Boy vs. Girl E-Book

Mary E. Thompson

• Herausgeber: BluEyed Press
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Losing control is not an option…
It’s been a long time since I had the space to dream.
Seeing my dreams come true again is a pretty great deal. Not that I have big dreams, but being out from under the crushing debt that ripped my first marriage apart means I’m ready to start living again.
Not everyone sees the Big Island as their dream.
Ginny wants to be anywhere but here. It makes no sense to me why anyone would want to run from paradise, but she has something else in mind. Something that doesn’t include a job that has her landlocked on her father’s coffee plantation.
We aren’t friends, but we aren’t enemies. There are so many stops in between. Which one we’re at definitely depends on the day.

Leseprobe

BOY VS. GIRL

OPPOSITES ATTRACT, BOOK THREE

MARY E THOMPSON

Boy vs. Girl

Opposites Attract, book three

Copyright © 2018 Mary E Thompson

Cover Copyright © 2020 Mary E Thompson

Cover Photo from depositphotos, Copyright © ridofranz

Chapter header vector from depositphotos, Copyright © pzRomashka

Published by BluEyed Press, All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, businesses, locations, and events are either products of the author’s creative imagination or are used in a fictitious sense. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-944090-58-6

Print ISBN: 978-1-944090-59-3

Created with Vellum

OPPOSITES ATTRACT

The Big Island of Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places on earth. It’s a fantasy to visit there, but a few lucky people get to call it home. They get to walk out their front door and be in paradise every single day. But that doesn’t mean it’s all perfect all the time. There are still curves ahead, and not just the women these men fall head over heels for.

OPPOSITES ATTRACT

Order vs. Chaos

Better vs. Worse

Boy vs. Girl

Devil vs. Angel

Mainland vs. Island

Big & Beautiful Ever After is a subscriber exclusive short story that takes place after Mainland vs. Island.

SUBSCRIBE NOW AT MARYETHOMPSON.COM

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Epilogue

About the Author

For my kids, who teach me every day how wonderful both boys and girls are.

CHAPTERONE

I walked around my tiny house and sipped my morning cup of coffee. Out the window I could almost see the ocean. Not quite, but I didn’t care. I was there. I’d done it. On my own, without her. She told me I’d never do anything without her. Fuck her.

I took a deep breath and drained the rest of my coffee. I had a busy day ahead of me and was ready to get it started. Up first was a trip to Opposites Attract, the full service wedding planning company I worked for. I was lucky to find the job when I did, about a month from having to give up on myself and do something different. The taste of failure was still there, lingering on the edges, but I wasn’t going back to that place. I would do anything to make my boss happy and keep my job.

I took a quick shower and headed out the door. The drive up the coast from my house in Ke’aloha to Opposites Attract was peaceful and beautiful. Everything about living in Hawaii was. I grew up on Maui but moved to the Big Island because my ex wanted to be here. I thought about going back and helping my dad on his cattle farm, but I fell in love with the Big Island and wanted to do my own thing. Dammit, I was.

I pulled into Opposites Attract and smiled. It felt like home. I could breathe. I had that feeling when I first saw the place. It was peaceful and beautiful and perfect.

Kiana called a meeting with the entire staff so I went straight to the conference room. Kiana and Sawyer were already there, but Ada, Jack, and Briella hadn’t arrived yet.

“Morning,” Sawyer said, breaking away from Kiana.

Kiana switched into business mode and welcomed me. I hadn’t gotten a good feel for her yet. She liked my food, but she was a little standoffish, especially lately. The big wedding we had coming up was for Sawyer’s brother, and Kiana was killing herself to impress him and the rest of their group of friends that were coming for the wedding.

And Sawyer’s parents.

“How are you guys?” I asked, trying to be casual.

Sawyer nodded. “Good. Getting ready for the wedding.”

I got it. I just did the food, but Kiana took care of everything. Her job wasn’t easy. She had to make the dreams of every couple who called her come true. The pressure was even worse with her boyfriend’s brother as the groom.

