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

‘I wasn’t going to say anything.’

‘Hmm,’ she said disbelievingly.

‘He’s a great guy, don’t you think?’

‘Kalani.’

‘What?’ His innocence was so forced that she shot daggers at him, her look doing all the talking for her.

‘What I don’t understand, Mea aloha, is why you look so scared?’

‘I’m not scared.’

‘What are you then?’ he said softly, leaning his elbows into his knees as he looked up at her. ‘Because you’re not yourself…’

‘You won’t understand.’

‘Try me, I might surprise you.’

She looked to her godfather and though she loved him dearly, she couldn’t put this on him. She didn’t really want to put words to it herself. She smiled instead. ‘In a couple of weeks, I’ll be back to my old self.’

‘A couple of weeks?’ He raised his brow. ‘You mean, when he’s gone?’

Her throat closed over. When he’s gone… that was precisely it. She raised her coffee to her lips, forced it down. ‘Yes.’

It was all she needed to say and thankfully Kalani didn’t press.

‘Are you free tomorrow afternoon?’ she said once she could trust her voice again.

‘I’ve freed it up to get on with this,’ he waved a hand over the shop front, ‘she’s in need of some TLC.’

Malie scanned the building and agreed, but… ‘If I put some time aside to help you next weekend, would you help me instead?’

‘Help? With what?’

Now Malie smiled, happier thoughts taking over. ‘My friend Zoe is coming to stay and I want to get her out there on the board.’

Kalani smiled. ‘For that, I’ll definitely pass up the painting.’

‘Thank you, I’m so looking forward to getting her on the water again.’

‘Right.’ Todd appeared in the doorway, his surfboard underarm and the surf school’s pink T-shirt pulled taut over his upper body, his grin full of excited anticipation and sending fire licking up her insides. Oh, God. ‘I’m all set.’

Oh, good.

‘Great.’ She forced a smile and placed her half-finished coffee back on the table. ‘Let’s go.’

‘Come on, Zoe, I need you…’ she muttered under her breath, pulling her board out and setting off down the beach, Todd racing on her heels.

‘What was that you said?’

She kept her focus straight ahead. ‘Nothing.’

‘You know, I’m starting to think that you don’t like me very much after all.’

If only…

She looked back at him long enough to spy the laughter in his eyes and realize he knew the truth well enough: the problem wasn’t that she didn’t like him, it was the fact that she liked him far too much.

And it wasn’t funny.

‘That lesson was brutal.’

Kalani grinned at Todd. ‘She didn’t take it easy on you, huh?’

‘I wiped out more times than I can remember.’

‘Sounds like playground antics to me.’

Todd shook his hair and raked it back, Nalu trotted up behind him and mimicked his move, showering Kalani and his freshly painted woodwork. Playground antics, what was that supposed to mean?

‘Nalu,’ Kalani grumbled, shooing the dog away and looking past him. Todd knew Malie was approaching, he could feel it in the awareness prickling all over his body.

‘You going to be OK without me today?’ she said, actively ignoring Todd. Pretty much as she had done on the waves, aside from issuing instruction after instruction.

‘Of course, my lessons start at ten, if you could pull the gear out for me before you go that would be a huge help – no worries if you can’t.’

‘I’ll help,’ Todd offered.

‘It’s OK, I can do it.’ She sent him a quick look, one that he couldn’t decipher and then she headed off inside the surf school, leaving Todd standing there.

‘She’s a big softie really,’ Kalani said, snagging Todd’s attention. ‘I think you’ve just got under her skin, that’s all.’

‘Under her skin? You saying I annoy her that much?’

Kalani laughed, his bulky body rumbling with it as he dipped his brush in the vibrant blue paint. ‘Annoy wasn’t the word I would use.’

‘What word—’

‘Is it the kids from the resort?’ Malie appeared in the doorway preventing him finishing his question.

‘That’s the one, five altogether.’

She nodded, ‘Got it,’ and headed back inside, quick as a flash.

‘Just don’t take it personally,’ Kalani said, sweeping the paint over the wooden pillar that held up the palm-fronded roof to the shelter that fronted the surf school.

It was pretty hard not to take it personally, but he could hardly get into it now with Malie coming back and forth and likely listening in right now.

‘So, how far is this little refurb going?’ he asked instead, gesturing to the school front and realizing that the whole thing probably needed a touch-up. It was a big job and he couldn’t spy anyone else that would be helping out.

‘All of it. No point doing it piecemeal, it only makes the old look more tired otherwise.’

‘You need a hand?’

Kalani looked to him, his eyebrow hitting the palm fronds above. ‘You serious?’

‘Absolutely.’

Kalani lowered his brush to look at him properly. ‘Don’t you have more important things to be getting on with?’

‘It’s time I took a holiday.’

His brow lifted even further. ‘Painting is hardly a holiday.’

Todd grinned. ‘It’ll make a nice change.’

If he was going to consider Malie’s suggestion of doing DIY with his father, he might as well start here and help the surf school. They were doing such a great job with his charity’s kids after all.

And it gave him a reason to be around Malie more…

‘I’ll head back home, shower and change. I can be back before you take your first lesson out and you can put me to work.’

‘You’re really serious?’

‘Totally.’

Now Kalani grinned, his eyes warming with his appreciation. ‘In that case, thank you.’

‘Although, would you mind running inside and getting me my stuff? I’ll return this lot later, I think Malie is wanting her space.’

And he probably needed it too. Was he crazy to want to be around her more? To pursue this further? To pursue what exactly? He shook off the crazy riddle and watched as Kalani dropped his brush in the pot and gave him a nod.

‘Sure thing.’ He headed off inside, coming back seconds later with