She tried not to dwell on it.
And then her ninety days in the Schengen Area were up, and she had to move on.
Lorenzohadfloated the idea of marrying him in order to stay longer, but offering marriage as a casual suggestion over breakfast – prompted by a long rant of demanding Italian from his mother – wasn’t exactly Akemi’s idea of a dream proposal.
And anyway – the world was calling.
Wanderlust had set in again.
With a confidence born of limited experience and immense amounts of support, she set off to travel the globe with her six-month-old baby.
For a while, it was everything that she had dreamed it would be.
She got back into her old rhythms of wandering new places, and Kaleo was content to ride along in his carrier.
Wherever they went, people doted on him. All throughout Asia, waitresses were quick to pick him up and walk laps around the room so that Akemi could enjoy her food in peace.
Her business was more successful than ever. Kaleo’s sweet little face brought in millions more views on her videos, and she was able to leverage the increased visibility into fantastic brand deals and free places to stay.
Everything was smooth and easy.
…until he started crawling.
Suddenly her travel buddy no longer stayed put when she set him down.
She bought a travel crib so that she could put him somewhere safe long enough to shower or do a bit of work, and life was still manageable.
For a while.
And then he took his first steps.
At eight months old – far earlier than the baby books told her to be ready for such a thing – her hypermobile child was already cruising along furniture and even taking steps unassisted. Now, at nine months old, he was basically running.
The ability to walk in and of itself wasn’t the problem. The problem was that Kaleo loved his newfound mobility so much, he nowrefusedto be carried.
He arched his back and screamed when she tried to put him into his carrier.
She bought a stroller, and he hated that too.
Busy city streets with trucks roaring by? He wanted to walk.
Crowded sidewalks where everyone towered over him and moved at ten times the top speed that his tiny little legs could manage? No matter. Kaleo Kalama Lazzeri was determined to make his way through the world on his own two feet.
Through an airport, racing the deadline of a closing gate? Go ahead and pick him up, but he’s going to scream about it all the way there – and then continue to scream when you don’t let him race up and down the aisle during takeoff.
To add insult to injury, he was sleeping less and less.
He was down to one good nap a day, which meant that Akemi had maybe two hours a day to get any real work done. Shealways intended to work after he fell asleep at night too, but mostly she was so tired that she just crashed right alongside him.
Trying to manage him all on her own just kept getting harder.
Akemi had related all of this to Lorenzo the day before, talking to him while she trailed their toddler around a park all morning.
“He is like his mother.” There was a wry twist to his voice, layered over his musical Italian accent.
“How’s that?” she asked.
“He does not like to stay in one place too long.”
