Teacher's Pet

"You don't want to hear it?" he asked.

"No," Nate and I said at the same time. Makani kissed his cheek, laughing. He could be a little long winded sometimes; we weren't trying to stay up all night.

We hung out while the luau shut down and said goodbye to Makani and Keno, making our way down to the beach to my place. I smiled making the walk, thinking we'd do this often: take walks on the beach. I had put it all on the line, falling for Nate, and here we were going home together.

There was no more doubt. No more fear. No more anxiety. Only us, and the future.

"I'm really happy you decided to stay," I told him.

"I am, too."

"I think living here is going to be good for you."

"Being with you is going to be good for me," he said.

"I love you, Nate."

"I love you too, babe."

"Are you excited?" I asked carefully.

"I can't wait."

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Nate

Three Months Later

I'd never been to a Hawai'ian wedding before. Keno's family had wanted something a lot more traditional, while Makani's family was a little more modern. They came to a compromise that looked like a wedding of about one hundred people at a public park overlooking the ocean.

It had only been three months since Keno had proposed. I asked him over and over whether it was happening so fast because she was pregnant, but he kept denying it.

It didn't matter anyway. They were getting married. I was happy for them. After Kirsten, I had to admit, I wasn't that excited to try doing it again.

Maybe it really did come down to whether you were marrying the right person. Keno thought Makani made the sun rise every morning, and hey, I got it. I thought Abby was an actual angel, and I had just been the lucky shmuck she had felt sorry for and decided to give some lov

e to.

I had loved Kirsten, but I didn't remember feeling what I saw between Keno and Makani with her. I didn't remember feeling for her what I felt for Abby. Maybe that was a sign that I wouldn't be paying Abby a divorce settlement in the future when it all went to shit, but I didn't see the need to rush anything.

She was still in school, and I was still moving my life from LA to Lanai. I had had to have a few flights back just to arrange everything and make sure I wiped that slate clean. I was stoked on Lanai. I understood why Abby and Keno loved it so much. It certainly didn't hurt that I had some actual friends now.

I had gone almost twenty-eight years of my life without having ever been a groomsman at someone's wedding. It was kind of embarrassing when I thought about it. Kirsten and I had had a really small ceremony at my house with like, ten guests. It hadn't felt anything like this.

The people who weren't family were friends, colleagues, and people who had known Makani and Keno since they were young. There were old teachers, former classmates, people who worked at the market in the city, everyone.

I liked it. It was great feeling like you belonged to a community. It was like it was everyone's big day, not just theirs.

Speaking of big day, Keno had been nervous as fuck since we had gotten to the ceremony.

He had been asking me how to deal, but I wasn't sure if he wanted advice from someone who had ended up getting a divorce. I just told him to wait till Makani showed up, then he'd be able to calm down. I was standing at the front of the ceremony waiting for it to begin with him, his brother who was his best man, and one other guy who was his last groomsman.

Makani walked down the aisle to the Hawai'ian Wedding Song instead of the bridal march most people knew. Before she did, though, her bridal party walked down the aisle. I watched the other girls walk down the aisle waiting for Abby's turn. She was maid of honor, so she went in just before Makani.

She and Keno were wearing white, but her bridesmaids, Abby included, had these long, flowy dresses that were cotton-candy pink. She took my breath away coming down the aisle. She looked really pretty in the dress, but she had these white flowers in her hair and I don't know, maybe it was because we were at a wedding and she was walking down an aisle. It put some crazy ideas in my head.

That was my girl.