“Perfect. We’ll do it now, then. I’ve got the perfect pony for him. A gentle cutie named Tornado.”
“Oh, man, Mav’s gonna love the sound of that. Put him on a ‘stallion’ named Tornado, and he’s gonna think you’ve lived up to your billing.”
My heart stops.My billing?“Does that mean you’ve told Maverick about me?”
He bites back a smile. “My parents, too.”
My shallow breathing is back. “W-what’d you tell them?”
He takes a step forward and his chest heaves. “That I met a special woman with a heart of gold in Hawaii. A trustworthy, kind, hilarious, sweet woman who never once failed to show me her true self.” His smile drops. “But, unfortunately, I was too stupid—or maybe too scared—to let my guard down and return the favor.”
Oh my God. Seriously now, what’s happening?
“Oh,” I say vaguely, as my mind races and swirls. This feels momentous. Like Roman’s come here for more than a simple, weeklong visit with me. In fact, I can’t help feeling like I’m Cinderella, and Roman’s come to my house with a glass slipper on a pillow. But that’s a crazy thought, right? The kind of thought that could get a girl’s heart shattered, only even more so than last time with Brandon.
Roman sighs at whatever he’s seeing on my face. “I’ve come to correct my mistake, Iris. Or at least try. If you’ll let me.”
“I ...” I blush and clear my throat. “Honestly, I’m not sure what that means. How I’m supposed to ‘let’ you do anything. But youcan certainly try to do whatever you came here to do, and I won’t try to stop you.”
Chapter 28
Iris
As Roman andI approach his group, his parents have their backs to us, but I can plainly see Harper’s wide grin and Maverick’s cherubic little face.Holy crap.Roman’s son is his miniature replica. The boy is Roman’s spitting image!
An intense feeling of déjà vuslams into me.Have I seen this beautiful boy before, or does he remind me of Roman so much, my brain is feeding me false memories? Before I settle on an answer, Roman’s parents turn to greet us, and I’m met with a face that’s instantly recognizable to me, despite the brevity of our prior encounter.Roman’s mother! She’s the kind woman from the airport in Kauai.Consider my mind officially blown.
Of course, it’s wonderful to see this sweet, maternal woman again. I’d love to properly thank her for the nurturing kindness she showered me with when I needed it most. But I’d rather eat rusty nails than thank his mother in this context, and in front of Roman, thereby reminding her and Roman of the pathetic, rock-bottom state I was in upon my arrival in Kauai. It’s one thing for a kindhearted mother to offer comfort to a pitiable, distraught stranger at an airport, but quite another for that same mother to approve of a pitiable, distraught stranger as a romantic interest for her beloved son. That’s got to be especially true when the son in question is a world-renowned athlete with his pick of romantic partners. Not to mention, when the distraught stranger recently starred, against her will, in a mortifying viral video.
“Everyone,” Roman says, his tone brimming with excitement. He motions proudly to me as we come to a stop. “This is IrisBenedetto. Iris, these are my parents, Edward and Ava Maguire, and my son, Maverick.”
“Hi, everyone,” I squeak out, waving and averting my eyes from Roman’s mother. “It’s great to meet you.”
“This is Iris?” Roman’s mother gasps out. “Iris, we’ve met! Don’t you remember? It was at the airport in Kauai!”
Welp. The jig is up.
I meet Mrs. Maguire’s gaze with a smile. “Of course I remember you, Mrs. Maguire. I’ll never forget you. You were my guardian angel that day.”
“Please, call me Ava.” She pulls me into a warm hug, and I’m hit with a lovely floral scent. “You look wonderful, sweetheart. So much happier and healthier than when we met before.”
“I’m like new. Even better, actually. Time heals all wounds, as they say.”
“So glad to hear it.”
When we break apart, I exchange an incredulous look with my bestie, Harper. One that screams, “Oh my fucking God.” When I arrived in Orchard Blossom almost two months ago, Harper came over, and I proceeded to tell my lifelong best friend everything that had happened to me in Hawaii over a bottle of wine. I didn’t divulge Roman’s “new team” secret to Harper or anyone else, as promised—but I certainly did tell Harper the story of the lovely, elegant grandmother who’d comforted me at the airport and instructed me to indulge my every whim during my vacation.
At the time of that conversation with Harper, we both giggled and snickered to think that nice Airport Lady had given me a much-needed push to defy my inhibitions and have my first fling with a stranger. And now it turns out the Airport Lady was unknowingly giving me to permission to bang her gorgeous son? What are the odds?
“Sorry to interrupt the lovefest,” Roman says with a chuckle. “But how did you two meet, exactly?”
My body seizes with preemptive embarrassment, but Ava’s bubbly, happy energy doesn’t shift in the least. With a smile, she links her arm in mine and breezily replies, “Iris dropped her sunglasses while waiting in line for a rental car, so I picked them up and brought them to her, and we wound up having a lovely, memorable conversation.” She looks at me sympathetically, her lips pursed. “The poor baby had been through a rough time the day before, so we sat down together and she told me about it, in the most precious, darling way imaginable.” She pats my arm. “I told Edward about our conversation when I got to the gate. I told him, ‘I just met the loveliest girl, Edward. I swear, I’ll never forget her, as long as I live.’”
“She did,” Edward confirms.
Gratitude floods me. Butterflies.Relief.There were so many other ways Roman’s mother might have described our tear-filled encounter—descriptions that would have cast me in a horribly embarrassing light. But she chose to treat me with kindness, once again. Clearly, the moment we shared in Hawaii wasn’t a fluke—kindness is Ava Maguire’s default setting. No wonder she reminded me of my own mother back at that airport—my mom was the exact same way. Kind and generous to her very core.
“That’s so you, Mom,” Roman says with a smirk. “Yet another Pop-Up Pal.” To me, Roman adds, “That’s what Mom calls the brief connections she always makes with people, everywhere she goes.”