Ada and Jack came down the hall arguing. When they walked into the room, they both turned to Kiana and made her the center of attention.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked.

Kiana nodded.

“Are you sure?” Ada asked.

She nodded again.

I had no idea what the hell was going on. What happened to Kiana? And why were they worried about her?

“She’ll be here soon, and we can see if it’s an option,” Kiana said.

Briella slid into the room and stood near Ada. They were friends from childhood but not close recently. Briella started working as the resident cake master for Opposites Attract shortly after I did. She used the kitchen when she needed to, but she had her own cake making business from home, too. As a single mom, Jack told me she liked flexible hours. I hadn’t gotten to know Briella well yet, but she seemed nice enough. Quiet. And she stayed out of my way. I liked that.

“What did I miss?” I asked.

Jack tilted his head and looked at me. “Sawyer’s brother doesn’t want to get married here. They want to get married somewhere that has views of the beach but not right on the water. Something different. Something we’ve never done before.”

“Isn’t the wedding in less than two months?”

Jack nodded. “That’s the shit part of it. We were all ready for them to be here, planning it all out. We’re basically starting from scratch.”

“Ouch.”

“Yep. So Kiana is kind of freaking out.”

“I’m not freaking out,” Kiana insisted. “I just wish I’d known this when we started talking about the wedding a few months ago. They never mentioned location. I thought they were set on getting married here. I never thought.”

“I’ll kick his ass when they get here,” Sawyer said, tugging Kiana close. “I’m not touching Tara, but I’ll talk to her.”

Kiana shook her head. “Don’t. It’s my fault. I should have asked. They didn’t realize how early we needed to book other locations.”

“Still. They should have told us what they were thinking.”

“My website says unique weddings for every event. A custom experience. They thought that’s what they were getting. They didn’t realize they had to ask for something different if they wanted something different,” Kiana explained.

“Don’t invitations for something like this go out by now?” I asked. The invitations for my wedding were out two months before the date. It was one of the many things we fought about. She threw a fit when I didn’t have my list of people to invite. I told her there was still time. She didn’t like that answer.

Jack patted my arm. “You’re cute, honey. Don’t make things worse by trying to help.”

I rolled my eyes at him and stepped out of the conversation. Reminding Kiana things weren’t going the right way wasn’t going to solve her issues.

The front door opened, and we all stared at the door waiting for whoever was there to join us. I didn’t know who it was supposed to be, but I could tell everyone else in the room was nervous.

The woman who appeared in the doorway had to be the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Her dark eyes scanned the room before they landed on someone behind me and lit up. Her beauty went from stunning and sexy to adorable and captivating when she grinned.

Her dark skin was offset by her lavender tipped hair. She walked past me, the soft fabric of her flowered skirt brushing my leg and teasing me. The tank top she paired it with hugged her curves. She was small, but she had more than enough curves to show me that she was a woman who not only worked out but loved everything life offered.

When she was beyond me, her scent hit, invading my nose. Coffee was prominent, followed quickly by a hint of dirt and flowers. I wanted to know more about a woman who smelled like coffee, especially when she looked like that.

“Ginny, thanks so much for coming,” Kiana said, embracing the stranger.

“Of course. I’m happy to. Anything for you,” she answered, her voice muffled against Kiana’s hair.

Jesus, even her voice was sexy. Husky and gravelly and enough to make me want to listen to her talk forever.

“I really appreciate that. How are you?”

Ginny shrugged as she pulled back from Kiana. “As okay as can be expected.”

There was a sadness in her. Something I could feel more than see. An emotion that highlighted her beauty as much as it marred it. I wanted to sweep her into my arms and take away everything that made her not want to be there.

The fact that she would rather be anywhere but there in that moment was tangible.

Wait, Ginny? Shit. Kapena’s friend.

“How’s your dad feeling?” Kiana asked.

Ginny nodded. “Better. Thanks.” Tension pinched her forehead as she forced a grin. She didn’t want to talk about it.

