“Would you like a tablet?” the flight attendant asked. “They’re loaded with movies, TV shows, music, and even games.”
“Sure, we’ll take three,” I said, thinking maybe watching a few movies would help me get drowsy this time, or at least make the flight go by faster.
She passed over the tablets and headphones, then quoted the price. When I handed her my credit card I said, “You can also add four screwdrivers to that bill, since you have my credit card already.”
If she was shocked by my request, she hid it well, and within moments I was kicked back with a screwdriver, watching an old episode of Friends.
I could already tell this flight was going to be much better than the last one.
Sometime later I jolted awake to the plane bouncing. I gripped my armrests, fear slamming into me as the plane shook all around me.
“Cade,” I cried, wondering how he was still sleeping through this.
“Mom?” Elin called from my left and I turned to see him and Elena huddled together, holding each other close, their little faces terrified.
“It’s okay, guys, everything’s going to be fine,” I said, as calmly as possible, then turned to my right and forced my hand to move from the armrest to Cade’s thigh. I squeezed as hard as I could, laughing a little maniacally when he opened his eyes then sat up.
“What’s up?” he asked, as if our teeth weren’t rattling with the force of the turbulence.
I widened my eyes at him and mouthed, help.
Cade looked around me, his face softening when his gaze landed on the twins.
“It’s just some turbulence, we’ll be all right,” he assured them, and I tried to take his words to heart.
“Are you sure?” Elena asked.
“How can you know?” Elin prompted.
“Because we’ve got stuff to do,” Cade replied easily. “We’ve got to see to Rufus and CB, and you know your dad and Mary are waiting to get some quality time with you guys. Plus, we’ve got a wedding to plan. See, too much going on … We’ll be fine.”
I could tell his words were getting through to them and making some sort of sense, so I closed my eyes and took a cleansing breath, then tried to lighten my death grip on my seat. One more good bump hit, jostling us to the side, then things evened out.
“See, all good,” Cade said, then, no shit, scooted back down in his seat and fell back asleep.
“Okay?” I asked the twins.
They nodded in response, and when they shifted away from each other and picked up their tablets, I knew they were good.
I poured myself another screwdriver, then picked up my own tablet. After I found the episode of Friends I’d fallen asleep on, I got comfortable and resumed my marathon. After a few minutes, I looked up and my eyes caught on that damn map.
Blink, blink, blink, our plane looked stationary over the ocean.
Ugh, I couldn’t stop looking. I must have complained about it out loud, because suddenly Cade’s hand shot out, pushed a button on the side of the screen, and the map magically disappeared.
“Thanks, babe,” I murmured, then turned my attention back to Ross and Rachel.
I guess I haven’t really travelled that much in my life, because I wasn’t prepared for how happy I was to be home. Seriously. I wanted to hug my front door and kiss my porch, that’s how excited I was to see my little house again.
The kids were thrilled too. I could tell by the way they hopped out of the car and barreled into the house, leaving their bags and stuff behind in the van.
By the time I finished pulling everything out and awkwardly taking their bags and mine inside, what can I say, I hate making two trips, they were already in the middle of a lovefest with Rufus and CB.
Wait… “Who the hell is that?” I asked, looking at the long-legged, overgrown yellow lab who was currently licking Elin’s face.
“It’s CB, Mom,” Elena said, looking at me like I was nuts.
“No, uh-uh,” I denied with a shake of my head. “My CB is a cute cuddly puppy. That, is a dog.”
“Puppies grow into dogs, darlin’,” Cade said with a grin.
I scowled at him, put my hands on my hips, and said, “I know that, Cade, but we were only gone a couple weeks, not months.”
Cade shrugged. “Puppies grow fast. He had a growth spurt while we were gone.”
“But…” I argued, frowning at the dog who was prancing around awkwardly, as if she wasn’t quite used to her new legs yet. She slid toward me, then looked up at me expectantly, her tongue hanging half out of her mouth. “Oh, come here,” I said, crouching down to give her a hug and accept her welcome home kisses.
