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  "I love you," I whispered.

  "Say it again," he choked.

  "I love you, Nate," I said breathily.

  I felt him speed up, shifting off of me to thrust harder. He went faster, stoking the flame inside of me into an inferno. His vigorous strokes rocked through me harder and harder until I felt myself fall. I came, crying out, feeling myself come to pieces in Nate's arms. He went harder still, groaning as he climaxed before he slowed to a languorous stroke, and finally became still. He held my face and kissed me hard.

  "I love you, too," he said, looking into my eyes. Everything else became a drone in the background. That was all that mattered.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Nate

  I needed to stop doing this. I bet Abby never sat in bed staring at me sleeping when she got up before I did. A little while ago, it had made me feel like a creep, but now it almost felt necessary.

  I loved her. I couldn't believe I had her in my life. I couldn't believe that the day was coming when I wouldn't anymore.

  I still had to figure out what to do. The call hadn't been made yet, so technically, it wasn't official that anything was changing. God, I already hated myself for leaving her, and I hadn't done it yet. I didn't fucking want to. It was as simple as that. I was healthy, happy, and in love. What the fuck did I still need?

  I had loved music since I was a kid. I had put everything I had into Remus, writing my best songs, giving up years of my life just to make sure we got somewhere. But then we did, and what the fuck had it been for? Money?

  Remus was supposed to make me happy. Waking up every day to make music was supposed to make me happy, and all it had done was get me on a plane here trying to escape it all. I couldn't believe it, but Keno had been right. I was still trying to plan for something I could take because it was right in front of me.

  I loved this place. I loved this tiny island where nobody knew who I was, and I loved this girl who helped me beat my addiction and was more beautiful inside and out than anyone I'd ever met in my life. I lived in a million-dollar condo in downtown LA, and I'd never been happier than I was right now in a beachfront hut with Abby. I'd spend the rest of my life in this bed with her.

  That was it. Why was I still looking? I had found it.

  I slid out of the bed and pulled my underwear on before walking out onto the porch. Abby had a hell of a view. The morning was clear and sunny, and the beach had just a few people on it. I checked the time; LA was a couple hours ahead of here, but it was still early, sometime before nine.

  Whatever. He was the one who wanted to hear from me, wasn't he? I dialed Wes Barry's number and waited for him to pick up.

  "Nate, how are you?" he asked cheerfully. I smiled. I was about to ruin his day if he thought I had good news for him.

  "Great. Listen. About that contract?" I said.

  "Did you like what you saw?" he asked. Objectively, yeah. It was a good-looking contract. Lots of money, agency, freedom, everything I thought I wanted, which I would take if the trade wasn't so damn shitty.

  "It's a pass, Wes. I can't take the deal." He was silent for a beat.

  "What's wrong with the contract? We can negotiate if-"

  "It's great. Really. I just don't want it."

  "You sure, kid? An opportunity like this doesn't come along every day," he warned. A girl like Abby didn't either.

  "I'm sure. Thanks again for the offer," I said, hanging up. The door creaked open behind me, and Abby came out to the porch. She was in a tank top and shorts – with no bra underneath, I couldn't help notice.

  "Hey," I said holding my arm out. She walked into my embrace, hugging me.

  "Hey. Is everything okay?" she asked looking up at me.

  "It is now," I said smiling. I sat in one of the chairs and she sat on the other.

  "Who was that?"

  "Remember the producer who called me offering a contract last week?" I asked.

  "I remember."

  "I called to tell him I was turning down his offer."

  "You're kidding."

  "Nope. I told him I didn't want it."

  "What are you going to do instead?"

  "I guess I'm staying. Know anyone looking for a roommate?" I asked.

  She beamed at me, crying and laughing and glowing with joy. In half a second, she was out of her seat and on top of me, and both of us were on the floor. She kissed me, pinning me between her and the floor of the porch. I laughed, stroking her hair. Best decision I had ever made.