We were supposed to go surfing a few weeks ago. Ginny canceled at the last minute when her father had a heart attack. She planned to go back to Oahu for another surfing tournament shortly after, but she was stuck on the Big Island, taking care of her dad.

And not happy about it.

I understood the desire to be anywhere other than where she was. She could be on the ocean, surfing, living her life, but she was stuck taking care of her father’s coffee plantation.

Stuck sucked, even if you were stuck someplace amazing. You were still stuck.

Ada stepped forward and hugged Ginny after Kiana. “Kapena wants to go surfing soon,” she said.

Ginny laughed mirthlessly. “We’ll see when I can get out.”

She forced another smile and turned toward the table to sit. The others followed suit, and I took a seat across from Ginny so I could watch her.

I was starting to creep myself out.

I relaxed into my chair and nodded when Kiana introduced Ginny to everyone else. Ginny smiled at me but quickly turned her attention to Kiana, and the reason for the meeting.

“The wedding is in less than two months,” Kiana began. “I didn’t realize they wanted to go somewhere else on the island. I know it’s last minute, and the timing is shitty with your dad… You were the first one I called.”

Kiana offered a weak smile. My fierce, kick-ass boss was as close to begging as I’d ever seen her. She was always in charge. Organized to the max. I liked things just so, but I was a slob compared to Kiana.

But this? This was new.

“I’m not sure I can pull it off, Kiki. I’d love to say yes, but between my dad and harvest starting right around the same time, I’m not sure it’s going to work,” Ginny said.

She sounded defeated, like she was throwing in the towel and giving up. But there was a spark in her eyes. Something hidden down there. Something that said there was fight in her. She just didn’t know what she was fighting, or if she’d win.

“We’ll take care of everything, Ginny,” Kiana promised. “You won’t have to worry at all. We’ll set up and clean up. Micah is an amazing chef and he can cook everything here then bring it there so we don’t mess up your kitchen. Anything.”

My chest puffed a bit when Kiana praised me, and even more when Ginny slid me a look that left me a little hotter than normal. Her gaze eased from my eyes down my torso before returning to my eyes after a hard stop at the edge of the table.

“How would we do it all?”

Kiana launched into wedding planner mode. “There’s going to be about thirty people, so not too big of a crowd. I was thinking we could set up on the hill. They want a short ceremony, so we’ll probably have a few chairs, but mostly have everyone stand. I’d like the crowd to look out toward the water. Sunset, the pictures will be amazing. I’m thinking a tent, nothing too huge. They want a DJ, not a band, so that will be easy to pull off. We can have pretty much everything under the big tent I have.”

“Will it fit?” Ginny asked.

Kiana nodded. “It will. I think. I’d like to come out sometime soon and take some measurements, talk layout. Stuff like that. Whenever you have time. We’re at your mercy, seriously.”

She sighed. “I can talk to my dad.”

“Thank you,” Kiana breathed. “I can talk to him, too. If you’d rather.”

Ginny shook her head quickly. She nibbled her lower lip and closed her beautiful brown eyes for just a second. “No. I’ll talk to him. I’m sorry if I wasted your time today, though.”

Kiana smiled and stood with Ginny. “Not at all. I hope this works out. I know you have a lot on your plate right now, but we’ll make this as painless as possible.”

Kiana’s voice faded as she and Ginny walked toward the door. Everyone sat around the table staring at nothing. When the door finally shut and Kiana came back, everyone tentatively looked at her. She shrugged.

“What can we do to convince her?” Ada asked first.

Kiana sighed. “I have no idea. She’s really overwhelmed right now. And not happy to be here.”

“Kapena said she’s just frustrated. She’s trapped here helping her dad, but she’d rather be surfing. She thinks he might be faking it, too,” Ada whispered conspiratorially.

“No. He wouldn’t do that, would he?” Sawyer asked.

Ada shrugged. “I don’t know him. Ginny said she’d give up surfing if she didn’t win her tournament. She won. Then he had a heart attack. I can understand why she’s suspicious.”

“That’s really shitty,” I said.

“Ginny’s a good person,” Kiana immediately defended.