As soon as I stood up, Rufus came over and stuck his head in my crotch, which was his version of welcome home.
“Hi, Rufus, yes … I missed you too,” I cooed, patting him on the head as I looked around at the house. “Carmen here?” I asked Cade.
“No, the dogs were in their kennels, but there’s a note on the counter,” he replied.
I went into the kitchen, gazing lovingly at the pictures on the wall as I passed them. When I crossed the threshold, I stopped in my tracks, then clapped my hands together happily and rushed to open the beautiful bakery box on the counter that I knew so well.
I started salivating before I’d even opened the lid to reveal Amy May’s scrumptious cupcakes.
Peeling off the wrapper of the chai cupcake, one of my absolute favorites, I peered down at the note on the counter.
Hey Guys,
I hope you had a wonderful trip, and wanted to be there to greet you and give hugs, but figured you’re all pretty exhausted from the trip… The dogs were fed, watered, and walked this morning, and I straightened up the mess I’d made in your house. Enjoy the cupcakes, and Lila, the girls and I expect a full report tomorrow night.
Love ya,
Carmen.
I chuckled as I read the note. Yeah, I’m sure Carmen’s idea of a mess and mine were completely different. My girl was OCD to the max, and I could already tell the house was cleaner than it had been when we’d left.
I was stuffing my face with the chai cupcake when Cade entered the kitchen and grinned at me.
“There’s my woman,” he said, raising one eyebrow. It always made me jealous when he did that, because I couldn’t. I always ended up raising both, which made my eyes pop out and ended up making me look like a psycho.
I started to stick my tongue out at him, then noticed frosting on my lip and licked that off instead.
Cade growled in response, and my entire body tingled.
“Let me help with that,” he said, and seconds later, his lips were on mine. I happily participated, but then he pulled away and went to bite my cupcake.
“Hey,” I said, pulling the cupcake out of his mouth range. “Get your own.”
“But we’re engaged, aren’t you supposed to share with me?” he asked with the cutest grin I’d ever seen in my life.
“Everything but cupcakes,” I replied, tipping the cupcake and wiping some frosting on his lips. Then I licked it off.
“Mmmmm,” Cade said, looking from me to the bakery box, then back again. “You, me, and those cupcakes, in bed, tonight.”
The tingle turned to a burn, then I thought better of it and replied, “I’m not wasting all of those cupcakes.”
“Oh, darlin’, it wouldn’t be a waste, I promise.”
My brain got foggy and I forgot how to breathe for a minute.
“I’m so glad we’re home,” I purred when I caught my breath. “No more sex rules.”
Cade chuckled, then something occurred to me and I said, “Hey.”
He tipped his chin.
“Where are we going to live?” I asked, a million questions suddenly flooding my mind. “Are we going to stay here, or move to the cabin? I love my house,” I said, thinking of all the hard work we’d done on the renovations. Then I pictured his beautiful cabin and added, “But, I also love your cabin. Still, the cabin is pretty remote, and here,
the kids are by their dad, and have friends in the neighborhood.”
“We don’t have to decide right away,” Cade began, but I had too many questions to stop now.
“Will we move in together right away, or wait until the wedding? When is the wedding? Do you want to get married soon, or were you thinking a long engagement would be better? If your parents are planning to come out, and we are going to do the pig roast thing, that might take a while to put together. On the other hand, I’d be happy to marry you tomorrow.”
“Lila,” Cade said, his hands coming up to cup my cheeks in his hands. My eyes met his, and the look I saw there calmed the panic that had been bubbling over. “Relax. We have time to discuss everything. We’ll do what makes us happy. If you want to live here, we live here. If you want to move to the cabin, so be it. If you want to live here, and keep the cabin for weekends or whatever, that’s cool. This isn’t something I want you to stress over. It’s us, that’s all that matters. The rest is just details. Okay?”
I nodded, then turned my head to kiss one of his palms.
