“Shall we?” Kai motions for me to take a seat.
I slide into the booth, praying the ugly outfit won’t make toilet noises against the vinyl as I scoot. It doesn’t, and I sigh with gratitude.
Kai slides onto the seat across from me. “This is weird, isn’t it?”
I try to look at him seriously, but I’m having a hard time with the lopsided eye size. “Yes.” A laugh coats the word. “So let me guess. You said you wore an oversized jersey to our first date, along with a pair of fake, dorky glasses?”
He nods. “Andyoutold them about your cute little outfit and ended up with a tent.”
“Pretty much.”
“You still look cute.”
My heart sputters. “So do you.” And he does, even if itiscartoon-character cute.
He clears his throat. “You graduated last year, I heard. And you’re starting up a small business now?”
He heard that? “Yeah. And you’re about to take the bar exam if all is going well, right?”
“Right.” Kai nods.
I nod too, dreading the question that comes to mind next. A lot hinges on whether he’s moving back here or not. And by a lot, I mean our second chance, if there even is one. I try to tellTraitor Meto stop thinking things like that, but suddenly the question comes barreling out of my mouth.
“Where do you plan to practice law?”
My heart jumps into a wild rhythm. I run the tip of my finger over the tablecloth while waiting for his reply.
“Here in Arizona.”
The wild heart rhythm turns into a happy dance.
“I already have offers from two different firms. Of course, one of them is my father’s, but…”
Another thing I admire about Kai—he’s always two steps ahead of the game. The guy graduated high school with an associate degree for crying out loud.
“Would you consider working at your dad’s firm?” I ask. This touches a sore spot. His father is the reason Kai was so set on going to Stanford for his undergrad. The reason he took off to California instead of staying in Arizona while I suffered the most brutal years of my life.
“No,” Kai says. “I think it’d be best if I worked for a different firm. But it’s nice to know he has confidence in me.”
I want to ask if his father wouldstillhave confidence in him if he’d finished his undergrad here in Arizona, but I don’t.
Kai clears his throat. “Shelly has two boys now. They’re cute little rascals too. I can’t wait to be a bigger part of their lives when I move back.”
I picture his sister raising two boys and grin. “She married Troy Conner, right?”
“Right. So that’s another reason I should stay close. They need their cool Uncle Kai around, so they don’t turn out like their geeky dad.”
I point to the glasses and laugh at the irony. “Umm-hmm.”
Kai tears off the glasses and runs a hand over his face. “Sheesh, these things are giving me a headache.” He blinks a few times. “I feel like my eyes have shrunk.”
“Just one of them has,” I promise.
“That’s a relief.” He sets them down on the table and squares a look at me.
I gulp. On one hand, I’m relieved that he took the silly things off so we can have a conversation that isn’t comedy-enhanced by the crazy eyewear. But another part of me senses my disadvantage; the glasses helped even out the playing field.
Kai lets out a sigh. “How’s your mom?”