“I didn’t mean her. I meant her dad.”

“We don’t know if it’s true. Let’s not assume the worst,” Kiana lectured.

I felt appropriately chastised and shut my mouth. The last thing I needed was my boss doubting me over something that had nothing to do with us.

Everyone filed out of the conference room and went to their offices. I headed for the kitchen. We had a wedding coming up that weekend, and I needed to restock the pantry, order the fresh ingredients, and start preparing the menu.

I grabbed the list I stuck to the fridge and headed for the door. I had time to do some shopping before I started lunch for everyone. They were my taste testers, and I had a few new ideas to try out.

Someone was talking when I walked outside. The closer I got to the parking lot, the more I realized it wasn’t a voice I knew well, but it was familiar. I tried to ignore her, but the strain told me she wasn’t dealing well with the conversation.

“I understand. How can you say that? Well, you wanted me here. I didn’t! No. No! Ugh!”

I reached her car just as she hung up the phone. I thought about walking past her and not engaging, but she spotted me.

“Sorry.”

I shrugged. “No need to be sorry.”

She laughed mirthlessly. “There is if I can’t talk him into hosting the wedding.”

“He said no?”

Ginny nodded. “He said it’s too much for me to take on. As if he actually cares. He’s been dying for me to be here, and now he won’t let me do anything.”

“Working with family isn’t easy.”

She shook her head. “No, it isn’t.”

We were quiet for a moment, letting the silence stretch.

“Are you going to tell Kiana?” I finally asked.

Ginny glanced at the building, her lips pursed. “Not yet. I’m going to talk to my dad. This is the first time since I’ve been back that I was actually excited about something. It’s his plantation, but if I have to run it, I need to run it my way. And I need to help Kiki.”

“Do you think he’ll listen?”

She snorted. “Not a chance, but I’m not going to give up until he agrees.”

Damn. She had a lot of fire. She was definitely the kind of woman who would light up everyone around her, or die trying. She was beautiful, passionate, and someone I needed to stay far away from.

One fiery woman was enough in my past. I didn’t need a new one in my present.

CHAPTERTWO

I finished grocery shopping and went back to Opposites Attract, pushing Ginny from my mind. I didn’t tell Kiana about her father, or that Ginny was going to fight to have the wedding there. I had enough of my own family drama to get in the middle of theirs.

I’d gotten in the habit of cooking lunch on Mondays for everyone in the office using the last of whatever we had left from the weekend. It usually ended up as a buffet of sorts with two or three of each thing, but it gave me a chance to try out new recipes and get more creative with my cooking. It was the first chance I’d ever had to cook anything I wanted.

I organized chicken cordon bleu bites, spinach dip cups, shrimp scampi pasta, and goat cheese stuffed mini peppers on the table and went to tell Kiana lunch was ready.

“I’m starving,” she groaned, immediately turning from her computer. “Thank you for cooking again.”

I nodded and went down the hall to let everyone else know. Sawyer met me on my way to his office and grinned. “Lunch?”

“Yep.”

“I can smell it. Thanks for cooking.”

“You’ll have to let me know what you think of the chicken cordon bleu bites. It’s new this week.”

“Is that what I smell?”

I nodded. “Probably.”

Sawyer rubbed his stomach as it growled. “Well, it smells good.”

We laughed and joined Kiana, Jack, and Ada in the dining room. Briella took off after the meeting, but everyone else was there for the day.

“This is so good,” Ada groaned around a pepper. “Wow.”

“Thanks,” I said with a grin, popping one in my mouth.

“What are you serving this weekend?” Kiana asked, putting one of everything on her plate.

“They wanted finger foods and a very casual kind of feel. I’ve already decided on sliders, both beef and chicken. I’m thinking of doing fresh cut fries, maybe sweet potato chips if you’re okay with it. The peppers are under serious consideration. Fruit salad in mini cups and veggies with a few different dips. Maybe a couple other things.”

“I’m so glad I’m officiating this wedding,” Ada said with a grin.

