Chapter Fifty
Sophia
I sped around the café on Monday morning, trying to get through the morning rush before I left for the airport.
I probably shouldn’t have come in at all if I wanted to be on time for my flight, but Kennedy needed the extra help right now.
She needed to be off her feet as much as possible with her high-risk pregnancy, and she failed to sit down unless people supervised her.
My family had been entirely supportive last night when I’d grabbed my laptop and booked a flight to Boston while we sat around the fire.
It had been a bittersweet night, knowing I’d be moving away.
I didn’t know how often I’d visit yet but I was planning to talk all of that through with Leo as soon as I had him in front of me again.
I knew it wouldn’t be my last Sunday dinner, and maybe the change would be okay.
“You shouldn’t have come in this morning,” Kennedy chided as I put the freshly cleaned espresso machine back together. “You’re going to miss your flight.”
I glanced at my smartwatch. “I’ll make it. Sit down, Kennedy,” I said. Dad had given me strict orders to make her sit if I was going to insist on working this morning.
“Izzy doesn’t like when I sit down. She starts kicking the shit out of me,” Kennedy said with a sigh. “She’s going to be a handful. You better come back and babysit once in a while.”
I laughed and ripped my apron off, tossing it on the counter. “I love you, Kennedy. If this goes the way I hope it does then I’ll see you when I come back for my stuff and I’ll be here when you deliver that adorable little sister of mine.”
“I love you too, Soph,” she said as she gave me a tight hug. As we let go, the bell on the café door dinged. I turned to leave and froze when I saw him standing just inside the café in a pair of jeans and a Bruins T-shirt, watching us with a wary smile on his face.
“Leo!” I exclaimed, heart skipping as I ran to him and threw my arms around him. “What are you doing here?” I asked. If he’d been even a moment later, I would have already been on my way to the airport.
He wrapped his arms around my waist and held me tight to him as he inhaled deeply, his face buried in my hair. “Fuck, I missed you, Hawaii,” he said.
I pulled back to look at him and noticed the dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he’d lost weight and I wondered if he’d been eating or working out in the last two weeks.
“Well, this looks familiar,” Kennedy mumbled. “It’s a good thing I bought this place or how would they ever find us?”
I chuckled, still staring at Leo and wondering if I was imagining him.
“You can probably cancel that flight,” Kennedy said as she walked behind the counter.
“Flight?” Leo asked, with a small smirk on his face.
I smiled at him, the hope on his face was so endearing. I’d never walk away from this man again. “I was on my way to Boston,” I said.
“You were?” His smirk grew into a grin. “Were you coming back to me, Hawaii?”
I tossed my arms around his neck again, needing to feel him against me. “I was, and you just saved me eleven more hours without you.”
He squeezed me tight. “Can we go outside and talk?”
I reluctantly let him go and took his hand as he led us outside to the bench across the street from the café. We sat down next to each other and turned inward.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I said, elated to see his face and hear his voice again. It only highlighted how miserable I’d been for the last two weeks. “How did you know where to find me?”
He stroked my cheek. “I can’t believe you were coming back to me.”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, pressed a few buttons, and handed it to me.
I looked down at a text message from more than a week ago.
Elena: This is Elena Kahale. I know you and my sister didn’t want to break up, and I think one day you’re both going to change your minds and realize what you gave up.
I’m putting my money on you figuring it out first, hockey boy.
So, when that day comes, I’ll break my sisterly bond and tell you where she is.
No questions asked. Save this number and don’t let me down, Leo.
She’d sent the text shortly after I’d let her read what I’d written about Leo and me. The message had been left unanswered until the middle of the night last night.
Leo: I’m sorry about the time, Elena, but I’m on my way to Oahu. Where can I find her around nine in the morning?
Elena: Oh, hockey boy, you better not be late. She’ll be at Kennedy’s café in Waikiki.
Leo: Thank you, Elena. Really.
Elena: If you’re even a minute late, call me first. I’ll find her.
Leo: Thanks. You might not be so evil after all.
Elena: Oh, I am. But I’m looking forward to being your evil little sister. Welcome to the family, bro.
