The next day, Hansen woke up with a smile. He had a great rest and he was excited for the day to begin. Today was the day that Thanya would give him her answer. He wanted to rush right on over and know the answer. He normally was a patient man, but everyone has their limits. He was too excited.
He didn't even bother to eat breakfast before leaving his place. Instead he just brushed his teeth, combed his hair and put on his white tee with dark blue jeans. Grabbing his car keys off the table, he headed out the door and straight to Jim's house to pick up the girls.
The girls were always so excited to see him, and loved it when he picked them up. "Uncle Handsome!" Leilani shouted as she rushed to the car.
Malia and Jim soon followed after. Jim buckled Leilani in her car seat and walked to the driver's side.
"So Malia here tells me that you gave a talk about safety in school yesterday," said Jim.
"I did," said Hansen.
He wanted to keep it short. He didn't want Jim to know anything about Thanya yet, because technically they weren't a thing, and he didn't want Jim to know that she shut him down. If Jim found out, he would never let Hansen live it down. Hansen was the good-looking one in the group, and everyone knew it. Even though he never gave any of the ladies attention, it still didn't stop the women coming his way.
"Why?" Jim asked.
"Because their teacher asked me to. That's all," Hansen replied.
"Mmhmm," said Jim in a disbelieving tone.
Jim wasn't stupid. He knew that their teacher was attractive. Hansen never went out of his way to do something for a woman that he didn't care about. Hansen was late for work that day, which was out of character for someone like him.
"Daddy, we have to go!" whined Leilani.
"Yeah, Uncle Jim. We're going to be late for school," said Malia.
"All right, all right," said Jim as he backed away from the car, putting two hands up in defense.
Hansen chuckled and nodded goodbye to Jim right before he drove off and headed to the school. When he got to the school, he took Leilani to her class first like he always did, and then headed to Malia's next.
Thanya was opening the windows in the class when she heard his voice. "Made a decision yet?" he whispered in her ear.
She immediately got goosebumps. Trying to act like his proximity didn't bother her, she turned to him.
"Good morning," replied Thanya.
"That's not the answer I'm looking for, but good morning to you too, beautiful," Hansen said with a smirk.
Thanya walked towards her desk and sat down in her chair. She pulled out what looked like a calendar book and held it close to her. She flipped through the pages and pretended to act as if she was busy every day of the hour. She sighed and looked at him.
"It seems like I'm busy this whole week," Thanya said sadly.
"Well, what about next week?" Hansen asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Let me check," Thanya said as she leaned away and flipped the pages of her book. Shaking her head she looked back at him, "No, sorry. Next week I'm busy too."
Hansen looked down at her, with an expression showing he clearly didn't believe her. "Well, what about the week after that?" he asked one more time.
"Let me ch—" said Thanya. Right before Hansen quickly snatched her book and flipped the pages towards this week.
He turned the book around and faced it towards her, then faked a surprised expression and said, "Well, will you look at that? You are free!"
Thanya blushed. Every day was empty and blank. She lied and the fact that she got caught was even more embarrassing.
"Okay, fine. Tomorrow at seven," Thanya said reluctantly.
Hansen's smiled widened wider than the Cheshire Cat in the movie Alice in Wonderland. He knew he'd won this round and that she had to say yes. She was free and there wasn't any excuse for her to come up with. All he had to do was decide where to take her. He didn't want to be cliché and take her to a restaurant.
He wanted to get to know her on a personal level - maybe take her to the beach and have a picnic or something. His cooking skillswere great, so he could charm her with his food and his great humor.Realistically he knew it wasn't going to be that easy, but it was worth a shot. If it worked, then that was a plus and hopefully she would go on another date with him.
A man can only hope, Hansen thought to himself.
"Do you want me to pick you up?" Hansen asked.
Thanya narrowed her eyes and shook her head. He already knew where she worked. She definitely didn't want him to know where she lived too. Who knows how many times he'd probably show up at her house to annoy her.
"No need to," she replied.
Hansen shrugged and said, "Okay. Meet me at the parking lot by Monkeypod in Ko'Olina."
Monkeypod was one of the restaurants in Ko'Olina and Thanya assumed they were going to eat there. She nodded her head. She'd never eaten there, but she'd passed by the restaurant whenever she drove to Ko'Olina.
"Dress casual," Hansen said as he handed her book back.
Thanya just nodded and took the book from his hand. She watched him walk out the door as he winked at her and disappeared. She couldn't believe she'd said yes, but she had no choice. She was free, and not only that, he let her off the hook yesterday, so it was the least she could do. Thanya wanted to think of this as a "thank you" date.
Who was she kidding? That was a lie. Part of her knew it too. She could pretend that she wasn't excited for this date, but that would be a lie. She would be civil, but not over-enthusiastic.
While Thanya was thinking about Hansen and her date, what she didn't know, was that Malia was watching. She noticed how eager her uncle always seemed to take them to school, and especially Malia to her class. She saw how her uncle treated her teacher. She never saw him act like that towards any other woman. Miss Lan was the only woman her uncle had ever given attention to.
Malia really liked Miss Lan and if her uncle ended up marrying her, Malia would be so happy. She'd never played matchmaker before, but she would be sure to put in a good word for her uncle during recess later on today. Maybe that would get her teacher to warm up to him. She knew that Miss Lan didn't have a boyfriend. No man had ever come to the class, so Malia figured she must be single.
During recess time, as Thanya was supervising the kids. Malia walked over and stood beside her. She looked down and kicked the ground.
"Miss Lan?" said Malia.
Thanya looked down at her and replied, "Yes?"
"Thank you for being a nice teacher. You're my favorite teacher," said Malia.
Thanya's heart warmed and she felt touched. It was always nice to know that her students liked her and appreciated her. She never wanted to be the teacher that they strayed away from. She ruffled Malia's hair and chuckled.
"Thank you! I'm happy to hear that," said Thanya.
Malia moved her head and chuckled. "My uncle Hansen does that all the time." Malia fixed her hair and looked at Thanya.
"Oh yeah?" asked Thanya.
"Mmhmm." Malia nodded. "He's my favorite too. He always takes us to school and picks us up. On Tuesdays we get a ice cold Slurpee which we call 'Slurpee Tuesdays,' and then on Wednesdays we go to the park, and play on the playground."
Thanya looked at her in surprise. "That sounds fun."
Thanya was shocked. She didn't really think that Hansen was great with kids. She thought his involvement with the girls about school, was temporary. Seeing and hearing how great he was with the two girls changed things just a bit. A bit, Thanya thought to herself.
When the day and time came for their date, Thanya dressed as casual as she could think of - simple skinny jeans and a loose, navy blue blouse. She made sure to bring a cardigan in case she got cold later on. The weather had been nice and cool lately, so she didn't need to bring anything thick. Grabbing her car keys and walking to her car, she opened the door and got into the driver's seat. Starting the car, she drove out her lane and headed to the restaurant. When she parked in the parking lot, she walked to the restaurant and saw Hansen waiting outside with a picnic basket. She tilted her head in confusion.
"I thought we were eating inside," she said in confusion.
Hansen shook his head. "Nope," then grabbed her hand and walked to the stoplight to cross the street and head to the lagoon.
Thanya was shocked that he did that, but didn't do anything. She just let it slide. Some part of her liked the feel of her hand in his. It was warm and she hated to admit it, but she liked it.
As she looked at him, she admired the way he fit well into his clothes. The navy blue shirt he wore hugged him well enough to show his muscles, and yet not too much, to the point where he looked suffocated. His jeans made his butt look good. She blushed when she caught herself staring.
"What did I get myself into," she groaned inwardly.