“It all sounds good,” Kiana said. “They were pretty laid back with their food. I think they’ll love it.” She sighed. “I’m glad someone will be happy with their wedding.”

Sawyer leaned over and kissed her head. “My brother will be fine.”

Kiana snorted. “It’s not your brother I’m worried about.”

“Tara will be fine, too. I promise. She’s not bad, especially for a former actress.” Sawyer winked.

Kiana groaned. “Oh, God. I forgot she used to be an actress. She could destroy my entire business!”

Sawyer closed his eyes for a second then smiled at Kiana. “She’s not going to ruin your business. She’s a good person. She wants this to be a success as much as you do. Stop stressing. I’m sure Micah will come up with an amazing menu. Hey, maybe you can do something with coffee since they’re getting married at the plantation.”

Sawyer grinned like it was the best idea ever. I kept my mouth shut, hoping someone, anyone said something, and stop me from having to answer.

“Micah can do anything,” Ada said. “There are tons of recipes that use coffee. But let’s make sure Mr. Kelley lets us use the place first.”

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

“I have no idea what I’m going to do if he says no,” Kiana whined. “It’s the only place on the island where I have a connection to get in at the last minute, but that I haven’t used before.”

“Just tell Tara. She’ll be fine with the wedding not being completely unique,” Sawyer said.

Kiana scoffed. “The one time I don’t deliver what I promised is not going to be for your brother’s wedding to a former actress. No. This will happen. I don’t know how, but this has to work. Mr. Kelley has to say yes.”

“He will,” Sawyer said. “There’s no reason he wouldn’t.”

“He would if he thinks it’s too much for Ginny,” I muttered.

“What? Did she say that? Did you talk to her?” Kiana pounced on me immediately.

Shit.

Everyone stared at me, waiting for me to say something. So much for staying out of it.

“I just heard her arguing with him when I went to the store.”

“He said we can’t do it there?” Kiana shrieked.

I shook my head. “She was going to go talk to him again.”

Kiana jumped up and paced the room, shaking her hands and mumbling. “Oh, my God. He said no. We can’t do it. Where am I going to have this wedding? I’m screwed. I’m so screwed. What am I going to do?”

Sawyer guided her out of the room and a few seconds later a door closed. Jack and Ada stared at me expectantly.

“What?”

“How are you going to fix this?” Ada asked.

“Fix? What? How?”

“She’s freaking out. Why did you say that?” Jack asked.

I sighed. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Ginny said she was going to talk to her dad. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, but it might not be. And now Kiki’s freaking out because of you,” Jack said with a glare.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to upset her. It just came out.”

“Keep it in next time,” Jack snapped.

Ada shook her head. “Give him a break. He wasn’t trying to upset her. Everything with this wedding is making Kiki nuts.”

“Where else can we go if he says no?” Jack asked.

Ada sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to think up options. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.”

Jack threw me a look. “Well, it sounds like it might.”

* * *

Kiana hadn’t heard back from Ginny by the time I left work that afternoon. I was on edge, trying to figure out another option. We all were.

I sent Alvin, Ada’s brother, a text before I pulled out of the parking lot. We bonded over our shitty luck with women and our love of all things alcohol. We’d gotten in the habit of getting together a few times a week. He’d bring the drinks, I provided the food.

I’d just put chicken and pineapple skewers on the grill when there was a knock on my front door. Alvin knew enough to let himself in so I brushed sweet teriyaki sauce on while I waited for him to join me.

“Smells good,” Alvin said, handing over a beer mug that did not appear to have beer in it.

“Chicken and pineapple, asparagus, and potatoes in the oven.”

“How in the hell do you not have better luck with women than I do?” Alvin joked.

“Because they said you get to a man’s heart through his stomach, not a woman’s.”

Alvin nodded. “True.” He batted his dark eyelashes at me and puckered his lips. He tossed his curly ponytail over his shoulder and tilted his head to the side. “I do love a man who cooks for me.”

I snorted. “You wish you could find a woman who fed you half as well as I do.”

