8
MIA
“Surprise!” Paige shouts as she runs towards me to give me a hug. Mom waves enthusiastically as Paige’s arms pull me out of my trance.
“What in the world are you guys doing here?” I stammer, still shocked, but able to walk to where mom is standing.
Mom gives me a sheepish smile. “We just wanted to come check on you and make sure you’re really doing all right! You know there’s only so much you can gather from a phone call. Don’t worry—we’ll only be here for a few days, and you’ll hardly notice we’re even here.”
“Isn’t that great?” Paige asks with a gleeful grin.
“Now, come show us where you’ve been staying!” Mom says while picking up her small suitcase and backpack. Paige loops her arm in mine, and we start walking down the gravel driveway toward the cottage. Still in disbelief, I try to wrap my head around the fact that they’re actually here. Mom is a few paces in front of us when I hear her say, “Oh! Hello! You must be John?”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“Mom!” I run to catch up to where she’s standing, and I see John sitting by his pool with his laptop. He shuts his laptop and slowly gets to his feet, a wary expression on his face.
“Oh, you don’t have to get up!” I say, panicking at how fast this situation is unraveling. “I know how busy you are. Come on, Mom—the cottage is this way…”
“Mia! Don’t be rude!”
I sigh. “Mom, this is John. John, this is my mom and my best friend, Paige.”
John manages a smile and a small wave, which I appreciate since I know that’s more than he offered me when we first met.
Not wanting to stay and see what kind of questions my mother has for him, I hurry them along. “Come on, this way. I can’t wait to have you try some papaya! See ya later, John.” I throw a quick smile his way and then herd mom and Paige toward the cottage stairs.
“Damn. Is that who you’ve been dating?” Paige whispers once we’re out of earshot. “I approve!”
“Shhh!” I hush her and open the door, letting them inside my humble abode.
“Where exactly were you guys planning to stay? With me, I’m assuming?” Not that I mind, I’m happy to see them.
“Well, your contract mentioned that there was a pull out couch, so that’s perfect for me. And we figured Paige could just stay with you in your room? Is that all right, dear?” Mom asks expectantly.
“Sure, that’ll work.” It’s not like I can ask them to go stay in a hotel. There’s no point in wasting their money when I have the space for them here. Not a lot of space, of course, but we can make do. They already flew all the way here; I might as well make the most of it.
“Here, let me show you where my room is. You can keep your stuff in there.”
I give them a quick tour and help them get settled; then we reconvene in the kitchen area. “Should I make us some margaritas?” I had picked up some margarita mix while I was in town yesterday, wanting to bring a cocktail with me to the beach one of these days.
“Why not, that sounds lovely,” Mom replies, and Paige’s face lights up.
After I hand everyone a drink, Mom wastes no time jumping right into her interrogation. “So! That John boy is sure handsome, what’s he like? You’re sure you’re in the right headspace for seeing someone new? Have you heard from Sean at all?”
“Sean who?” Paige mutters, sipping her margarita as she peeks out the window toward the pool and John, turning to wiggle her eyebrows at me.
“Mom, I’ve been here for almost two weeks now. Sean and I broke up a few weeks before that, so it’s been over a month. I’m truly over our relationship, and honestly, that happened pretty soon after the breakup. I knew in my heart that we weren’t right for each other.”
She looks at me for a moment, then reaches across the table and squeezes my hand. “Okay, if you say so, sweetheart.”
“So what should we do tomorrow? Beach?” Paige asks, finally joining us at the table and thankfully bringing a change of subject with her.
“That sounds nice; we can have a picnic lunch! Oh, let’s invite John! I’d love to get to know him!” Mom says.
My eyes widen slightly, not sure how to respond. “Oh, Mom. I don’t know. He’s pretty busy. And he’s a local. The beach is nothing new to him.”
“Well, you won’t know until you ask, dear.”
“I can ask, sure.”
My mind starts running, wondering how I'm going to successfully manage to avoid John for the next couple of days while they’re here. There’s no reasonable excuse that I can use to deter them from hanging out with the guy I told them I was dating—especially since he lives right next door. And I can’t exactly come clean and tell them I lied in the first place. Especially since everyone back home already knows. It would be mortifying if they found out I made it up.
