Meet Me in Hawaii by Georgia Toffolo (novels for beginners txt) 📕

with the same inner battle: head saying it’s a bad idea, body being abuzz with it. And were they crazy to risk dinner together again, especially after last—

‘If you’re worrying about what happened last Sunday, consider that off the cards.’

She felt her cheeks colour, more at the fact he could read her mind, rather than the actual memory of last Sunday. No, that had another effect over her body, just as hot and just as tingly.

‘Tara will be our chaperone.’ He winked and flashed his perfect teeth with a grin, the weight seeming to lift from his voice now.

‘Funny.’ She rolled her eyes, but his grin was infectious and working its magic, whisking away her worries so easily. And he was right, what’s the worst that could happen? With Tara around, her libido would be forced to take a back seat. Tomorrow morning, though…

One step at a time, Malie.

‘Just give me time to shower and change, I can use the amenities here.’

‘Great.’

She felt his eyes warming her back all the way through the doors of the surf school and long after she’d hit the shower.

This was crazy.

This was bad.

This is for Tara and you will do it even if you end up going home a hot mess tonight.

If Todd had been offered a choice with no future risk – Malie all to herself, or Malie plus Tara – he may have jumped at the first option, but now, sitting in what he could only describe as a bamboo-and-leaf hut, adorned with wooden masks, shells and rainbow-coloured floral strands, he would actually be torn.

He’d let Malie choose where to eat, her knowledge of the local eateries far surpassing his. It didn’t matter that he could afford to take them to the finest Hawaii had to offer, this was the real deal. Tara’s flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes told him Malie had chosen right.

‘Aloha! One mocktail for this lady,’ said the cheery waiter, lifting a tall glass off the loaded tray with a tinsel palm tree and straw, placing it down in front of a beaming Tara who sat opposite him, Malie next to her.

‘One cocktail for the other…’

Malie’s drink looked practically the same as Tara’s, he just hoped they’d got them the right way around.

‘And a water for you, sir.’ He placed it down in front of him.

‘Thank you.’

Tara grimaced at his glass. ‘You should have had one of these.’ She dipped and took a long sip. ‘It’s delicious.’

‘I bet it is… and I can just imagine the sugar content.’

‘You need to live a little, Todd.’ He looked to Malie as she said it and saw the teasing glint in her eye, it was impossible to take offence. Truth was, when he was with her, he felt very much alive and very much like he was living. More than he could ever remember doing before.

‘We need to come up with a plan!’

Malie and Todd both looked to Tara, surprised. ‘A plan?’ they said in unison.

‘We have two weeks left and I kind of figure that Mum and Dad letting me come out tonight shows they’re willing to ease up, especially when you speak to them, Mr Masters… so how about you talk to them about me going with the other kids on the bus? Maybe if they start letting me do it here, they’ll let the same thing happen at home.’

She sounded so certain, so determined. The quiet, reserved girl that he’d brought out here just over a week ago was almost unrecognizable in the bright, confident girl before him.

‘Does it bother you that much?’ he asked. To him, having a parent who cared enough to take him from point A to point B as a child would have been a blessing.

‘It would bother you too,’ she said adamantly, twirling the straw as she spoke. ‘It’s bad enough to look like I do—’

‘Don’t say that,’ Malie said her hand reaching out to rest on Tara’s shoulder as she leaned in to get her attention.

‘I’m just stating a fact,’ said Tara, holding her eye, suddenly wiser and more confident than her ten years. ‘I look different, I can’t change that, but I can change the way people see me. You taught me that.’

He watched their little interchange, saw Malie’s gaze waver over Tara’s face as she smiled. ‘In what way?’

‘You made me realize that by hiding away from the group I only made myself different, made myself stand out, I made them uncomfortable around me… as soon as I started getting involved, doing what they do…’ she shrugged, a smile lifting her face, ‘then I realized I could blend in, I could have fun, I could be just another kid.’

‘Because you are,’ Malie said softly, she reached around Tara’s back and pulled her in for a hug, ‘and I’m so proud of you.’

‘Hey, gerroff, don’t be getting all soppy on me.’

Malie backed away, laughing, but Todd could see the tears glistening in her eyes, her happiness fit to burst from her and reaching inside him too. She was the reason Tara was like this now. She was the reason the girl had grown in confidence. She was the reason he was starting to see more to life than just work.

‘You too, Mr Masters.’

He refocused and saw Tara gesture towards Malie. Lord knew what she’d read in his face – another thing he seemed to be losing on this trip, his trusty poker face.

He grinned and raised his glass – ‘Deal!’ – and threw back a chug. The girl was right, he should have gone for the sugar high.

‘So, it’s agreed then?’ Tara said, looking between them both now. ‘You’ll talk to them about the bus?’

Malie looked to him hesitantly and then back to Tara. ‘We did try before, and they weren’t keen.’

‘Yes, but now’s different. I don’t think they would have said yes to this if they were still in the same head space.’

‘Head space?’ Todd said.

‘Yeah.’ Tara did a circular motion with her finger alongside her temple. ‘And they’re