let her lead them around the ship to the stairs and up to the main deck. There, the warm breeze ruffled his hair even as he could feel the night start to cool with the setting of the sun.
One of the servers offered to attend to Hoku, so Mano passed off his lead and followed Paige onto the dance floor. The band was playing something a little jazzy and slow. He slipped one arm behind her back and took her hand in his. They rocked in a slow, easy motion to the music. He could feel the hesitation in Paige’s every step, but after a few minutes, she finally relaxed against him.
“This isn’t so bad, is it?” he asked.
“No,” Paige admitted. “It’s nice. I’ve never really slow danced with a man before.”
“Really?” Mano didn’t know why he was surprised after all she’d told him, but he was. “Not even in high school?”
“Definitely not in high school. I wasn’t very popular. What about you?”
“I was very popular,” Mano said. “All the girls loved me. And I loved them. Things were going great for me in that department until the accident.”
“Did the girls really walk away from you when you lost your vision?” She sounded aghast at the mere idea.
“Some,” Mano said. One in particular, but he wasn’t in the mood to tell her about Jenna. He’d rather Paige think he was a playboy than a broken-hearted teenage boy who lost almost everything he loved in a single moment. “I think I pushed most of them away. I was so angry for so long that I hardly wanted to be around myself. I don’t blame them for taking a step back.”
“I see that a lot in my patients,” Paige said. “So many of them intended to be soldiers for life. It was what they felt they were made to do. Then some IED blows their arms off and they’re shipped home to live a life they never envisioned. It’s hard on them. A lot of them don’t adjust well. I spend a lot of my time not only helping them heal physically, but emotionally. Too many walk out the door and put a bullet through their head. But if you can get through to them, they can really live a full life. They have to make adjustments, but they can still do anything they put their mind to.”
“Do you really believe that?” Mano asked.
“I do. I’ve seen it happen. Determination can take you far. I mean, look at you. You run that hotel like a well-oiled machine. It’s amazing. I have no doubt that if you wanted to take on some new challenge, you’d succeed.”
“You remind me of my brother.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Not entirely. Only when he’s pestering the snot out of me. He was always very positive about how I could still lead the life I wanted to lead after the accident. I’ve never been as certain. I think for him, it was mostly guilt. He wanted me to do everything I’d wanted to so he wouldn’t feel like he cost me my dreams.”
“Cost
you your dreams? How would he be responsible for that?”
Mano stiffened. They’d already put a bit of a damper on the night. He didn’t want to drive another nail in the coffin by talking about something that dark. “Let’s not discuss it anymore tonight. I promise I’ll tell you all about it another time.”
“Okay.”
The tempo of the music slowed and Paige surprised him by wrapping her arms around his neck. He pulled her close and they swayed together on the dance floor. Through the thin fabric of her dress, he could feel every inch of Paige pressing against him.
Suddenly, he wasn’t interested in talking anymore. Or even dancing. He couldn’t wait for the ship to return to the marina so he could slip off this dress and make love to Paige.
* * *