“Great! Now, I’m exhausted from traveling, so if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go take a shower and get ready for bed. I hope this was a good surprise, Mia,” Mom says, rinsing her cup out in the sink.
“It was! I’m glad you guys are here.” I give her a quick hug. “I’m gonna run over and see if John wants to join us tomorrow. I’ll be right back!” I race out the door and slam it shut behind me before Paige offers to come with.
Ugh.
What am I gonna do? I walk slowly over to the house, trying to think of a way out of this situation. John’s not out by the pool anymore, so I walk up to the front door and knock. When he opens the door, he gives me a warm smile, and damn if my heart doesn’t skip a beat.
“Can I come in for a minute?”
“Sure,” he replies, opening the door wider for me to come in.
“Sorry about earlier, I didn’t know they were coming. They surprised me. I know I only booked for one person, I hope it's not a prob–”
He cuts me off with a shrug. “It’s fine.”
“Ok, great. Thanks. Um. One more thing…” I sigh, embarrassed by my backfiring tactics.
“What is it?” His eyes narrow in confusion.
“So, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind helping me out with something…you know I mentioned that I broke up with my boyfriend before I came to Hawaii?”
He nods.
“Well, apparently, he might want to get back together, and when my mom mentioned that a few days ago, I knew that I didn’t want to talk to him, so I kind of told her a little white lie to keep him off my back.”
“Okay….”
“I told her that I’d been dating someone here.”
He looks at me with a raised brow.
“But I haven’t.”
“You told your mom you’ve been dating when you actually haven’t?”
“Yes… and here’s the kicker… I kind of—accidentally—told her it was you I was dating.” I gave him my best nervous smile, trying to appear confident, like this stupidity happens every day.
“Me?” His brows lift in surprise.
“Yes. And now they want to go to the beach tomorrow, and they asked if you would want to come, and I’m not really sure how to get myself out of this mess… so I was wondering if you might be willing to do me a favor and come with us? Maybe go along with the lie that we’re dating? If you don't want to, I totally get it. It’s a lot to ask, I know. And I’m sure I can just tell them you have other plans, but they’re just going to keep asking.”
He looks like he’s struggling to find the right words. “Uh… I’d really like to help you out, but… I don’t know… I’m not good at playing games. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, no problem,” I say in a rush. “I totally get it. Forget I even asked!” My cheeks flush with embarrassment.
What did I really think he was going to say? It took him multiple contacts before he even spoke to me, and I want him to meet my mother?
“Okay, I’ll see you around then. Good night!” I rush out the door before he can say anything else. Running back to the cottage, the shame washes over me in full force.
Ugh, kill me now.
I turn the lock on the door behind me, creep past my sleeping mom on the couch, and shut the lights off on the way to my room. Paige is just getting ready to crawl into bed.
“Okay, spill,” she says as she pulls back the covers on the left side of the bed. “I’ve been keeping it PG in front of your mom, but now I want all the details. Have you kissed him? Have you hooked up? He’s seriously hot!”
I turn the light off and climb under the covers on my side of the bed. We’ve been friends for a long time, we’ve had quite a few end-of-the-night chats about boys in our day, so this is certainly familiar territory. I just don’t know how much to say, and I hate lying to my best friend.
“Yes, Paige, I am aware of how hot he is. He’s also a really nice guy. He’s kind of closed off, though, and he hasn’t opened up much.” This is all true.
“Why’s that?”
“He’s been through a lot in his life. His parents died when he was in high school, and then he just got out of the military a few months ago. I think he’s still processing a lot from that.”
“That sucks. I totally get it, though. Post-deployment can be really, really hard.” Paige would know; her dad is a former Air Force pilot. She was pretty young when he retired from the Air Force, but she’s mentioned a time or two how challenging it was for him and their family.
“Yeah, for sure. Let’s get some sleep. I’m glad you’re here, Paige. I missed you,” I whisper, not able to fight my heavy eyelids any longer.
“Missed you, too. Night.”
* * *