  "Are you sure?" she asked, sitting up on my lap.

  "I'm positive."

  "What about your life in LA?"

  "You're the most important thing in my life, Abby. Nobody there is going to miss me."

  "What about your dad?" she asked. He didn't live in LA, but she had a point. I needed to tell him. I asked her to grab my phone off the table and called him, putting him on speaker.

  "Hello?" he asked, picking up.

  "Dad? It's me," I said, hugging Abby close.

  "How are you, son? What's going on?"

  "I wanted to tell you something. I got an offer to make music in LA solo from this guy, Wes Barry," I told him.

  "That's great news. Did you want a lawyer to look at the contract?"

  "No need. I turned it down."

  "You did? Why? I thought that was what you wanted." he said. I looked at Abby.

  "It was, but things changed. I'm not coming back to LA. I'm staying on Lanai."

  "Are you sure?" he asked.

  "I'm finally happy here, Dad. LA was poison. I don't want to go back. There's nothing keeping me there."

  "I'm going to support your decision, son. Your health should be your first priority. Are you happy there?"

  "I am. I actually have something else to tell you. I met someone."

  "You did? On the island?" he asked.

  "Yeah. We've been seeing each other this summer. She helped me a lot with my addiction. She's right here; do you want to talk to her?" I asked, looking at Abby. She was biting her lip nervously. I squeezed her leg reassuringly.

  "Sure, put her on."

  "G-good morning, Mr. Stone," Abby said timidly. "I'm Abby. Nate and I have been seeing each other."

  "Good morning, Abby. I suppose I have you to thank for Nate being in such a good mood lately?" he asked. I laughed as Abby blushed.

  "Lanai is Hawai'i's most enticing island, I can't take credit for that," she said, making him laugh. "You have a remarkable son, Mr. Stone."

  "I think so, too. Don't tell him I said that," he joked. "You watch out for him out there. Don't let him get into trouble."

  "Of course, sir. I care deeply about him," she said, smiling at me.

  "He needs more people like you in his life. Is he still there?"

  "I'm here, Dad," I said, holding Abby close to my chest.

  "What’s your plan of action?" he asked. "Are you going to work over there? You can still record music and distribute it independently," he said.

  "I have a couple options," I said, smiling at Abby.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Abby

  "Are you going to tell me how last night turned out?" Makani asked. We had just finished the lei greeting and were waiting for the performances to start. It was the last luau of the season before the post-summer slump.

  "He loved the dinner," I started.

  "Yes, and? Did you tell him?"

  "I told him. He said it back," I said, smiling.

  "Now, see, what took you so long?" she said, scolding me playfully.

  "I don't do this sort of thing, Makani. I didn't even know if what I was feeling was love."

  "At least you told him. I'm glad you decided not to let him leave without telling him."

  "Leave? Who's leaving?" I asked. Makani's eyes widened.

  "He's not leaving? You convinced him to stay?"

  "I didn't do anything. He just told me this morning that he wasn't going back. He turned down a deal this producer had for him in LA and said
he didn't have anything to go back to there. He wants to stay here."

  "Permanently?" she asked.

  "I hope so. I talked to his dad this morning."

  "What? That's major. He wouldn't let you unless he was really serious."

  "I guess," I said giggling. "I'm just so happy. I didn't realize how stressed out it was making me, preparing to see him go. I feel like I can just enjoy him now. I can kiss him and not worry that I won't be able to again, you know?"

  "I'm really happy for you, Abby. Both of you. I think you guys saved each other this summer."

  "Saved?" I scoffed.

  "You showed up at just the right time. You both had things you needed to get over, and you helped each other out." I shrugged. I guess you could look at it that way.

  "Maybe," I said.

  "Maybe? I hardly even know you anymore. I've never met loved-up Abby before." I laughed.

  "I could say the same about you. I finally have both my friends back now," I said, referring to her and Keno.

