Awake (16 page)

EPILOGUE

10 MONTHS LATER

The idea of my stepmother flying from Los Angeles to Hawaii sitting next to Kat is almost too hard to fathom. I am just pleased she is finally coming out to see Wade’s dream become a reality.

They walk out of the terminal laughing together with my mother grabbing onto Kat’s arm for support. Kat is literally almost killing her with laughter.

“Am I going to lose my best friend after that flight?” I say.

They both hug me and ignore my question. “Oh, Erin, lighten up,” my stepmother says and it makes both of them laugh.

“Don’t mind us,” Kat says. “We imbibed a little too much on the flight across.”

I help them with their luggage putting it in the trunk of my little hybrid that I bought after Wade and I moved to Kailua-Kona.

Kat insists my stepmother sit in the front with me and she climbs in the back with all my last minute purchases for the big opening.

“Are you guys drunk?” I ask.

“Maybe a teeny weenie,” my stepmother says squinting and squeezing her fingers together to illustrate.

“Our new bartender is not going to like that,” I tell them. “He was hoping to really impress with his endless menu of mixed drinks.”

“Is he hot?” Kat says.

“He is very hot,” my stepmother answers.

“Yuck,” I say and of course they laugh and make me feel like the old fuddy duddy in the car.

We pull up to the Kona Heights Grill. The valet rushes out to us.

“Yum,” Kat says as the tan valet quickly removes their luggage. Kat makes the valet blush, as she would make any man who saw her in a tight tank top.

Another valet jumps in the car and drives away.

“Put the luggage in the oceanside suite for now. We’ll figure it out later. Thank you, Kael,” I tell the young valet.

“Will do, Miss Cassidy,” he says.

“Well, well,” my stepmother says. “Miss Cassidy is it now? You are an island big shot.”

I decide to let that one alone and lead the tipsy duo into the bar to meet the bartender who has been waiting all day for their arrival.

“Hey, hot stuff,” my stepmother says to him and leans over the bar for a kiss.

The bartender is my father who jumped at the chance to bartend on opening weekend of Wade’s very own beachfront grill. He had been a bartender in college and lately has been trying to rekindle lost interests such as hanging out with his daughter.

Father had won the board vote despite everything, but promptly handed over control to Tom Wexler. He told me that Tom had waited his turn long enough and was very capable. My father had other priorities now. He wanted to see the world and interact with it.

“How was the flight?” he asks Kat.

“Can’t complain. Gloria is a wild woman,” Kat says.

“We tried something called an Alabama Slammer,” my stepmother says. “Can you make us a couple of those, Mister bartender?”

“Coming right up,” my father says tossing his towel aside to get to work on his new, although temporary passion.

I go back to the kitchen to check on my genius who seems to be in great spirits as his staff prepares a variety of dishes.

“Hey, babe,” he says with a wink. “I need you for a moment. Can you give me a few seconds to check the sauce here and then walk with me?”

“I got a few seconds for you I suppose,” I say.

“Cool,” he says.

Wade financed the restaurant deal through a few investors my father recommended. He would not take one cent from my father or Doctor Hendricks. He worked for weeks on business plans after working for months on finding the location and then matching a cuisine to its specific clientele.

When the investors gave him the thumbs up he was so happy it made me cry in his arms when he told me. His dreams coming true are all I could hope for in this world.

We walk out onto the beach as the Sun goes down. There is a fire there already and a few Hawaii musicians we know playing around it.

“Okay,” I say. “What do you want to talk about? Is there a change in the menu?”

“Possibly,” he says.

I recognize the song they are playing. It’s a Radiohead song being played on ukulele. It sounds really cool.

“Well?” I say anxiously as we stand in front of the fire and the musicians fan out around us.

“We need to wait for them,” he says smiling like a geek.

“Wait for who?” I say but then I see them all coming out with stupid grins on their faces. My father and Kat and Gloria are coming, but I begin to notice more people. I can’t believe my eyes. Rodrigo and his wife are walking with them and, oh my god, Alodia is walking with William who is pushing Simone in her wheelchair down a long wooden planked sidewalk that must have been put in just today.

I turn back dizzily to watch my totally red-faced boyfriend drop to one knee in the glow of the fire. The ukulele version of
All I Need
quiets down enough so everyone can hear Wade speak.

“Erin, with your father’s blessing I am kneeling before you,” he says with great effort to control his emotions. “Will you be my wife and walk with me hand-in-hand through this world? I love you and will take care of you all my days on Earth.”

I stumble when all this finally sinks in and Kat is somehow right there to steady me. She knew how I would react. Kat backs away and I stare blankly at all these Los Angeles people, many of whom had to sneak onto the island and into the restaurant without my knowledge.

Wade waits nervously. I swallow trying to find a way to answer him but no words come to mind. I’m a blank until I come up with one word finally worth speaking.

“Yes,” I say quietly and look down at him. I realize he has been holding my right hand the whole time and he has a ring. My one word hits his soul and makes him bow his head and close his eyes.

“Speak up,” my father yells.

Wade stands and happily wraps his arms around my legs and lifts me high into the air above the sand. “She said, yes!” he yells.

My father is the first one there to hug me when Wade puts me down and then Gloria and Kat and Alodia and the rest.

I love all these people now like they have one big, beautiful soul, but I am already starting to think about later, when I get Wade alone and can show him just how wonderful he makes me feel.

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