“A little tipsy, but”—his eyes narrowed—“wait, you knew it was a bush bar?”
“I’m a journalist, remember?”She tapped the side of her nose.“It’s my job to know stuff.”Then she sniffed the air.A whiff of burning.“Oh, shoot!The onions!”
She dashed off toward the kitchen and, with Karim still on her hip, stirred the sizzling onions.On the next burner, a pot of water was almost boiling over.She reached for the cup of rice she’d already measured out, but Dan got there first.
“Here, let me help you,” he said.
“No, I got this.”
“Me, too.”He picked up the rice and slid it into the boiling water.“You always cook like this?One handed?”
“Yes and no.”She placed Karim back down next to the pots and pans he’d been playing with on the floor between her feet.“Usually, he’s about to trip me up.But it’s not like us moms have much choice.We might be superhuman, but we still need to eat.”She stepped over Karim to get to the sink and pulled out the bowl of mangoes she’d been washing.“So, did you see the kopeka bird?”
Dan set the rice to simmer.“You knew it was a bird, too?”
“Sure, I did.”She glanced over her shoulder at him.“What did you think it was?A cave monster?”
“I thought it was some sort of rock structure or statue.”He stirred the sauce, and while Libby chopped more mango, he told her about the kopeka.“They nest in pitch-black caves and use echolocation, like bats, but they just look like normal little birds, and they’re only found on Atiu.”Then he told her about thetumunu, how they were originally secret drinking clubs after the missionaries had banned alcohol on the island.She already knew, but she liked listening to him.
“Cranky Jones learned something today,” she said when he’d finished, and then she smiled up at him.
“Why do I get the impression you’re not just talking about the kopeka and bush bars?”He leaned against the counter.“Okay, so how about adding another headline in your notebook?‘Life Lessons Learned While Looking for Change.’”
“I like it.”Libby’s heart beat faster.This was the Daniel Jones she liked best.The one who could revisit the past and admit that there was room for improvement, with a willingness to do better.
Then his eyeline shifted through the open kitchen doorway to the couch where they’d sat together, cozy, like friends, like…a couple, the last time he was here.
“I’m sorry again about the other night,” he said, and Libby was strangely touched that he’d obviously been thinking about the last time he was here too.
“It’s water under the bridge now,” she told him.“I can understand how it looked to you.And for what it’s worth, even without our plan to blow up the internet, I’m really glad we’re friends again.”
“Me, too.”His smile shot straight to her heart.“But we’re more than just friends now,” he added.“We’re friends who are helping each other out.Business partners, even.”
Libby laughed.“Believe me, it’s not much of a business.”
“Yet,” he added.“It might not be much of a business yet, but we’ll draw attention to your channel so you can turn it into one.”
“Thanks.And the content we’ll create together will inspire positivity and optimism and absolutely no gossip.”She went back to washing her mango, fuzzy and warm inside that she and Dan were talking and planning like this.That he was here beside her, in her kitchen, helping her cook, like they’d known each other for years.She shot him a sideways glance.“You want to hear my ideas for our interviews?”
His eyes tightened at the corners, but slowly he nodded.“Okay.”
“Firstly, it’s a collab.So you’ve got as much control over our output as I have.I’m thinking we could do a five-part series.”She reached for another mango to chop.“Part One will be about your childhood, what shaped you.Part Two—making it to the top, winning your first gold.Part Three—the fame, your continuing success, and Part Four…” She looked down at her knife.“If you don’t mind, Part Four will be about your accident.”
“My downfall.”
“No, don’t call it that.”She brushed away his negativity with a quick shake of her head.“You should view Part Four as preparation for your new beginning.”
He gave a joyless little laugh.“You do realize that Part Four is the only reason people will tune in.They want to see what’s left of me.They want to know about Is—”
Dan looked away, leaving Isabella’s unspoken name hanging in the air.
Libby continued to chop, like she hadn’t noticed.“Are you okay to talk about your accident?”
“Maybe.Yeah.”He rubbed the back of his neck.“Like you said earlier, I need to do it to keep those reporters out of my face, but… I… The thing is, I won’t talk about my love life.”
Libby stilled, her knife halfway through a chunk of mango.“People will be curious.”
“I know.And they’ll have to remain curious.I can’t talk about Isabella.”
