Chapter 14 #3
Mia knew she didn’t have to explain to Nat who K.J. was. He’d featured in many a conversation between them, thanks to his all-too-handsome uncle.
“Do I call you Aunty Natalie or Aunty Nat?” K.J. asked, picking up that Mia had called her friend two different names.
“That depends. Do you like recess?” Nat asked, her voice solemn.
K.J. nodded, his shaggy dark hair flopping into the hazel eyes he shared with his uncle.
“Do you like saimin?”
K.J. nodded once more.
“And do you help your teacher?”
K.J. nodded twice for this one.
“Then you can call me what all my friends call me, Aunty Nat.”
K.J. grinned.
“Come, Aunty Nat. I want you to meet my mom and dad.” K.J. took Nat’s hand in one of his and Mia’s in the other, tugging them toward Sam Sato.
“Hey, guys,” Mia said before introducing Nat to more of Koa’s family.
“And you’re a nurse?” Lana asked Nat, immediately putting the latter at ease.
Nat and Lana fell into a conversation about Nat’s job that soon became Lana telling her Grace’s birth story.
“Where’s Grace?” Mia asked Kahiau.
“It’s a K.J., mom, and dad day,” K.J. answered proudly.
“Lana’s mom has her,” Kahiau explained.
“So fun! And you brought your parents to Sam Sato?” Mia asked the little boy.
K.J. nodded proudly while Mia made a mental note to spend one-on-one days with her kids if she was ever blessed with children of her own.
“How long have you guys been waiting?” Nat asked after Lana finished her story.
“About fifteen minutes?” Lana estimated.
Kahiau nodded.
“It shouldn’t be too much longer,” Lana said hopefully as she watched a man carry a brown box full of takeout containers past them.
“What’s your favorite dish here?” Nat asked K.J.
“Small dry mein with a beef stick,” K.J. said without thinking.
The women laughed at his quick answer.
“Is that what we should get?” Mia asked.
K.J. raised an appraising eyebrow. “How hungry are you?”
“Pretty hungry,” Mia said at the same time Nat said, “Super-duper hungry.”
“You get the small and a beef stick,” K.J. said pointing at Mia. “And you get the large with two beef sticks,” K.J. directed Nat.
Lana bit her lip, shaking her head. But it was easy to see the pride and love she had for her child in her eyes.
“Kahiau!” Someone called from the restaurant.
“Oh, that’s us,” K.J. said jumping up.
“Wow, that was fast,” Lana added. “I guess they’re sitting smaller groups faster.”
“Nice. That hopefully means we’ll see you in there soon,” Mia said with a smile, giving K.J. one last high five before their group left.
“So does your Koa happen to look anything like his big brother?” Nat asked the second the door closed behind the cute family.
“Shh, everyone knows everyone here,” Mia said, glancing around to see who could have overheard Nat.
“I know the island’s small, but I also know there has to be more than one Koa,” Nat said with an eye roll.
“But not more than one Koa related to that Kahiau. And besides he’s not my Koa,” she had to say before adding, “and yes, they look alike. Koa’s just…” Mia sought to find a word that wouldn’t make her sound as besotted as she was.
“Hotter?” Nat finished for Mia.
“Yeah,” Mia decided it was a lost cause to fight her best friend. Because even if Mia continued to fight Nat about how much she liked Koa, Nat would figure it out soon enough.
“So are you going to tell him that?” Nat asked as she and Mia found a bench under a banyan tree to sit on.
“That he’s hotter than his brother?” Mia asked cheekily.
She knew what Nat meant.
Nat leveled her with a look that Mia had received all too often.
“He’s friend-zoned me hard, Nat. And even if he hadn’t, I don’t know…”
“What don’t you know?” Nat asked.
Yeah, what did Mia not know? Her reasons for not dating him at first were nearly all gone.
He’d not only apologized, he’d proved by his actions just how sorry he was.
Yes, they lived in the same house, but with her growing feelings, she was beginning to no longer care about that.
Future Mia might care, but present Mia couldn’t bring herself to.
“I don’t know,” Mia said honestly.
Nat grinned widely. “Then I guess we’ll see.”
“We’ll see what?” Mia asked, hating how hopeful she felt.
“We’ll see how wrong you were about the friend-zoning, and we’ll see Koa ask you out soon.”
Mia couldn’t believe that. Nat hadn’t seen the mostly platonic way he treated Mia. Sure there were a few charged moments like their talk a few nights before, but after the fact, Mia could see how she’d often put more into those moments than were really there. “And if that doesn’t happen?”
“Then we’ll see you finally break down and tell him how much you like him, and then he’ll ask you out. Sooner or later you’ll be going out with Koa,” Nat said confidently.
Mia shook her head. As much as she’d loved to put stock in Nat’s prediction, Nat had never met Koa. Yes, Mia had given her friend a play-by-play of their every interaction, but Nat couldn’t know what Koa wanted. Not when Mia was so sure of what he didn’t want.
“And if he doesn’t ask?” Mia asked.
“Mia, I’ll bet you my new studio that Koa asks you out within a week,” Nat said confidently.
“And if he doesn’t?” Mia countered.
“I guess we’ll never know,” Nat said all too confidently as she sat back on the bench, a smile on her face.