Life is Sweet by Elizabeth Bass Page B

moving to Hawaii. Second, who in their right mind would ever feel stuck in Hawaii? “You’re going to Hawaii? When?”
    â€œNext week,” she said.
    â€œYou and Bob?”
    â€œOf course. He’s the lead engineer.”
    â€œI know . . . but both of you need to go? And why Hawaii?”
    â€œSome of the equipment isn’t functioning well. It’s a little hard to explain to a layman, but we need to investigate how the hydrofoils respond under different wave velocity conditions, and confer about partnering with a company that has another project underway in Hawaii.”
    â€œCouldn’t you just Skype?” he blurted out.
    â€œSure,” she shot back. “I could just call in while everybody else is on site doing all the work.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” he said. “Dumb suggestion.”
    â€œLook, if taking care of Olivia’s too much for you, I guess I could send her to my mom’s for a few weeks. I just hated to take her out of school in the middle of the semester. But if it’s too much trouble . . .”
    â€œNo,” he said quickly, ashamed to have sounded reluctant, or impatient. “I’m happy to stay here a few more weeks. As long as it takes. I’m sort of getting the single dad routine down, actually.”
    She shook her head. “I’ll call Mom.”
    â€œHonestly, Nicole—it’s no problem.”
    â€œIs your boss hassling you about not being in your office all the time?”
    â€œNo, of course not,” he said. “On paper, at least, the Feds are supposed to encourage telecommuting and flextime.”
    â€œYou don’t have to work from home so much. I could get Olivia back in at the Y after school.”
    â€œShe says she hates it there, and I don’t like the idea of being so far away in case something comes up with her during the day. It’s no problem.”
    Nicole nodded. “Lucky thing your job’s low-pressure enough that it doesn’t matter so much.”
    He frowned at her dismissive tone—it was almost the same one Olivia had used when she’d called him the babysitter. Okay, he wasn’t doing innovative research that had the potential to save the planet, but still . . .
    â€œSo why all the concern about my going to Hawaii?” she asked.
    Did she really need it spelled out? “I miss you.”
    She grasped his hand. “Aw—that’s a sweet thing to say.” Letting go, she added, “Believe me, I’ll be back as soon as I can. But in the meantime, do you think you could manage a birthday party with twelve eleven-year-olds?”
    He gulped. “You mean, arrange the party?”
    â€œYeah. And you might need to oversee it, if I can’t get back in time. In fact, maybe you should just plan on that.”
    â€œOkay, but—”
    â€œYou’re good at research stuff. Or maybe . . . maybe you could talk to the cake lady? You seem to have an in there, and she’s got that horse Olivia’s always talking about. She might be able to steer us toward a whatchacallit.”
    â€œStable?” Olivia was going to be ecstatic.
    â€œDo you think she could give you some guidance?” Nicole asked.
    â€œProbably.”
    â€œGood. Ask her.” She let out a sigh. “At least if Olivia is going to get involved with horsey types, it will be with celebrity-caliber people and not just the typical local yokels.”
    He drew back in confusion. “Celebrity?”
    Nicole laughed. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know that the cake lady is our local celeb.”
    Becca? “The woman who owns the Strawberry Cake Shop?”
    â€œYou’ve lived in Leesburg six months and you haven’t heard this? They even wrote her up in the paper once. She used to be on some sitcom. Me Minus You. It was such a dumb show—I never missed an episode when I was ten. Didn’t you recognize her? Rebecca