Katie and the North Star
To everyone I was lucky enough to meet over the years at Utopia (UtopYA) Con. I’m so sad that this is the last year of the con, but so grateful that Janet had the vision and passion to make the con possible. I wouldn’t have been able to meet so many wonderful authors, bloggers, and readers without it.
Keep on lifting as you climb!
Everybody dreams of a Hawaiian vacation…
They sell you on the drinks with little umbrellas, dolphin watching, and long walks on the beach. Which probably happens, if you’re that lucky schmuck living out your dream with your destination wedding, but if you’re a fish out of water PI like me, there’s no time for relaxing, because trouble is never far behind.
Instead of cocktails, I ended up dealing with the seedy underbelly of The Big Island.
And, I didn’t see one damn dolphin while undercover on a boat that was spilling over with drug dealers, kingpins, and pedophiles.
I did get to take that long walk on the beach, but that resulted in me and Cade getting busted by his parents, while we were all butt-ass naked.
Which leads me to the other issue, meeting Cade’s family. Elin and Elena think they’re the coolest people outside of Snapchat, but it’s hard to meet the parents when your boyfriend is in his late thirties and has never had a serious relationship.
You want to talk about grandbaby fever … His mom was foaming at the mouth at the thought of Cade reproducing, and, although the thought of little bad-ass babies who look like Cade is appealing, we’re definitely not ready to take that step.
I’d never missed my girls so much in my life, but Amy May, Bea, and Carmen are all dealing with issues of their own, and can’t come to my rescue.
The only thing that may help me with this “vacation” is if I could get Lei’d with Cupcakes.
“We have started our descent into Honolulu. We should touch down in twenty minutes, and the local time will be three fifty-eight.”
I looked to my left to see Elin and Elena sleeping like angels, even though an hour ago they’d been fighting like rabid raccoons. Then, to my right, where Cade was passed out cold.
You’d think a large man like that would have a hard time getting comfortable in a standard coach seat, but as soon as he’d sat down, Cade closed his eyes and was knocked out. Cold. I couldn’t keep my five-foot seven-inch frame still in the seat long enough to doze. My knees hurt, the seatbelt annoyed me, and I swear I could hear every sniffle and sneeze for twenty rows.
So, while the loves of my life were snoozing happily, I was trying to find out how many mini liquor bottles it would take for me to get drowsy. It was just my luck that now that I was feeling happily buzzed and ready to nap, we were about to land. So, not only was I going to meet Cade’s family with no sleep, there was a good chance I was going to be drunk.
“Miss, can I take your trash?”
I swiveled my head to find one of the stewardesses holding open her bag for me to dump my empties in.
Are we still allowed to call them stewardesses, or is that no longer PC? What the hell are they supposed to be termed now? Oh, yeah, flight attendants. I don’t know why everything has to change…
“Darlin’,” Cade muttered, his voice rough with sleep. “You’re talking to yourself.”
“Huh?” I asked, turning to take in my gorgeous mountain of a man.
“You’re mumbling something about stewardesses, but, babe, they don’t like to be called th
at,” Cade replied, then shifted and closed his eyes again.
I blinked slowly, wondering how Cade knew so much about it, then turned my focus on the map in front of me.
I’d been watching the damn thing for hours. Tracking those little dots as we flew over the ocean for what felt like an eternity. I’d never considered myself a bad flyer before this flight. Maybe it was the prospect of meeting Cade’s family … Of introducing them to my kids, and what it all might mean.
I mean, it’s a pretty big deal, especially since Cade has never brought anyone home to meet the parents before. It felt huge, like this one trip had the potential to change everything.
And that was pretty scary.
After all, I’ve only been divorced a little over a year. Shouldn’t I be sowing my wild oats or something?
I turned my attention back to Cade and smiled.
His scruff was a day old; his long, dark hair was starting to come out of its rubber band, and was wildly framing his face, but even with his eyes closed, he was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen. And any wild oats I had in me, had definitely been sowed by him.
Truthfully, before he’d rode up to me on his motorcycle, I hadn’t been interested in dating anyone. So, although things seemed to be progressing quickly, there was no other man, shit, no other person, in this world I’d rather be with until the end of my days.
I’m not sure how long I sat there pondering that epiphany, but in what felt like a matter of seconds, the wheels touched down with a bounce and we were taxiing down the runway.
“Elin, Elena, get up. We’re here,” I said softly, leaning over to touch them each gently on the arm.
They both shot up, eyes wide, with grins on their faces, making me wonder if they’d been faking sleep, then turned to me and asked excitedly in unison, “We’re in Hawaii?”
Being the mother of eleven, almost twelve, year-old twins, you’d think I’d be used to them doing things in unison like that, but no … That shit is freaky every time.
“Uh … yeah, we just landed,” I replied, then shushed them when they started chattering excitedly and bouncing in their seats. I shrugged, knowing there was no use in trying to contain their excitement. They’d done a pretty good job of keeping a lid on it up until that point, so why not let them have a little fun. After all, who knew if we’d ever get another trip to Hawaii.
“Cade,” I whispered, leaning to my other side and running my hand down Cade’s arm. “We’ve landed.”
He grunted, then said, “Wake me up when we’re at the gate.”
I rolled my eyes, then, five minutes later when we pulled into the gate and they turned off the fasten seat belt sign, I woke him up again. This time, Cade immediately unfastened his seatbelt, stood right up, and stepped into the aisle.
Then, he proceeded to stretch. His black T-shirt came up, revealing his glorious stomach, and gave me a bird’s eye view of his happy trail.
Once I’d tucked my tongue back into my mouth and got a good eyeful, I turned to make sure the kids were gathering all of their belongings from the seat pocket in front of them, and were ready to get off the plane.
When it was our turn to disembark, Cade pulled out suitcases down from the overhead compartment, and we started off the plane. First Cade, with his well-worn leather backpack slung over one shoulder and a ratty Army-green duffel in his hand. Then Elin and Elena, with their Harry Potter and Star Wars rolling bags, and finally me, trailing behind with my new hard-case roller, wondering why I’d been in such a hurry to land when all I wanted to do in that moment was run back to the plane.
With every step closer to the arrival area, my stomach grew tighter and my buzz started to fade. By the time we stepped out of the corridor into the open space, filled with happy sounds and tons of people, I was ready to upchuck the six tiny bottles of vodka that had seemed like such a good idea in-flight.
I looked up in time to see a tall woman hugging Cade tightly, while a handsome, older version of Cade was placing leis around the twins’ necks. I plastered a smile on my face, and as I joined the group, all eyes turned to me.
Cade’s mother’s face lit up as she looked to him and said, “Nice job, Hiapo. She’s got great hips.”
The trip from the airport to Cade’s family home was luckily pretty short. It was, however, along a long and winding road. Everyone else was talking happily while I stared out the window and cursed myself for drinking.
It’s horrible when you have a buzz and you really don’t want to.