Page 66 of Summer Breeze
His mother’s style, although classy, tended towards natural colors, boring items, and repetitive patterns.
By the time Jules got off work, he was standing outside her apartment next to the stack of his boxes.
“What…” She stopped and then laughed. “You meant to start moving tonight?”
“Start?” He frowned for show. “You mean finish. This is it. Everything I own that I want. We can go through my place this weekend and move whatever other items you want to keep. My mom will have the rest moved to her store.”
She was smiling as she shook her head and then dug in her purse and handed him a bright fuzzy green ball.
“What’s this?” he asked.
She took his hand and placed the ball in his palm. It was then that he realized there was a key attached to the fuzzy ball.
“Your key.” She smiled.
“Do I have to keep the green thing on it?” he asked.
She walked into his arms and held onto him. “You do for now.”
He laughed. “Is this another one of your stipulations?”
“Call it a test,” she responded with a laugh. “Now, I promised Tutu I’d come over for dinner. My aunt arrived earlier this morning.” She looked up at him. “Let’s change and head over.”
His smile grew. “I’d like that.” Then he took his new key and unlocked the door and held it open for her.
It took him less than five minutes to pull his boxes into her place. She had him move them to her walk-in closet for now.
They changed clothes, him into a pair of khakis shorts and a button-up shirt and her into a soft floral sundress. She’d tied the front of her hair back and put a white flower clip just above her ear.
“You look amazing,” he said, kissing her. “We could stay in. Enjoy our first night officially living together?”
“Later.” She wiggled her eyebrows and then kissed him.
As she drove to her parents’ place, she filled him in on her aunt Rita.
“Rita is a professional hula dancer. She’s very deep into preserving the Hawaiian traditions. Our heritage,” she explained.
“And she’s moving here to help your dad?” he asked.
“Yes. She’s the oldest in the family. My dad was the baby.” She smiled. “She’s the one who taught me how to hula.” She glanced over at him. “Just a warning, I’m not very good at it. She had her own studio teaching the younger generation. Her ex-husband took it in the divorce and sold it to her competitor.”
“Did he dance?”
“No.” Jules frowned at him. “He was a lawyer.”
“Right,” he said slowly.
“He took everything she had. She’s been living with my aunt Rhonda for the past year. She’s had to take jobs at some of the tourist spots just to pay her legal bills.”
“What an ass. He took everything?”
“Yeah. If their kids were younger, he probably would have tried for full custody of them too,” Jules said as she parked in her parents’ long driveway.
He waited until she turned off the car and then asked, “And he’s the one who cheated on her?”
“Yup.” She nodded. “Now you know why my aunt was willing to drop everything and move thousands of miles away to help my parents. So, I’ll apologize ahead of time if she seems… bitter.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “Even if this goes south, which I’m hoping it won’t, ever”—he smiled—“I can pretty much promise you that you can have all our shit.”
