“Sorry, Daddy. Sorry, Papa. It was boring in there, but the rings are pretty.”
Mitch huffed and puffed for a moment, catching his breath while rummaging in the bag he’d brought with him to carry our sunglasses, souvenirs, snacks, and whatever else.
“Hand,” he told Neal sternly, who offered his wrist. “Daddy and I would be really sad if we lost you.” He fastened the velcro wrist strap above Neal’s bracelet, then fastened the other end to his own.
Neal looked even sorrier.
“Just try to remember to wait, and it’s best if you hold our hand if you’re not wearing the strap,” I told him gently. “People forget to look to see if someone smaller is in their way and might knock you down or you could get lost taking a wrong turn.”
“Okay, Daddy. He hugged Mitch’s waist. “I’d be sad if you got losted without me too.”
“Oh, honey.” Mitch dropped a kiss onto the top of Neal’s head, and I quickly pressed one to his temple once he straightened up. I couldn’t imagine my life without these two in it either, and I certainly did not want to even try.
CHAPTER47
MITCHELL
I was gettingto know my husband’s microexpressions pretty well, and the way he was acting told me he was up to something. I didn’t know what, but my hunch told me it had something to do with the beach park. He’d been acting squirrely ever since the trip to the jewelry store.
“Let’s put on our best aloha shirts,” he said after we returned from breakfast.
Whatever he was up to, this must form part of his plan, so I went along with it. When he stopped by the front desk to collect a cardboard box he cradled gently, I knew something was definitely up. My guess was he’d had the restaurant make us a small cake so we could pose with it while showing off our rings. It was really cute, and I decided to play along as if I didn’t suspect a thing. I was sure it wouldn’t be anything too over the top because come on, we were wearing board shorts so we could swim, and I had snorkels for us in the bag along with our towels and more sun cream.
“What’s in the box, Daddy?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“I like surprises!”
Jolar beamed at him. “Good. When we get to the beach park, I’ll show you what it is.”
Neal bounced in excitement the whole time we were getting changed and on the ride.
“Where’s the beach, Papa?”
It’s in the next town, honey.”
“It won’t be too long,” our driver told him jovially. “I see you like Lilo and Stitch. Did you see the mural?”
“We tooked pictures at it! And we had hats. Mines was Stitch and Daddy’s was Gantu but he thought it was a shark! And Papa’s was Pleakley.”
“That sounds fun. You will have fun at the Salt Pond. It’s a very nice place to swim.”
“I thoughts it was a beach.”
“It is. It’s called that because it is one of the last natural salt ponds where Hawaiians make the salt for cooking traditional food. Only native Hawaiians are allowed to do that but everyone can enjoy the beach itself.”
“Oh, wow. I didn’t know that there was special salt. That is so cool!” I told him.
“We passed a shop while exploring, remember?”Jolar reminded me. “Wahine something. It said it sold salt.”
“Oh yeah! We should get some to take back home.”
“We will need to get more bags,” he teased me. “Sausage, salt…”
“Stop it,” I shoved playfully at his arm as the car turned into a parking lot where a sign told us we were at our desired destination.
“Call me when you’re ready to go back,” our driver said as Jolar paid him, making certain to add a nice tip.