Alvin tipped his head back and laughed. “That is the truth. I’d starve if it wasn’t for you and take-out.”

I grinned and turned the skewers. “It works out for both of us.”

“Did you try it yet?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. What is it?”

“Bourbon, cherries, lime and lemon juice, a little club soda. What do you think?”

I took a sip and hissed. “You staying here tonight?”

Alvin laughed. “Was thinking about it.”

“Damn. If you have more than one of these you’re gonna need to.”

Alvin grinned and settled onto one of the two chairs on my tiny deck. He stared off toward the mountain and took a deep breath.

I knew the feeling.

“Ada said the wedding this weekend wants a special drink, just for them. What kind of food are you making?”

I closed the grill and joined him at the table. I stretched back, lacing my fingers together behind my neck. “Casual stuff. Sliders, fries, cookout food.”

Alvin ran a hand down his face and leaned forward. He sipped his drink and gnawed on his cheek.

I let him think and finished cooking dinner. Inside, I put potatoes on plates and carried them outside. Three skewers went on each plate with a healthy addition of asparagus. I set one in front of Alvin and he finally nodded.

“I’ve been thinking up all kinds of fancy shit. How many weddings do we do with burgers?”

I laughed. “I know. But Kiana ran it past the bride and she loved it. She needs an easy one right now.”

Alvin groaned. “Shit, I heard. Sawyer’s brother? I guess not everyone realizes how complicated weddings are.”

I nodded. “That’s the truth. It sounds like they’re all pretty laid back. From what Sawyer said, most of them got married in a lot less time than two months so they didn’t know they needed that kind of notice.”

“Where’s it going to be?”

I shrugged. “No clue. She called someone named Ginny, but it sounds like that’s not going to work out.”

“Ginny? No shit. Damn. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her. I think she was at a wedding a few months ago. She’s hot as hell.”

I nodded and shoveled food into my mouth. The last thing I needed to do was let on that I thought she was gorgeous. Alvin was single. He wasn’t recovering from a divorce from hell after the marriage from hell. He was a good guy, someone stable and emotionally available. Because as much as I’d love to tell myself I was, the truth was, I wasn’t. I wasn’t willing to get involved with another woman. Any woman. It didn’t matter what she looked like, who she was, or how perfect she was for me. I couldn’t do it.

Once upon a time, I thought Jane was the perfect woman. We made sense. We worked. Until we didn’t. By then it was too late. And if I didn’t see it coming with her, I wouldn’t see it with anyone else. So I took myself out of the game. Every game. Dating, relationships, hell, even friendship was off the table.

“Do you know her?” Alvin asked, obliviously to my internal turmoil.

I shook my head. “She was at Opposites Attract today, but we only talked for a minute.”

“She was a couple years behind me in school. Felt like jailbait when I was younger, but now?”

“You should go for it,” I forced out, telling myself there was no reason he shouldn’t.

Alvin shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. Hell, she’s got enough shit going on right now. I wouldn’t be any good for her anyway.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit, man,” I said. “You should go for it.”

He eyed me for a long moment before he smiled and popped a chunk of potato in his mouth. “You should get to know her. You need to get back out there more than me.”

I huffed. “Uh, no.”

Alvin shrugged again. “Whatever. We’re both too screwed up for a woman like Ginny.”

I snickered and stared at my almost view of the water. Alvin was definitely right about that one.

* * *

Alvin and I stayed up late drinking and talking about the women in our pasts. I told him a little more than I’d admitted to anyone else about Jane.

And woke up the next morning regretting some of it.

My phone rang, far too early for me, but at what most people would consider a reasonable hour. I grabbed it off the table next to my bed and answered it quickly to stop the sound from bouncing around in my brain.

“Yeah?”

“Micah. Is that how you answer the phone?”

I bolted straight up in bed and blinked my eyes open. “Dad? Um, hi. Why are you calling?”

He sighed, that heavy disapproving sigh that I’d grown up with echoing in my head. “Well, good morning to you, too.”