  "About that..." she said. I panicked.

  "About that what? Did you guys break up again?"

  "I guess he technically is my ex-boyfriend if he's my fiancé now," she said.

  I squealed, making her laugh. "When were you going to tell me? Where's the ring?"

  "I was going to show you today, but Keno took it back because we had to get it resized."

  "Oh my God, Makani, congratulations. This is so great," I said, hugging her.

  "I guess we both won this summer," she said.

  "I'll say. When's the wedding?"

  "This winter. We don't have to wait. We were talking about doing this already before the breakup. The only reason we're having a ceremony is because of our families."

  "And me. I'd never forgive you if you eloped," I teased.

  "You're next," she said, grinning.

  "Slow down," I laughed. "We're not in a hurry."

  "He's moving here now, so you have all the time in the world," she mused. I smiled.

  It felt like a dream. Nate had told me what he was doing, and I had heard him tell his father what he was doing, but for some reason, him going to Joseph and telling him that he was interested in a regular performing position at the hotel was what really sealed the deal for me and made it feel real.

  Even better, was he was performing tonight. This was one of his options. He had creative freedom and would get paid to make music. I didn’t know whether he saw himself doing this when he was thinking about a career in music, but this took away the stress of the cutthroat, money-hungry industry that had screwed him over before. Just him and his music the way that he wanted.

  I had watched him do this enough times that it shouldn’t have taken my breath away, but it did. I hooted and clapped with the audience when he took the stage. I watched, completely drawn by his presence on stage and his amazing music. I felt happy and smug knowing that the incredible man on stage was coming home with me. They thought they had him, but he was all mine.

  Makani, Keno, and I were waiting with drinks for Nate when he came off the stage.

  "How'd I do?" he asked, coming up to the bar where we were waiting. I kissed him, handing him a drink.

  "Amazing. As usual."

  "I heard the good news. You're one of us now," Makani said to him.

  "I heard yours, too, congratulations," he said.

  "How did you know before I did?" I asked.

  "I told him," Keno said.

  "Since you're both here, I think it goes without saying that you're both in the wedding party," Makani said.

  "How did he ask you? Did he get down on one knee?” I asked her.

  "You gotta propose on one knee," Nate said.

  "I go to the house, and he tells me he’s waiting for me in the garden. I go out there, and it's completely dark. I can't see him anywhere. I start going back into the house, and suddenly all these lamps turn on and he's standing there. He comes up to me and tells me that I’m the love of his life and he wants to spend the rest of his life with me," Makani said, beaming. Keno stood next to her with his arm around her waist.

  "Nice. Did she cry?" Nate asked Keno. I swatted him on the chest. What kind of question was that?

  "Oh, yeah," Keno said, laughing.

  "You were trying to make me cry?" Makani asked him.

  "That's when you know you knocked it out of the park," Nate said.

  "Only happy tears, honey," Keno said to Makani.

  "How soon before we can expect kids?" Nate asked. Makani blushed and Keno laughed, hugging her to his side.

  "Nate, you gotta slow down. At least let us get married first. You know, you remind me of this story I heard-"

  "No. Don't. Just don't," Makani said, cutting him off.

  "You don't want to hear it?" he asked.

  "No," Nate and I said at the same time. Makani kissed his cheek, laughing. He could be a little long winded sometimes; we weren't trying to stay up all night.

  We hung out while the luau shut down and said goodbye to Makani and Keno, making our way down to the beach to my place. I smiled making the walk, thinking we'd do this often: take walks on the beach. I had put it all on the line, falling for Nate, and here we were going home together.

  There was no more doubt. No more fear. No more anxiety. Only us, and the future.

  "I'm really happy you decided to stay," I told him.

  "I am, too."

  "I think living here is going to be good for you."

  "Being with you is going to be good for me," he said.

  "I love you, Nate."

  "I love you too, babe."

  "Are you excited?" I asked carefully.