“Okay,” I whispered, then smiled and said, “And it’s a date. You, me, those cupcakes, and our bed. Tonight.”
���Tell us everything,” Amy May said, sipping her long island iced tea out of a straw.
“Yes, don’t leave anything out, especially the dirty stuff,” Carmen added with a giggle, her long ponytail swaying.
“How did you get those bruises?” Bea asked, her eyes narrowed as she looked over my exposed skin.
Darn, I’d thought I’d covered everything up pretty well with concealer. Leave it to my bestie the cop to sniff out the faded yellowing spots.
“I may have, kinda, worked a case while I was over there,” I admitted, then took a big gulp of my red wine and told them the story. When I was done, they wore matching expressions of shock and anger.
“I can’t believe you went through that.”
“Those poor girls.”
“I’d like to rip those guys dicks off.” This last was said angrily by Bea, and we all agreed with the sentiment.
“Doesn’t sound like a very relaxing vacation,” Amy May said with a pout, her dreams of me lying on the beach naked dashed.
“It wasn’t all sex trafficking and sea sickness,” I assured them. Next I told them about the volcano, the pig roast, and all the fun stuff we did. Finally, I told them about Cade’s mom, her obsession with my child-rearing hips, and our sexcapades and near misses.
We were all laughing so hard we were practically rolling in the aisles of Tapas.
“Cade’s mom sounds like my kind of woman,” Amy May cried. “I love how she had a sixth sense and knew when you were doing the dirty with her son.”
“Or the thing with the dildo?” Carmen added, wiping tears from the corner of her eyes. “She sounds awesome.”
“Only you would try and tell a man like Cade that you weren’t going to have sex with him while on a Hawaiian vacation,” Amy May said. “I wouldn’t care if we were at the Pope’s house, I’d be takin’ care of business.”
Okay, maybe it’s time to switch Amy May from Long Islands to water…
“I’m sure Cade just took it as a challenge,” Bea put in, and when I thought about it, she was absolutely right.
“Well, don’t feel bad for Cade, he did get some after all.”
Of course, right then our waiter decided to pop over to see if we needed anything else.
“Another round,” Amy May said happily.
“Are you sure you want another?” I asked, thinking she was already feeling pretty good, and not wanting it to turn to feeling bad.
“Yup,” she replied with a sloppy smile. “My girls are all back together and Bea’s my ride home. I’m good to go.”
“All right, you heard the lady,” I said to the waiter, then added, “Could you bring some more food too? Maybe some more chips and salsa, and an order of street tacos?”
I figured maybe I could at least get some more food in Amy May, so she wasn’t hurtin’ tomorrow morning.
“Okay, enough about me, I want to hear about what’s up with you guys…”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about opening up another storefront,” Amy May said, her face conveying her excitement.
“And, Shannon and I have been talking about starting a family,” Bea added.
“Bran and I went on that date,” Carmen said quietly.
I looked at my friend, my jaw hanging wide open and asked, “How long was I gone?”
I don’t know if I’d thought time would stop while I was away, but those seemed like three big, possibly life changing events in my friends’ lives, and I knew nothing about them. I tapped down the feelings of regret and decided to focus on the now, and be a part of it all from here on out.
“Wow, another bakery? That’s huge,” I said, truly happy for my friend.
“Well, just a storefront really. So, everything would still be made where we are now, but every morning we’d deliver to the mall and sell products there as well.”
“The mall? That’s amazing!”
“Yeah, it’ll mean more production and hiring more staff, but I think it’ll work out really well.”
“That’s fantastic, Amy May; we should definitely be celebrating. And, Bea, a baby? You and Shannon will be terrific parents.”
“We’re still in the talking about it stage, but, yeah,” Bea said, positively glowing, “I think we’re going to go for it.”
I turned to Carmen, fully expecting to see her glowing back at me, but my smile fell when I saw the look on her face.
“What?” I asked warily. “Did something bad happen?”
