didn't feel as off as Noelani was expecting.

Noelani was laying underneath the covers, her head still pounding from the previous lack of sleep.

The sunlight streamed in from the open bay window, only making her skull vibrate at a more painful frequency.

With a groan, Noelani pulled the duvet over her head.

When her phone started to beep, Noelani shot her hand out towards her nightstand and answered it without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" Noelani asked in a groggy tone.

"Good, you've answered." Alex's voice sounded throughly relieved.

"Oh. Hey, Alex." Noelani sat up and patted her bonnet covered scalp before tearing it off of her hair.

"I know we haven't spoken since the whole cave thing and me almost kissing you and I just wanted to-."

"Alex." Noelani spoke, interrupting him, "We are cool. You are the only person who's ever beaten me in a surfing contest. We can't not be friends."

"Great. Ugh, your mom came here looking for you a couple of days ago. Are you not here?" Alex asked.

"No. I'm in California right now. Something happened but I'm heading back either tomorrow or the day after." Noelani swung her legs from out of the bed to stand with a little difficulty.

"Okay. I hope whatever it is turns out okay."

Noelani stepped into the hallway, "Thanks, Alex. I'll see you when I come home."

Alex hung up the phone so Noelani held the phone aloft in her left hand as she continued through the hallway, her bare feet pressed against the cold hardwood floors.

Noelani stopped in front of the nursery then tentatively headed in.

It was clearly finished now with a white rocking chair in the corner, with multicolored teddy bears taking up space, a matching bookshelf placed by the window with Dr. Seuss books, a mobile with planets and stars installed in the ceiling and finally the baby's name painted in white against the yellow.

Noelani took a breath, noting how bright the room was.

"Oh, hey! I was looking for you." Her father's voice traveled behind her.

Noelani whirled around to see her father holding two bags, one with the UCLA logo on the outside and the other smelling heavily of brown gravy and eggs.

"Your mother called me," Alejandro held up the blue and yellow bag with a grin, "I cleaned out the store. And then I finally found a good loco moco place."

Alejandro stepped into the room and sat crosslegged in the middle of the room then patted the space across from him in a gesture for Noelani to join.

"Loco moco...? In the Bay Area?" Noelani sat across from her father.

"Don't knock it till you try it." Alejandro passed her a styrofoam tray and a plastic knife and fork.

"Hmm." Noelani let out an approving hum at how accurate the food looked.

She looked around at the nursery, "Just about finished, huh?"

Alejandro passed Noelani an apprehensive look, "Yeah, just about."

Noelani glanced at the baby's name and snickered, "Theodore?"

Alejandro shook his head as he cut into his food, "Look, it was her dad's name."

Noelani snickered again, causing Alejandro to do the same, "He's gonna get bullied so bad. He at least needs a better nickname than Theo."

Alejandro laughed then glanced at his daughter, "How's Jalen?"

Noelani paused, "Uh..."

"Me and Coach Joey are friends. Is he okay?"

"Yeah. It's just a fracture and his mom said that it's already starting to heal up." Noelani replied.

"You spoke to him?"

"For a couple of minutes." Noelani shrugged.

"You flew here, got in trouble with your mom to speak to him for a couple of minutes?" Alejandro gave her a dubious look.

"Yeah... Well, when I got there... There was already some other girl there. And when I left yesterday, she was still there and they looked... Comfortable." Noelani stabbed at the white rice and then scooped into her mouth.

"How does that make you feel?" Alejandro questioned.

"Happy for him, I guess. She's pretty and she seemed okay enough." Noelani sighed.

"I doubt that she was prettier than you. If he's moving on, he's an idiot." Alejandro commented before continuing to stuff his face.

"She is. She's taller than me, which I didn't think was possible." Noelani said, "And she's his type. Like she looks like the girls he dated before me."

"Hmm. Like I said. An idiot. Anybody with eyes would say the same." Alejandro replied.

Noelani rolled her eyes playfully, "You're my dad. You're supposed to say stuff like that."

Alejandro was quiet for a minute then set his food aside, "Do you remember back in December at the doctors appointment?"

It was Noelani's turn to give an apprehensive look, "Yes..."

"That whole you don't trust men because of me thing... I'm sorry about how everything went down a couple years ago. You're right, I never apologized to you and that I expected you and Erin to get along just because I wanted you to. I meant to come back for you but... Things got hectic and you got lost in the shuffle. Not that that makes it right but I can't change what happened, I can only try and make it better."

Noelani stared at her father in utter disbelief, not knowing what to say.

Noelani tucked her bottom lip in, "Do you think I'm a coward?"

Alejandro furrowed his brows, "What would make you ask me that?"

Noelani took a deep breath in, "I just... I talk a lot of stuff about how I don't run from anything but when it comes down to people hurting me, that's the first thing I do. Does doing that make me a coward?"

"No. But then again, your flight response comes from me," Alejandro shook his head, "I don't think the running matters as long as you make whatever you left behind right. Or leave it alone, depending on the situation."

Noelani nodded then pursed her lips, "I think it might be time to leave it alone. To leave Jalen alone."

"If that's what you think is best." Alejandro patted her hand.

Noelani put her now empty tray aside, "Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Would you happen to have that therapist card from the OB? I think I wanna try it."

Alejandro grinned, "I can find it."

"Can we talk about making his middle name James or something? T.J sounds way better than Theo." Noelani laughed, changing the subject.

Alejandro guffawed, "I'll see what I can do."

only one more chapter and the epilogue left😭I'm sad, I'm gonna miss writing this book

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