12. Mila

TWELVE

I'm always secretly disappointed when

a liar's pants don't actually catch on fire.

~ Unknown

"Yoooo hooo!" Phyllis' voice carries through the main room to the kitchen where I'm preparing a lasagna, garlic bread and salad for dinner.

She appears in the doorway, followed closely by Connie and Joan.

"I take it I'm being converged upon."

"We're not converging, dear." Connie smiles a very unconvincing smile.

"We were …" Joan starts.

"... out walking," Phyllis fills in too quickly.

"Yes. Walking," Connie says with a rapid bob of her head. "And we started thinking of you … talking about you …"

"... about you and how you are doing …" Joan adds.

"... since Brad came to town." Phyllis gives me a pointed look.

"Ahhh. You heard about that, did you?"

I dump the ground sausage into the tomato sauce and stir.

"We heard, alright," Phyllis says. "We heard a lot of things."

"Such as?" I continue stirring.

"Such as you were at the Alicante with him this morning for breakfast."

"Wow."

I look at each of them and then return my focus to the sauce, adding dried basil, oregano and a pinch of salt.

"And, Bernice said she heard Kai showed up," Joan says, with a twinkle in her eye.

"Kai has a management meeting at the main building every week. Today was his management meeting."

"Which explains why his arm was wrapped around you?" Phyllis asks.

I stare at the sauce, stirring slowly in circles to the left, and then to the right.

"Excuse me," I say, grabbing the boiling noodles off the back burner and walking to the sink to drain them.

"Well?" Phyllis presses.

"Well, what?"

"Did Kai have his arm around you at the resort this morning? Darla said she heard something about a kiss. That's what she told Connie when Connie went to get her hair washed and curled this afternoon."

"How do Bernice and Darla know what was supposedly going on at the Alicante?"

"It doesn't matter, dear," Connie says. "The point is someone said he had his arm around you and someone else claims there was a kiss involved. And there's another story going around that you two snuck out by the golf carts for a … well … I can't really comfortably repeat that one."

"For a what?" My voice raises just the slightest in volume and octave.

"A private, passionate moment. I'm just quoting." Connie blushes and shakes her head lightly. "Can you imagine? I'm sure that one was embellished. But the other things … well … we're just so tickled."

"Joe at the Corner Market said Kai came to the inn for lunch," Joan says. "I stopped in to pick up some of that muscle rub I use on my hands at night. Joe brought it up while he was ringing up my order. He said, ‘Nice to see Mila's finally letting herself enjoy a man's company.' So, of course, I had to ask him whatever he did mean. And he told me. I don't always trust him as a source, but he said he heard it from Suzanna—about Kai being here for lunch."

"Wow."

My mind is spinning with how fast news has traveled and how many people have nothing better to do than talk about Kai putting his arm around me or coming here for lunch. I shouldn't be surprised. There's a double-edged sword to small-town life, and island life is small-town living with few options for getting away from said small town.

On one hand, people treat one another like family. The islanders have been here for me while I set up the inn, when I gave birth, and to pitch in while I raise Noah single-handedly. But then again, just like family, the people of Marbella are up in one another's business, and today is my lucky day, because it seems like half the island is up in mine.

The bigger problem, aside from my overly involved neighbors, obviously, is what to tell the three women who raised me. They are my family. I can't remember a day I lied to them in my entire life. That one week when Brad talked me into skipping school for three delightful days on the beach was the exception. I ended up confessing to my aunts at the end of the third day. And the secret burned in me until I finally came clean.

But this is different.

"Kai and I …" I start.

But I don't know what to say after that. The words get stuck in my throat.

"Oooooh!" Connie claps her hands excitedly and bounces a little on her toes. She looks nearly childlike with giddiness, despite her gray hair and wrinkles.

"I knew it!" Joan adds. "The two of you always have had such a fondness for one another. You're well-suited. Is that still what they say these days?" She looks to Phyllis to clarify.

"I think she knows what you mean. Don't you, Mila?"

I start to speak … but Connie beats me to it.

"Of course she knows. She's so bright, our Mila. And good, and kind, and beautiful. Of course Kai would want to date her."

"Of course, he would," Joan agrees. "What man wouldn't?"

Phyllis just nods, studying me.

"We're so excited for you two!" Connie starts bouncing again.

"Very excited," Joan adds.

Phyllis still studies me.

"We're … um. We can't let Noah know," I say, my deepest concern finally finding its way into words.

"Oh, of course not, dear," Connie says.

"Mum's the word," Joan agrees.

Phyllis finally speaks. "We know you'll want to keep your relationship private until you are more serious. I just wish you had told us. We didn't like finding out from everyone else."

"It's … complicated." I finally say something fully true.

"Oh, romance always is!" Connie nearly busts at the seams with that statement. "And to think, you were always so dead set against romance. Well, I had a hunch that Kai would be the one to snap you out of that dry spell. He's a looker. And if any young man could do it, my money was on him."

I'm surprised she doesn't whip out a measuring tape and start sizing me up for a wedding gown on the spot. She's the epitome of the heart-eye emoji, only a bouncing one who's slightly hard of hearing and takes arthritis meds.

"I'm sorry," I say.

And I am. Sorry that I'm not telling them everything. Sorry they think everyone knows something and they're the last to find out. Sorry I'm even in this situation.

"Nothing to be sorry about. We thought it might be a silly rumor at first," Phyllis says. "But the more we kept hearing, the more we knew some parts of it must be true. That's why we came over."

"On your walk?" I tease. "Spontaneously?"

"No matter," Phyllis smiles at me. "We came and now we know."

"There's more," I pull my lasagna pan out, spray the bottom with oil, and start layering noodles.

"What more?" Phyllis asks, taking one of the seats around the island while Joan walks over to the fridge and pulls out the jug of tea.

"Brad wants to meet Noah. He wants to be a part of his life." I collapse onto a stool.

"Oh, dear!" Connie says, taking a glass of tea from Joan.

"Yeah. He said he knows he messed up and he wants to be a part of Noah's life now."

A silence falls over the four of us, my three aunts exchange glances in a way I've grown accustomed to over the years. There's a whole discussion being shared wordlessly between them.

Phyllis finally speaks. "You probably need to consider Noah's right to know his dad."

"Not that you have to rush into this," Connie adds, attempting to soften the harsh reality of my situation.

"Inch into it," Joan adds. "Maybe you bring Brad in as a stranger. I think I saw a Hallmark movie about this. Or, maybe it was Lifetime. Anyway, the man wanted to come back into his son's life. Of course, in that one, the woman let him come around as a stranger, and they fell back in love and got remarried." She sniffs. "It was beautiful, really. I love a redemption story, don't you?"

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Phyllis scolds Joan. "Do you really want Brad and Mila back together?"

"Goodness, no!" Joan says.

Connie adds, "Never. Besides, Mila has Kai now. Brad isn't an option."

And that solidifies it for me. I do need Kai. With him in the picture, Brad will know he's not an option for me—everyone will.

Phyllis looks over at me. "You might want to start priming the pump over time with Noah. Ask him what he would feel like if you found his father. Ask if he'd ever want to meet him one day. Don't talk too much about it, but you need to get him prepared. He's spent all these years never even missing the man. But you have to build a bridge eventually."

"Not right away, though," Connie adds.

"Definitely not. Just let him come around as a stranger at first. See how things go."

I nod, unable to think of anything except what it will be like for my ex to be around my son—and me.

At least I'll have Kai as a buffer.