Chapter 14 #2
How was she going to get out of this? Could she really turn Paka down in front of witnesses?
It seemed cruel. And yet what other choice did she have?
She didn’t want to go out with him. Not only was she not interested, this guy had to know Koa.
What if he heard about the date and thought that meant Mia wasn’t interested in him?
Granted she’d already been friend-zoned by Koa… .
Wait, Kristin had given Mia her way out.
“I’d love to make some new friends. I’m so glad you want to hang out as just friends.” Mia watched as the horror grew on Paka’s face with each time she emphasized the word friends.
“That wasn’t exactly…” Paka began to say but Mia cut him off.
“It’s so hard to make friends these days. Friendship is so important,” Mia continued. “With being new to the island making new friends is exactly what I hoped for. Thank you!”
Confusion reigned on Paka’s face as he looked from Kristin back to Mia. But he seemed to realize that he couldn’t clarify that he didn’t want to be her friend now. Not after all of that.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll text you,” Paka said, slowly backing out of the room.
“Kristin can give you my number,” Mia called after him as he was already out the door.
“Mia,” this time it was Kristin scolding.
Mia laughed.
“That poor boy,” Kristin said, shaking her head.
“What else was I supposed to do?” Mia asked.
“Say yes to the date?” Kristin offered.
Mia raised an eyebrow. “That man has charmer and playboy written all over him.”
“I don’t think he’s a playboy…” Kristin defended him.
“When was the last time he had a serious girlfriend?” Mia asked.
Kristin’s eyebrows knit as she thought.
“Exactly,” Mia said when Kristin didn’t respond. “I get it. You’re happily married and you’ve been out of the dating game for so long you’ve forgotten the rules.”
Kristin frowned. “I have. I’m sorry.”
“Seriously, no worries,” Mia replied, using the local vernacular she’d picked up.
“He came to me saying he really liked you and wanted to meet you. I should have known better. How could he like you if he’s never met you?”
Mia nodded.
Kristin shook her head. “I need to get better at this if I ever want to achieve my dream of becoming a matchmaker.”
“Well, at least you’ve learned one lesson along the way,” Mia said with a smile. “But can I ask you one thing?”
“Sure,” Kristin replied.
“Please don’t match make for me anymore,” Mia said saucily.
Kristin laughed.
“He’s a local boy,” Aunty Gertrude said to no one in particular.
“He was born and raised here,” Kristin said, and Mia was grateful because she had no idea how to respond. She had to admit Aunty Gertrude was one colleague who scared Mia.
“And she’s a mainland girl. Good thing you said no. Too many local boys are being taken by girls like you.”
“Aunt-ty,” Kristin said as Mia shook her head to let Kristin know she took no offense. Well, she took a little offense, but she doubted anything they said would make Aunty Gertrude change her heart or mind.
“We’ve got good local girls who can’t find men because they’re getting scooped up by mainlanders. You from the mainland, date a mainland boy,” Aunty Gertrude doubled down before standing and leaving the room.
“She didn’t mean that,” Kristin said as soon as Aunty Gertrude was out of ear shot.
“Um, I’m pretty sure she totally meant that. And I get it. Right now I’m an outsider. Doesn’t make it fun, but I get it,” Mia tried to convince Kristin as well as herself that she was okay. But the sting from Aunty Getrude’s words was impossible to ignore.
“Aunty has an unmarried daughter. Pretty sure the girl has no desire to get married, but I’m sure Aunty wants it for her. She’s projecting….”
Mia put a hand on Kristin’s arm. “I get it. Really.”
Kristin nodded. “I’m sorry again for this whole thing.” Kristin waved toward the door Aunty Gertrude and Paka had left from.
“Yeah, so not a big deal at all. But maybe cool it on the whole matchmaking thing for a bit?”
“I really am bad at it, huh?”
Mia laughed and Kristin joined her. No one needed to answer that question.
“Aloha!” Mia said with relish as she gifted Nat the lei she’d gotten at her local grocery store. Yet another reason to love Maui. They sold leis and poke, Mia’s favorite food, everywhere.
“It smells amazing,” Nat said, pulling her long black hair aside, as she lifted the tuberose lei to her nose. “I almost forgot how everything here smells incredible.”
Mia had to agree. From the ocean to the flowers to the balmy breezes, Hawaii’s scent was magical.
“Thank you for coming,” Mia said as she pulled her friend into a hug.
“And let you have this adventure all on your own? Of course, I had to come,” Nat said with an easy wink.
Nat’s response was lighthearted, but Mia was sure coming back to Hawaii couldn’t be easy for Nat.
