"I'm gonna pop the question tonight," he said.
"No way. You’re gonna marry her?"
"I'm gonna ask her to marry me. We talked about doing it before we broke up, and I think this time around she's ready. I'm tired of waiting, you know? I love her. She's it for me."
"You have a ring?" I asked.
"I always have it on me. I've been thinking about doing it this whole week. I think tonight's the night. She's coming over, you're hanging out with Abby so she won't be busy. I've talked to her parents already. It's all set."
"I wish I had some words of advice but my marriage failed," I said. He laughed.
"From what you've told me, you were married to the wrong girl. Are you ever going to do it again?"
"Get married?" I didn't really know, I realized. It hadn't even been a year since the divorce, but Kirsten and I had dated a little while before we got married. I had needed that time, I had been so busy with the band, so we didn't even get that much time together.
It had been good some of the time, but she had left me. I had been a mess and I couldn't blame her for it, but what about that sickness and health bullshit? Whatever, what happened, happened. If we were still married, I never would have met Abby.
"Yeah. You and Abby seem-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa – me and Abby?"
"Of course. Who else would you marry?" he asked.
"It's been one summer, man. Not even that long. Like, half a summer."
"Sometimes that's all it takes," he said.
"How long was it before you knew you loved Makani?"
"Honestly? I told her I loved her after two months, but I knew I did weeks before. Sometimes you just know, Nate. I've seen the way you and Abby are."
"I like her a lot."
"Yeah, you like her so much you asked her to move to LA with you."
"That's not happening. She doesn't want to leave the island."
"If you want to stay with her, you're going to find a way to make it work."
"I know that. I just feel like she would never ask me for anything. She'd never say to me that she wanted me to stay. She'd tell me to go have a career and live my dream in LA."
"She's a great girl," he said. I knew that. I knew that probably better than most people.
"I wish she'd tell me what she wanted."
"I think it's pretty obvious what she wants," Keno pointed out.
"No, like for us. I want her to tell me whether she wants me or not."
"The ball's in your court if she already told you she isn't leaving."
"I just don't know, man."
"You'll make the right choice," he said. That was easy for him to say. His girl wasn't staying here while he moved back to LA for work. I had some time left, but I hated that the end was in sight.
I found a suit that fit and we went back to the resort. Keno went back to work while I hung out in my suite until I had to get ready for whatever Abby and I were going to do. I poured over the contract Wes Barry had sent me for hours till I had to give myself a break. Nothing in there was going to tell me I could have what I wanted and still stay in Lanai.
Abby was at my door at seven sharp like she said she'd be. She looked gorgeous in a long, flowy white dress with her hair curled around her shoulders.