Carmen gave a half shrug and said, “I don’t know. The date didn’t quite go as well as I thought it would. I was in my head, you know, and it threw me off. It was the most awkward, boring date of my life.”
“Really?” I said, completely shocked. I’d totally thought that Bran and Carmen would be perfect together. They were both strong, independent, successful, funny, and great people. And, it couldn’t go unsaid, they were both freakin’ hot. I thought it was a match made in heaven. “I can’t believe it.”
“Yeah, well, it was bad, believe me. We didn’t talk, we just sort of looked at each other while picking at our food. It was a relief when the waiter brought the check. I ran out of there as soon as I could, said I had a deadline to meet.”
“That stinks, Carmen,” I said, feeling sad and guilty. “I’m sorry if I pushed you too hard to say yes.”
“It’s not your fault, sometimes things just don’t work out.”
“Well, I’m not giving up. There’s someone out there that’s just waiting to prove that he deserves someone beautiful, classy, smart, and funny like you, and we’re going to find him,” I promised.
Carmen shrugged again, then said, “Let’s change the subject back to one of you guys. I don’t want to bring the table down.”
“You’re not,” Bea and Amy May said in unison.
“But,” Amy May added, “I would like to hear more about when Cade and Lila went skinny dipping with his parents.”
I groaned while everyone else laughed, and I couldn’t help but think again, how good it is to be home.
Hawaiian Words and Phrases:
Aloha Love, affection; greeting, salutation; Hello! Good-bye!
Aloha ‘auinalā Good afternoon
Aloha ‘oe Farewell to you
Aloha ahiahi Good evening
Aloha ‘āina Love of the land; to nurture and care for the land.
Aloha au ia ‘oe I love you
Aloha kakahiaka Good morning
Aloha nui loa Very much love
Hiapo First Born
Keiki Child, offspring, or children
Koa Warrior
Ku‘uipo Sweetheart
Pehea ‘oe? How are you?
‘O ia mau nō Same as usual
Pūpū Snacks or appetizers
Wahine Woman, lady
Tūtū Grandfa
ther, Grandmother
Mo‘opuna Grandchild
‘Ohana Family, relative, kin group; related.
Now, please enjoy the first chapter of book 1 in The Lewis Cousins Series,
Too Tempting
Chapter One - Gabe
I took a deep breath as I walked out of my cabin and onto the wooden deck overlooking the lake and forty wooded acres of my camp.
I’d built Camp Gabriel Lewis over three years ago, after I’d retired from the NFL and decided to make my dream of working with teens a reality. My camp was not just a football camp, and not just your traditional sleepaway camp; it was a combination of both. It was the culmination of a vision I had when I was a young kid, and the only things I gave a damn about in life were football and my annual camping trip with my cousins.
“Son of a bitch, it’s good to be back here!” I grinned over my ceramic coffee mug at my cousin, Reardon, who’d just pulled in.
Crazy tall, blond, and charismatic, he was the person I’d been closest to growing up. My best friend. Now he was a lawyer in the small town he grew up in.
“Happy to get away from the hustle and bustle of Cherry Springs?” I asked with a chuckle.
“No, man, things there are quiet as usual,” Reardon responded as he pulled his duffle bag from the trunk of his Mercedes. “I’m just looking forward to kicking your ass at family sports day this year.”
“You wish, cupcake,” I responded wryly, feeling ridiculously happy to see him again.
“Hey, I’ve been working out,” he countered with a grin.
When he reached the top, we came together in a quick hug, each giving the other a sharp clap on the back before pulling apart.
“C’mon, I’ll walk you down to your cabin so you can get settled in. Jasmine and Dillon are en route. They’ll probably get in tonight. Serena had to work today, but said she should be in first thing in the morning.”
“Sounds good.”
I followed him back down the steps and onto the trail, which led to the row of cabins. The counselors stay in the cabins when camp is in session, but my family always lived in them when we came down for our annual trip the week before opening.