Chapter 18

 

~ ANNIE ~

 

 

“Oh my God. You’re famous and you didn’t even tell me?”

I’m stupefied by the words coming out of Kaila’s mouth right now.

Since I got a text from her this morning asking why I wasn’t at work, we’d agreed to meet on the beach during her lunch break.

I’d imagined a dozen different reactions from her. But this wasn’t one of them.

“I—I wouldn’t say famous is the right word, Kaila. Infamous, maybe?”

“You can’t be infamous if you never screwed around with him.”

“Yeah, but that’s not what people think happened.”

She slices a hand through the air. “Then people are stupid. Seriously, anyone who believes a word coming out of some of these politicians’ mouths isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, anyway.” Her eyes widen. “Oh, so that’s why you never got a website for your babysitting business. You didn’t want your name on it and people to figure out where you disappeared to.”

“Exactly.”

Her gaze settles on me for a beat. “And that explains the lousy dye job.” She reaches out and takes a tendril of my hair between her fingertips. “You should try red next time. I think it would look better, and if you’re a redhead named Annie, believe me, the last thing people will be thinking about is some girl who was accused of screwing a senator.”

I can’t resist a small snort. It feels so good, considering that only a moment ago I felt like I was confessing to all seven of the mortal sins. “So, you believe me?”

She screws up her face. “Of course I believe you. Why wouldn’t I?”

I frown. “I’m starting to wonder why I didn’t just fight this more back on the mainland, you know? First, Cam believes me. Now you. Maybe I should have just stayed in D.C. and made someone listen to my side of the story.”

“Wait a minute. You told Cam?”

A blush heats my face. I sort of left out that detail. “Yep. Just after we had sex.”

“Holy crap! Why didn’t you tell me that first? I mean, I only have fifteen more minutes before I have to go back to keiki care,” she says, tossing a chin in the direction of the resort within our sight. “The clock’s ticking.”

I laugh. I’d told Sam what happened with Cam as soon as I had two minutes alone with my cell phone, of course. But I hadn’t thought of sharing the news with Kaila. Maybe now that I’m not working at the Queen K with her outranking me, I can consider her a friend.

I like that idea.

“After I got fired, I just… went a little nuts.”

Her eyes flash at me as she sucks in her bottom lip momentarily. “I love that kind of nuts, don’t you?”

I can’t resist laughing. “Me too. I felt like, hey, if the whole world is going to condemn me for sleeping with my boss when I didn’t do it, then I might as well be doing it, you know?”

“And how was it?”

Sighing, I can still feel that hum you get in your body after really amazing sex, even though it’s been a full day since our bodies joined. “Incredible.”

“So this won’t be just a one-time thing?”

“I hope not. He’s taking me out right after I see you.”

Kaila frowns. “A lunch date? That’s not very promising.”

“Stella’s in preschool during the days, so if there’s any chance of me getting lucky again, it will have to happen before three o’clock.”

Kaila glances at her watch. “Damn, I have to go back.” Her eyes move to the austere resort in the distance. “I still can’t believe they fired you. I feel like quitting on principle.”

“Don’t do it. Being unemployed is pretty scary.”

“Yeah. I guess.” She doesn’t sound convinced as she stands.

“Let’s grab coffee again sometime,” I feel compelled to say. It’s been hard warming up to people with such a secret held tight in my grasp. But now that I’m slowly letting go of it, the ache for friendship is almost crippling.

“Great.” She starts to walk away, then halts. I watch her just stand there for a beat or two until she finally turns around. “You know, I’ve had this idea for a while. It’s—it’s kind of similar to what you’re doing.”

“Oh?” I ask, curious about her evasive tone.

“Look, I’m not going to kid you. Anyone could do it, and I’m scared that someone will come along and steal the idea, you know? Because it’s—well, I think it might be the only way a girl like me might actually make a good living on this island.”

My eyebrows rise. “A girl like you? You mean smart, pretty, talented, nice?”

“No, I mean a girl who doesn’t have a college degree and has no experience off this island.”

“Well, if you want to run it by me, feel free. I won’t steal it. You’ve got enough dish on me to blackmail me for the next fifty years.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that.” She tilts her head. “Well, maybe if you won the lottery and I was on the streets, I might resort to a little blackmail,” she says as though being anything but completely honest is foreign to her.

“I wouldn’t blame you.”

Cautiously, she sits back down in the sand, a little further from me than before, sparing a quick glance at the resort behind us. “Well, you know how you’ve been trying to get a babysitting business going here? And it’s a great idea. I’ve always thought all these people who rent condos need the same kind of keiki care that we give at the resort.”

“Exactly.”

“But that’s not what you’re giving them.”

My brow furrows.

“I mean, you’re babysitting,” she continues. “But think of all we do at keiki care. We make leis. We teach them hula and Hawaiian songs. We play ukulele.”

“Correction. You teach them hula and ukulele.”

“Right. And you speak Japanese, which is really a draw on this island. So between the two of us, we could provide a hell of a service, right? We bag up some Hawaiian crafts and load up our iPhones with music and take everything that the Queen K offers in keiki care to them, wherever they happen to be. Condos, bed and breakfasts, small hotels. I mean, parents feel guilty as hell leaving their kids with a babysitter while they go off and scuba dive or parasail. But they’d feel a lot better—and pay a lot more—if they thought the kids were getting a cool Hawaiian experience out of it.”

I feel my features settle on my face. “Wow,” I breathe out. “That’s a good idea.”

She nods. “It is, isn’t it? I even found a place that will sell me cheap plastic ukuleles for wholesale. They sound like crap, but kids won’t care. And maybe for an added fee, we can let them keep their own ukulele after I teach them a song or two on it. So, what do you think?”

“I think you’ll make a killing.”

She shakes her head. “But that’s just it. I want to do it with you. Fifty-fifty. I need a partner in this. I’m just not the type to start it on my own. I mean, I know you’ve already got a few clients—like Cam, for instance. And I wouldn’t step on your toes there. What you’ve already got stays yours. But maybe between the two of us, we could put a little money in to buy some materials for the kids and some advertising and a website.”

I open my mouth to argue, but she cuts me off with, “I know, I know. We won’t put your last name in there, and any photo of you will be from far away. We’ll just put a little bio about us that sort of lumps all of our experience together. No one will know it’s you.”

“Are you sure you’d want to go into business with someone who’s got my kind of baggage?”

She shrugs. “I’m not picky.”

I shake my head. “I love the idea. But I’m not planning on sticking around here. When things blow over, I need to get back to the mainland.” As I say it, I can’t help looking back on the life I left behind and wondering why I’m so eager to return.

“When you leave, I’ll keep doing it on my own,” she says with an air of measured confidence. “I just need someone to sort of light a fire under my ass while we start it up. If I don’t have a partner… well, I’ll just keep thinking about doing it without really doing it. You know? I’ve got some money saved up. We can use that for any start-up costs.”

“You told me that money was to get you off this island.”

She waves a hand. “Oh, I’ve been fantasizing about that since I was sixteen and three generations of my family followed me on my first date with a boy.”

I wince. “Good lord.”

“Yeah. Sucks to be me.” Glancing at her watch again, she takes a step backward. “Think about it, and let me know. Just please don’t tell anyone. We’re on an island. I don’t need competition.”

She turns her back to me and starts to walk back to the resort.

“Hey, Kaila!” A smile passes over my face as I call out quickly. “I don’t need to think about it. Let’s do it.”