And there was the angry tone that slithered right up my spine and tightened a fist around my throat. “Good morning, Dad. How are you?”

“I’m well. Already been up for hours and got my morning chores done. Then I got a phone call from someone trying to track you down.”

“Who?” I asked.

Another sigh. “I don’t know. Some lawyer’s office.”

“What did they want?”

“Micah, I have no idea. I’m not your message service.”

I took a deep breath, filling my chest and trying to calm myself before I blew a gasket. My dad always brought out the crazy in me. We were explosive when I was young, always fighting. It was even worse when I started high school and we disagreed on how involved in the day-to-day operations of his farm I needed to be. We never recovered from those fights.

“Why did you call if you don’t have anything to tell me?” I asked, forcing my voice to stay calm.

“I thought you’d want to know. I told them you don’t live here and that you have a new place on the Big Island.”

“Did you give them my number?” I asked. God, I hoped he didn’t give a random person my phone number.

“No. I’m not stupid, Micah.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Lawyers came with trouble. I didn’t need more trouble. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Do you want their number?”

“You have it?”

He read it off to me while I scrambled for something to write it on. “Thank you.”

“Yep. Bye, Micah.”

“Bye.”

I hung up and closed my eyes. Sleep was out of the question. As was calling the lawyer. I would do some research and find out what I could about the place before I made a decision about calling them.

I heard footsteps in the kitchen and got up, pulling on a t-shirt before I left my room. Alvin already had the coffee started and was staring into the sink.

“Are you going to be sick?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Just debating sticking my head under the faucet for a drink.”

I chuckled. “As long as you don’t take a leak in my sink, I don’t care.”

Alvin snorted and glanced over his shoulder at me. “You all right?”

I nodded.

“Pretty early for a phone call.”

I eyed Alvin for a minute. I told him about Jane, but he didn’t know about my family. “It was my dad.”

His eyebrows peaked toward his hairline, but to his credit, he didn’t say anything, just leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest.

“We don’t talk much. And when we do, it’s rarely good.”

“Is everything okay?”

I shrugged and slid a hand through my short hair. I flexed my arms, needing to feel like I was in control of something, even if it was just my body. “He’s fine. If you consider ornery asshole fine. My mom left when I was young. Didn’t like the farm life, so she moved to the beach and married a guy who flew med-evac flights to Oahu. She told my dad a boy needs his father, so she left me with him, and he resented me for it.”

“Damn.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Our relationship isn’t great. Never has been.”

“Why did he call?”

“Some lawyer called him looking for me.”

“A lawyer? That’s not good.”

“Nope, it isn’t. The last time I talked to a lawyer was when I was going through my divorce.”

Alvin grinned. “Think it was her lawyer? Apologizing for being an ass.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Not a chance. She’d never work with someone who knew the words ‘I’m sorry.’”

Alvin choked laughing. “Damn, dude. You should have warned me.”

I shrugged and poured myself a cup of coffee. “It’s the truth.”

He shook his head. “Women like her are why I’ll never get married. It’s not worth the hassle.”

“One and done for me. I’ll be single for a while, and when I do date again, I’m not putting a ring on anyone ever again.”

“Just don’t tell your boss.”

I snorted. He made a good point.

CHAPTERTHREE

GINNY

I should have known better. I did know better. But I was stupid and I asked anyway. Did I really think he’d say yes? I mean, really? Ha! Not a chance.

Which meant I needed to bring out the big guns. He never said no to Kiki. She was the cute, sweet kid of one of his favorite former employees. She wasn’t Kapena’s sister to him, she was adorable little Kiki.

She was my secret weapon.

“Thanks for coming,” I said, meeting her outside. I hadn’t warned him she’d be there, which meant he’d be pissed off, but he deserved it.

“Of course. I’m happy to tell your dad all about Tara and Noah. I’m glad he’s open to talking about it.”

The door behind me slammed and out stepped the gorgeous chef that I met the other day. Jeez, the man didn’t need an oven. He was so damn hot food had no choice but to sizzle or melt in his presence.

Or maybe that was just me.