Her heart had been broken almost beyond repair last time she was here.
Yes, she’d been on Oahu and yes, it had been five years before, but Mia didn’t know what she’d done to deserve a friend who could put all of her own hurts aside to be there for Mia.
“The studio you rented is in Wailuku?” Mia asked.
She’d gotten the lay of the land pretty well in her time on Maui. And thankfully the island was small.
“Yup, right next to Maui Memorial,” Nat said.
“I can’t believe you found something so fast,” Mia said, remembering her own rental woes.
“The travel nurse community is pretty tight-knit. When one of us needs something, others deliver. The place I’m staying at was rented by a nurse who just finished an assignment,” Nat explained.
“I wish teachers had a network like that,” Mia said as she helped Nat get her luggage in Mia’s trunk.
“You do. Except instead of sharing places to live, you guys share the best stationery and classroom designs,” Nat teased.
Mia laughed. Nat wasn’t wrong.
They were soon on the road, and Mia left her windows down.
She mostly kept her car windows up when she’d lived on the mainland, but here it felt criminal to do so.
With the wind whipping into the car, Nat wound her thick hair into a knot on top of her head, making her look more local than Mia could ever hope to be.
Nat’s half-Filipino heritage would help her fit right in.
“So tell me about the guy who asked you out. Or more like tried to ask you out,” Nat said over the wind before cackling. She loved that Mia had pulled a fast one on a guy.
“He didn’t seem like a bad guy. I mean, he’s a firefighter. He saves lives for a living.”
“But he’s not Ko-a,” Nat teased in a sing-song voice.
Mia glared at her friend. But again, she wasn’t wrong.
“No, he just gave off a vibe that was too…”
“Much like your ex?”
Of course, Mia wouldn’t have to explain things to Nat.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Mia gushed. It wasn’t the first nor would it be the last time she shared that sentiment.
“Me too. I stayed away long enough,” Nat said the last words quietly, almost like she didn’t want Mia to hear them, so Mia pretended she hadn’t.
“So any new stories that will make me never want to have children?” Mia asked because it was time to change the subject. Nat worked in labor and delivery, and though she had some beautiful stories that showed childbirth was a literal miracle, she had others that scared Mia to her very core.
“I finally got a girl,” Nat said happily.
She’d been on a streak of only delivering boys, ten in a row. She’d been hoping for a girl soon, and Mia was glad she got one.
“It really doesn’t make that much of a difference, but it’s fun to get both, ya know?” Nat said.
Mia had no idea, but she nodded anyway.
“Do you want to drop off your stuff and then go to lunch or….”
“Lunch, immediately,” Nat said before Mia could continue.
Mia laughed. Her friend loved her food.
While stopped at the next red light, Mia plugged the restaurant, Sam Sato, into her GPS and followed the instructions her map gave her.
“I heard this place was incredible, so I figured it would be the perfect place to bring you on your first day. Apparently it specializes in a dry saimin?” Mia said.
She didn’t know dry saimin from wet saimin, but she’d heard it was noodles, and no one had to explain further. Mia was a fiend for noodles.
“Dry saimin? So like no broth?” Nat asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine. Or probably better than mine, since you practically lived here in the summers,” Mia said as she switched lanes and then turned right.
“Yeah,” Nat’s voice went soft again as if she was delving back into her memories.
“But considering it’s lunch time on a Saturday, the line to get food will probably be crazy long,” Mia said.
Nat laughed. “Hey, goodness comes to those who wait, right?”
“Is that the saying?” Mia said, pretty sure it wasn’t, but now her mind couldn’t remember the right words.
“No, but it works,” Nat replied.
Mia smiled. There was nothing like having Nat around.
Soon they were pulling into the crowded parking lot, and Nat went up to a window to put their names in for a table as Mia parked.
“Should be about an hour wait,” Nat said as she walked toward Mia, who had almost reached the old building.
Mia had noticed much of Maui’s infrastructure was pretty aged.
She was pretty sure it had to do with how much it cost to get things updated.
The saying on Maui seemed to be, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
“Mia!”
Mia smiled at the sound of the unmistakable voice. Of course they’d be here.
“K.J!” Mia called as her favorite student ran toward her.
He lifted his hand and smacked it against her outstretched one, sharing a loud high five.
Mia saw that his parents, Lana and Kahiau, were waiting by the building. She shot them a shaka she hoped Johnny would be proud of before turning her attention back to K.J.
“K.J., this is my best friend Natalie,” Mia introduced. “Nat, this is one of my students, K.J.”