Meet Me in Hawaii by Georgia Toffolo (best affordable ebook reader TXT) 📗

it triggered such warmth, such dizzying contentment, none of which he had a right to feel. None of which was healthy to feel. In less than twenty-four hours there would be thousands of miles between them and this would be over before it had ever begun.

And still he didn’t pull his hand away.

‘Charles, Anne-Marie,’ he said as they neared the glowing couple. ‘You remember Malie…’

Malie smiled at Tara’s parents, trying to ignore the continued thrum of her skin from where he’d touched her seconds before, to ignore the echo of his speech replaying in her mind. It had felt like he’d been speaking directly to her at times, rather than about her. To have the courage to face up to life, to live, really live…

‘Of course, Malie, we’re so glad we get to see you again and thank you in person.’ Tara’s mum grabbed hold of her free hand, squeezed it between her fingers as she gave Malie a watery smile. ‘Although it doesn’t feel enough to simply say thank you. Tara’s like a different child now, she laughs again, she calls us out when we are too protective, when we argue, when we…’

‘Go easy, love, Malie won’t have any blood left in her fingers if you squeeze her hand any tighter.’ Charles softened his words with a loving smile and a comforting arm around his wife’s waist.

‘I’m so sorry, I’m just…’ She looked up to her husband and leaned into his hold, releasing Malie’s hand to place it on his chest. ‘We’re just so much happier.’

‘It’s true.’ Her husband grinned and looked to Malie. ‘We weren’t in a good place before this trip, we haven’t been for years.’

‘Ever since the accident,’ his wife said quietly.

‘Aye,’ he agreed. ‘Guilt is a nasty thing, we blamed ourselves, each convinced that the other blamed us too.’

‘I never blamed you,’ Tara’s mum said vehemently. ‘They were my hair tongs.’

‘And I should’ve changed the batteries in the fire alarm.’

They both went quiet, reflective, and Todd and Malie looked to one another, their expressions soft with understanding.

‘We argued so much,’ Tara’s mother said after a while, ‘about the small things as much as the big, and Tara, she just started to hang back, hide in the corner from it all, making herself invisible to us, but we didn’t see it, we couldn’t.’

Her husband squeezed her waist as her voice broke off on a tremor.

‘It took Tara, would you believe, to make us realize it,’ he added. ‘She stood up to us, like she was the adult who knew better.’

‘And she did, she was right.’ Tara’s mum nodded. ‘Thanks to you she had the confidence to do that, Malie. You brought her out of her shell, brought back our little girl. Thank you… really truly.’

Malie was stunned still, her head spinning. Making herself invisible to us. The words kept replaying over and over. Wasn’t that exactly what she’d done with her parents after Koa’s death?

Hadn’t she just hung back, hidden herself from them in the end? Taken herself away?

Was she in some way to blame for their estrangement? With each other and with her?

‘Malie, are you feeling OK?’

It was Todd, his voice reassuringly soft in her ear, his hand returning to her lower back, his touch warm and gentle and contending with her sudden chill.

No, she wasn’t OK. How ironic that Malie had helped Tara to find the confidence she needed to deal with her parents and the issues they shared when Malie herself couldn’t even do the same.

‘I just need to get some air.’ She looked back to Tara’s parents and felt her eyes prick with tears; she was so happy for them, so happy for Tara too, and she wanted them to know it. She didn’t want them to think her sudden shift in mood was down to them. ‘You don’t need to thank me. Tara is a wonderful girl and to know that I have helped you all is enough. She really is special, and you are lucky to have her, just as she is lucky to have you.’

She looked to Tara’s mum, to the tears that still welled in her eyes and pulled her into a hug. ‘Ask Tara to stay in touch, won’t you?’

Tara’s mum embraced her and then Malie turned to Tara’s father who looked like he didn’t know whether to embrace her too or shake her hand. She decided for him, pulling him into a hug and releasing him with a warm smile that matched his own.

She looked back to Todd. ‘I’ll be back shortly.’

‘I’ll come with you.’

‘No, it’s…’ She broke off at the look in his eye, she couldn’t reject him now, she didn’t have the strength for it. She needed him, she realized, more than anything in that moment… she needed him.

‘OK,’ she nodded.

His face visibly relaxed as he looked back to Tara’s parents. ‘Enjoy the evening – food will be out shortly, and I have it on good authority – that is, Tara’s – that the dessert is to die for.’

Charles chuckled. ‘Yes, she mentioned she’d helped you menu plan.’

‘Helped?’ Todd managed a laugh too. ‘I think she practically took over the kitchen.’

Tara’s parents beamed with pride. ‘Thank you too, Todd,’ Charles said. ‘Without the Foundation, heaven knows where we would be now.’

Todd cleared his throat and Malie could see the emotion trying to break free of his stoic expression. ‘You’re welcome.’

One last smile and Tara’s parents walked away, freeing them to do the same, Todd’s hand still resting in the small of her back as they weaved through the crowd and headed outside. The rain was still beating down and so they kept close to the house, to the shelter provided by the upstairs balcony and providing privacy to them, too.

‘Do you want me to bring you out some food?’ Todd asked gently.

She shook her head. ‘I’m not hungry…’ She gave him a quick look. ‘Sorry.’

‘What for?’

She’d meant for turning down his offer of food when she knew how much effort had gone