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“We’re going to call a ride share. Your father and I are just not as young as we used to be.”
“It’s hard to get used to the time change after you move to Hawaii.”
That was the truth. He knew people who kept waking up at four in the morning even if they didn’t have to be awake.
“Hey, why don’t you take my car?”
“Are you sure? How will you get home?”
“I can get someone on the team to drop me off.”
“Are you sure? What will you do for transportation?”
“I have my work SUV if I get called in to work.” Which could always happen. They constantly had tourists getting lost, and it only took one bad storm or an injury to turn it into something that could end with death if not found soon enough.
“If you’re sure?”
He nodded. “No problem. You sure you don’t want me to show you around tomorrow?”
They had discussed it, but his mother said there was no rush.
She shook her head. “I think I just want to laze about tomorrow.”
“No worries.”
He kissed her cheek just as Autumn stepped onto the deck. As he straightened, he watched Autumn and Merri make their way over to them. His mother turned to look at what caught his attention.
“Oh, Merri, thank you so much for letting us join the celebration.”
“Are you leaving?” Merri asked.
“Yes, Dennis and I are still adjusting to the time change.”
“Of course. Let’s make up a plate for you to take back. That way, you don’t have to do much tomorrow.”
As the two women left him with Autumn, he realized she was looking anywhere but at him.
“You look nice.”
Her gaze zeroed in on him. His body reacted immediately.
“Thank you.”
And she did. She was a beautiful woman, but tonight, there was something different about her.
“So, your mom is abandoning you?”
He chuckled. “Seems like it.”
“Yeah, well, Merri told me she wanted to bang Sam.”
He barked out a laugh, and she smiled. Not the one he was used to. This one showed her dimples, and her eyes danced with amusement.
“Not sure how Adam is going to take that,” she said with a shrug. “Or Ian, for that matter. He’s kind of persnickety about his father dating—as if he can talk.”
It was that. The humor she found at Ian’s expense. A normal, mundane thing, but it put her on the outside again. It was as if she weren’t part of the family unit, even though Ian and Sam clearly saw her that way. That made him want to know more, to pull her into the fold and make her understand that people liked her for being her.
I’m broken.