  "I can't wait."

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Nate

  Three Months Later

  I'd never been to a Hawai'ian wedding before. Keno's family had wanted something a lot more traditional, while Makani's family was a little more modern. They came to a compromise that looked like a wedding of about one hundred people at a public park overlooking the ocean.

  It had only been three months since Keno had proposed. I asked him over and over whether it was happening so fast because she was pregnant, but he kept denying it.

  It didn't matter anyway. They were getting married. I was happy for them. After Kirsten, I had to admit, I wasn't that excited to try doing it again.

  Maybe it really did come down to whether you were marrying the right person. Keno thought Makani made the sun rise every morning, and hey, I got it. I thought Abby was an actual angel, and I had just been the lucky shmuck she had felt sorry for and decided to give some love to.

  I had loved Kirsten, but I didn't remember feeling what I saw between Keno and Makani with her. I didn't remember feeling for her what I felt for Abby. Maybe that was a sign that I wouldn't be paying Abby a divorce settlement in the future when it all went to shit, but I didn't see the need to rush anything.

  She was still in school, and I was still moving my life from LA to Lanai. I had had to have a few flights back just to arrange everything and make sure I wiped that slate clean. I was stoked on Lanai. I understood why Abby and Keno loved it so much. It certainly didn't hurt that I had some actual friends now.

  I had gone almost twenty-eight years of my life without having ever been a groomsman at someone's wedding. It was kind of embarrassing when I thought about it. Kirsten and I had had a really small ceremony at my house with like, ten guests. It hadn't felt anything like this.

  The people who weren't family were friends, colleagues, and people who had known Makani and Keno since they were young. There were old teachers, former classmates, people who worked at the market in the city, everyone.

  I liked it. It was great feeling like you belonged to a community. It was like it was everyone's big day, not just theirs.

  Speaking of big day, Keno had been nervous as fuck since we had gotten to the ceremony.

  He had been asking me how to deal, but I wasn't sure if he wanted advice from someone who had e
nded up getting a divorce. I just told him to wait till Makani showed up, then he'd be able to calm down. I was standing at the front of the ceremony waiting for it to begin with him, his brother who was his best man, and one other guy who was his last groomsman.

  Makani walked down the aisle to the Hawai'ian Wedding Song instead of the bridal march most people knew. Before she did, though, her bridal party walked down the aisle. I watched the other girls walk down the aisle waiting for Abby's turn. She was maid of honor, so she went in just before Makani.

  She and Keno were wearing white, but her bridesmaids, Abby included, had these long, flowy dresses that were cotton-candy pink. She took my breath away coming down the aisle. She looked really pretty in the dress, but she had these white flowers in her hair and I don't know, maybe it was because we were at a wedding and she was walking down an aisle. It put some crazy ideas in my head.

  That was my girl.

  Where the fuck would I be if she hadn't come to my suite that day to tell me to come to the luau? Definitely not here.

  I was coming up on six months dope free, we were living together, and I had just gotten more and more requests from producers to work with them. She did that. Even if I had managed to stop using on my own, if we hadn't met, if she hadn't refused to give up on me, I would have gone back to LA and probably ended up trying to make it work again with Remus, which would have driven me fucking crazy.

  I was happy. I had forgotten what it felt like to wake up and want to go back to sleep because everything sucked. I liked where I was and the people I was around. I loved her. She was the brightest and best thing in my life. She had met my dad, and he had felt the same way. She was perfect.

  The ceremony was really nice. It really said something that the two of them were together again after they had broken up. Not every couple was like that. I thought I deserved a little credit helping them patch things up, but I didn't tell them. It was their wedding — I could just do it during the toasts.

  The reception was a huge luau-style party. The feast was ridiculous; eating here had ruined me for other food whenever I had to fly back to the mainland. Abby was picking off my plate at our table. Being part of the wedding party, we were all sitting together. There was an open bar, but we didn't need booze tonight.