My eyes welled with tears, and I handed the phone back to him.
“Can I go first?” he asked, slipping it into his pocket.
I nodded, heart pounding.
He took my hand, his blue-gray eyes captivating me just like they always had.
“Sophia, I love hockey. I’ve loved it my whole life and I’ve wanted to play pro for as long as I can remember.
But the way I feel about hockey is not even close to how I feel about you.
None of it matters without you. I can live without hockey if that’s what it takes to be with you, but I can’t live without you.
I know I have no right to ask you to move to Boston and away from your family to watch me live my dream.
But I’m dying there without you.” His voice cracked and he took a deep breath.
“If you tell me that you want to be here in Oahu, I will renege on my contract without a second thought to spend my life with you. I’ll move to this island and never skate again and I will be happy with you.
But if there’s even a chance I can have you and my hockey career, I’ve got to at least ask the question. Either way, I’m yours, Hawaii.”
I grabbed his face and pressed a deep kiss to his lips before letting him go and taking his hands again.
“Leo, I don’t want you to give up hockey to be with me.
I have a pretty good idea of what I’m getting myself into and I have no expectation that this is going to be easy.
But I was on my way to Boston to tell you that you’re my home.
Not Oahu. You. I want to be wherever you are. Forever.”
“You were?” he asked, eyes glassy.
“Yes. I never should have come back here,” I said. “I thought this was where I needed to be, but I need to be with you so much more.”
He grinned and shrugged a backpack I hadn’t even noticed off his shoulders. “Alright, I’m glad to hear you say that,” he said, his confident, easy-going tone returning, filling my chest with hope.
“I know the research we usually do together is sexual, and we should keep that up”—he opened the backpack and pulled out a small stack of papers—“but I was up all night on the plane doing a different kind of research.” He scooted back, spread the papers on the bench between us, and pointed to a calendar with his hockey games listed and several different colors highlighting various weeks.
“This is my schedule for the upcoming season. I’ve highlighted all the stretches where I’m home in green—those are for us, in Boston.
I’ve highlighted all my long stretches on the road of five days or more in yellow—those are what I call, Hawaii weeks.
I’ll be traveling with the team, and you should use the opportunity to fly here.
My mom has already approved endless jet use if it means I stop crying on her overpriced couch and give her grandchildren someday.
But you’ll have to fight with Aunt Lavi about the whole destroying the planet and wasting money thing. ”
I snorted on a laugh, happy tears rolling down my cheeks. Leo smirked and kept going.
“The purple ones are short trips away. I think you should come with me for those, but if you want to come here instead, I’ll have the jet ready for you.
And if you want to stay in Boston, my family’s your family Sophia—they’ve reminded me of that to the point that I think they might like you better than me—and they’ll be there if you want company.
When the season is over, we have about twelve weeks or so that we can spend together in Hawaii before we’d have to go back to Boston for training camp.
Then we’ll do it all again next year and the year after that.
But in a decade or so, my NHL career will be over, and I think Hawaii would be a beautiful place to retire and raise a family with you. ”
He shifted the papers to expose one with several Oahu real estate listings.
“So, I also pulled these,” he continued, getting more excited as he spoke.
“These are the current listings in Oahu, and I thought we could look at them. I’ve got a bunch of cash from my shares in the family business, and we should use it to get a place here in addition to a place in Boston.
That way, when we come back for the summer, we have a house to make our own.
And when you visit during the season, you can stay there if you don’t want to stay with your parents.
“I know we want a half a dozen children, but we can figure out the timing on that. I’ll never ask you to take on that responsibility while I’m playing if it’s too much, so if we want a family sooner, I can retire early—”
“Leo,” I cut him off and kissed him again, letting my body melt against his.
“I love you so much. I was going to tell you that I’d live in Boston forever and I would have been happy if it meant building a life with you.
But this”—I gestured to the papers falling onto the ground as I pressed myself closer to him—“this is the best research you’ve ever helped me with.
We can make this work. You can have hockey, and I’ll still see my family regularly.
But what really matters to me is that we have each other. ”