She laughed. “Maybe. Some men do.”
“That’s a low bar, but I’ll try to take it as a compliment.”
“I meant it as one. You’re a dedicated dad and a talented carpenter, and you seem to have some kind of crazy photographic memory.”
“Not for everything. I’m not much good with words, music, any of that. But physical stuff? Making chairs, building houses… I’m good at that.”
“And sign language.”
“If you say so.”
“And a friend, too. You’re a really, really good friend.”
He nodded and clinked his glass against hers. “That compliment I’ll take.”
23
Akemi
Akemi arrived home one afternoon after a 20-hour travel day and dragged her luggage up the front steps, feeling very pregnant and very tired.
Her belly was so big that the flight crew had refused to let her board at first. It took ten minutes of arguing to convince them that she was not in fact in her final month of pregnancy; she was just a small woman with a big baby.
In the end, they made her sign a waiver before she was finally allowed to waddle onto the plane.
Akemi had worked straight through her first two trimesters (and then some) in order to save up for a decent maternity leave. That was one tricky thing about life as an entrepreneur. She was her own employer; any benefits she wanted, she needed to provide for herself.
Her mom oohed and ahhed over her belly when she picked her up at the airport, and Akemi could only offer a wan smile inreturn. The past month in Toyko hadn’t been so bad – all she had really done was feast three times a day, film her meals, and take copious notes for future content – but getting to Hawaii had completely worn her out.
She needed to sleep for two days, and then she could get to creating and scheduling enough posts to keep her business running through the first month or two of her baby’s life.
Her baby.
She was about to become a mother. Despite the immense weight that she was carting around each day, the prospect of holding a brand-new human in her arms – and then being responsible for an entire human life – was still difficult to wrap her head around.
Would she really be able to travel with a baby?
Or would she have to completely change her life and find a different way to support herself?
The question weighed on her more and more with every week that went by. Just traveling with a big belly was exhausting. As her exhaustion carved itself into her bones, her confidence began to falter. She wasn’t sure that she would truly be able to bear the weight of car seats and diaper bags and endless nights of broken sleep.
At least… not alone.
Akemi pulled her usual trick of slipping in quietly, hoping to get some rest before the whole family descended. She had already checked with Anne to make sure that her room would be available, and so that particular sister knew her arrival date – but she had asked her not to tell the rest of the family.
Even so, the house was full.
The Aloha sisters weren’t there, but Anne’s guests were. It was one big extended family that week, and there were lots of little kids running around.
Strangely enough, in spite of her exhaustion, Akemi found that she didn’t mind.
After the extreme order and near-silence of Japan, being back in a full house felt cozy and familiar. All throughout her childhood, foster kids had rotated through the Kalama place. Her sisters didn’t always appreciate the chaos, but Akemi had mostly enjoyed it. There was always someone to play with.
And so it didn’t bother her that there were half a dozen kids running around the table while she sat and ate a bowl of soup. She liked it better than her visits the past couple of years, when the house had been nearly empty and quiet for the first time in her life.
She liked to think of her own child joining in the chaos, running around the living room with cousins and friends. Between Hawaii and the Tuscan villa where three generations of the Lazzeri family lived, her baby would have plenty of family.
The question was how much time they would spend in each place… and how much time Akemi would still be able to spend exploring.
