Chapter 12 #2
Butterflies bubbled in Mia’s belly. “I told you I was eighty-seven percent sure I dreamed that one.” Not that the butterflies in her belly believed her.
“Right,” Nat replied. Evidently, Nat didn’t believe her either.
“We live together, Nat!” Mia whisper yelled.
“All the better,” Nat replied happily.
Mia felt her nostrils flare. “No, not all the better. What happens when we break up?”
“What happens when you live happily ever after?” Nat shot back.
Oh. Those butterflies were now in full celebration mode. Mia needed to reign them in.
“This isn’t the movies,” Mia said.
“Yeah, it’s so much better than the movies.”
Mia marinated in Nat’s words. What if she was missing out on happily-ever-after because she was scared?
“At the very least, you need to go to that fire-knife show. And take lots of video,” Nat said.
Mia laughed. Nat wasn’t wrong.
“Some of my fondest childhood memories involve men who could spin fire,” Nat said wistfully.
Nat had spent most of her summers vacationing on Oahu with her millions of aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Mia’s non-existent family was the complete opposite of Nat’s.
Part of the reason why the move to Maui hadn’t been as scary for Mia was because Nat’s aunties had promised that if it didn’t work out here, Mia always had a safe landing space just an island away.
Mia had actually considered Oahu at first, but after her research, she felt Maui was better for her lifestyle.
That and the only job she was offered was on Maui.
“Did he who you will not name spin fire?” Mia asked, happy to move from her lack of relationship status to Nat’s former love of her life.
“He did,” Nat said softly.
“Are you ever going to look him up?” Mia asked.
“What? So he can break my heart again?” Nat replied.
Mia pressed her lips. Yeah, if that’s what it took.
To hear Nat speak about it, Oahu man was the love of her life.
They’d been in love with each other for so many summers, until he all of a sudden did something.
Mia still didn’t know why they broke up.
And not for lack of trying to get her friend to talk.
“You could at least get on social media. What if he’s looking for you?” Mia asked.
After that last summer Nat had spent with Oahu man, she had deleted all her social media profiles and changed her phone number.
She’d even moved to a new apartment—though they had been in college at the time, so they often moved at the start of each new school year.
And though Nat had said the changes weren’t just because of Oahu man, Mia wasn’t so sure.
Who didn’t have any social media in this day and age?
Granted, Nat was quite well read thanks to not spending hours scrolling like Mia did.
“What if he’s not?” was Nat’s reply.
Mia hadn’t considered that. It was easier to pretend that he was heartbroken over her too if she wasn’t available to him.
Nat had let it slip that sometime after that last summer, Oahu man had begged her cousins for Nat’s new address and phone number.
But they were true to Nat and told him nothing.
And now, apparently he no longer pestered them.
So Mia could see why Nat was scared that he no longer cared.
“I’m thinking about taking a contract on Maui,” Nat abruptly changed the subject.
But the new subject matter was so exciting, Mia was easily distracted.
Mia’s mouth dropped open. “Wait, for real?”
Nat laughed. “You already sound like a local.”
“Natalie, you better not be pulling my leg.”
“And just like that you sound like a mainlander again.”
“Nat!” Mia couldn’t care less what she sounded like.
“I miss you. Washington isn’t the same. And even though I don’t want you to come back here, I’m not ready to never live in the same place as you. So although I don’t know that I could leave here forever, I am qualified to be a travel nurse. So why not come to Maui for a bit?”
“Are you serious?” Tears welled up in Mia’s eyes. She couldn’t admit just how much she’d missed her best friend until that moment.
“I am. I’ve already started looking.”
“Your parents are going to kill me,” Mia said through her joyous tears.
“My parents love you too much to kill you. And I won’t be there forever,” Nat warned.
“I know,” Mia said. “But I’ll take whatever I can get.”
“Viva Maui!” Nat yelled over the phone.
Mia fell into a fit of giggles. Nat was coming to Maui. Her best friend, the sister of her heart.
“And my first order of business when I get there? Get Koa to ask you out.”
Mia’s giggles stopped immediately.
“Nat,” Mia said.
“I mean, it does mean you’ll have to name your first child after me. Natalie or Natalio, if its’s a boy.”
“Natalie,” Mia warned. “You’d better not do anything…”
“What? I think the connection is breaking up. Love you, Mia. I’ll let you know what I find.”
Suddenly, Nat was gone.
And Mia was now a little less excited by the prospect of her best friend moving to Maui.
Who was she kidding? Nat could threaten anything, and Mia would still be on cloud nine.
But she’d better have been joking about Koa.