Chapter 85
I get to Korgy’s after work and find a lei sitting on the doorstep with a sticky note attached to it. You found me! Hip hip hooray! Your next clue is where you LEI.
I didn’t need him to put the word lei in all caps for me to clock the pun, but he did, and it makes me sad. How hard he’s trying.
My next clue is on the bed, taped to a sack of chocolate-coated macadamia nuts. Enjoy me then find your next clue, right next to your Garnier Fructis shampoo.
“Probably would’ve been better if you used Pantene, since it’s a two-syllable word,” he says with a self-conscious chuckle. “Would’ve been a smoother rhythm.”
In the caddy that hangs over the shower head, next to my five-syllable shampoo, there’s a fresh new bottle. Coconut, “with notes of guava!” the package swears. The next sticky note is taped to the front of the bottle: Your final clue on this mission, is on the island in the kitchen.
“I figured a soft-rhyme was fine…” he says, blushing.
And I reassure him that it is as we make our way to the kitchen island, where I find two tickets to Hawaii, with a final sticky note: Let’s relax, you and me! We’re going to Hawaii!
He’s looking for a big reaction, so I let out some kind of squeal that sounds constipated and unnatural.
He launches in that he knows it’s been a rocky couple of months, that summer’s about to be over and he has to get back to teaching soon.
That he wants us to have some quality time together.
That he wants to be present with me in a way that he’s struggled to be with all the stressors of life.
“This could be good for us,” he says, not seeming to realize that it’s a phrase only said once things have already gone bad. “Really good for us.”
I wish I could agree that a five-day stint in Hawaii is all that we need. That a couple pina coladas by a pool while someone strums “Over the Rainbow” on ukelele is enough to resuscitate that pivotal piece between us that has died. But I’m not sure.
“You’re right,” I say. “This could be good for us.”