Gretchen laughed with me. “Sorry, that's not what I meant to imply,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s just we don't get many tourists over to our luaus. But they're a ton of fun, and I like showing you my Hawaii.”
I reached over and caught her hand in mine, lightly stroking my thumb over the back of her hand. “I like seeing your Hawaii,” I told her. “I really do.”
Chapter Eighteen
Gretchen
Mina hopped up onto my porch the morning after I had taken Christian to the waterfall. She wrinkled her nose when she saw me. “Reading again,” she sighed, shaking her head.
I laughed and put a bookmark in my book, setting it off to the side. “Reading again,” I confirmed.
Mina frowned at me, peering over at me. “You're happy,” she accused.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Should I not be?”
Mina rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean,” she said.
I laughed again and rolled out of the hammock
. “So, I guess we're having brunch?”
“Of course, we are,” Mina said, as though it was a given. “You have the day off, and I didn't see you at all yesterday. Where did you disappear to, anyway? I came all the way over here to bother you on my lunch break, and you weren't even here.”
“Sorry that I can't always be there for you, darling,” I said.
“But where were you?” Mina asked. “Running errands?”
I paused. “Well, actually.” I led her through the house to the kitchen and began pulling out yogurt and fruits and some frozen hash browns that I had cooked up a few weeks before, in a massive batch. “I was with Christian,” I told her.
Mina's eyebrows shot toward her hairline. “You were, were you?” she asked, smirking. “I thought you weren't going to see him again. How did you explain to him about having kicked him out of bed?”
I sighed. “We didn't discuss things. I just went over there to his hotel and apologized.”
“I can guess how eloquent that apology was,” Mina said, a grin tugging at her lips. “And then?”
“I took him out to the waterfall,” I told her, shrugging a little. I paused. “We had a nice day together.”
“Sex?” Mina asked, always straightforward.
I shook my head. “No,” I said. “I don't know if I want to yet. I just want to show him the real Hawaii, if he's going to be here for a while. I can tell that he needs that.”
“So, you're going to see him again?”
I blushed. “Yeah, actually,” I told her. I popped a piece of peach into my mouth, chewing slowly. “I invited him to the luau on Monday night.”
I expected Mina to look excited at that, but instead, she frowned, narrowing her eyes at me. “Are you sure that's a good idea?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I know there are probably going to be people there who recognize him and whatever, but I don't think that's going to matter, is it? Our parties are pretty low-key, and it's not like the media are going to pop up and surprise him or something like that. I'm surprised because I don't think there's been any coverage of him since he came down to Hawaii. It's like the media is respecting him or something.”
“Are you stalking him?” Mina’s eyes twinkled. She was back to frowning after just a moment. “The thing is, you know that Lino is probably going to be at the luau.”
I frowned as well. “I hadn't thought about that.” I shrugged though. “Aren't you the person who's always telling me that I need to get over Lino?” I asked. “Nothing is going to show him more clearly that we are over as me showing up with another guy, right?”
“It's not about showing him that you're over him,” Mina said, still thinking about what she wanted to say. “Doesn't it seem kind of like you're throwing it in his face? The last thing you want is to start a scene.”
“What, you think he's going to start a fight or something?” I asked incredulously. “I know that we have history and whatever, and I know that you think he's an asshole, but I don't think he's about to deck Christian or anything like that.”
“Probably not,” Mina agreed. “Just…” She sighed and shrugged. “I can't tell you what to do, and you obviously know Lino better than I do. Maybe everything will be fine. But be careful. There are a lot of people on the island who still don't know why the two of you broke up and all of that.”