Page 85 of Pallas & Kawehi

When she described it to her uncle, he gave her a strange look and told her to watch her back, but she didn't know what she had to be worried about. For the first time in what felt like forever, she had everything in front of her and a light at the end of the tunnel that wasn't a train.

Business at the bowling alley was hopping. Once she'd gotten Maile to put out pictures of the guys bowling on social media, the women starting flocking in and like Mike Taffer said on Bar Rescue, if you want guys to come to a bar you have to have women. It was a good thing that the Coconut Wireless was an unspoken rule for Hawaii.

There was every indication that they'd have money to keep things going, including the large property tax bill that was coming up.

Still, she had that feeling.

It had to be something crazy. She wasn't used to this kind of feeling.

A knock at the door was quickly followed by a yell.

"Cuz! Cuz! Open the door!"

Shaking her head, Kawehi moved into the hallway, calling out as she went. "I'm coming! Hold your horses!"

"Coming?" Maile called back. "Oh, then I'll come back when you and your Dom are done!"

Kawehi's head dropped back, and she came to a slow stop in the middle of the main room of the house. "Why?"

"Come on, Cuz! Open the door!"

"Why do you keep talking about this?" She lifted her head and stared at her cousin. "Maybe I should ask how things are going with Axl, huh?"

Maile's jaw dropped open and then she folded her arms across her chest. "Seriously? You're going to bring that up? That's a low, low blow."

"Well, I think it's fair. But I'm also curious. I think you guys like each other, but you don't want to say it."

"Stop." Maile yanked on the door handle. "This isn't grade school. He's not pulling on my pig tails."

"Please," Kawehi joked back as she unlocked the screen door, "this is very much grade school for you and Axl."

Maile skirted around her and dropped her purse on the couch as she moved toward the kitchen area. "Hardly. If it was grade school, I would have kissed him already."

Kawehi covered her mouth to hide her laugh. "I would have sworn you would have."

Maile turned around with the gallon jug of POG in her hand. "If I had I would have told you. I think he's just trying to drive me nuts." She let the refrigerator door close and pulled out a cup from the cupboard. "But it's okay. I'm planning on pushing him across the line first."

Kawehi drew in a deep breath trying to put the right words together in her head. "Maile, are you sure? I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" Maile set the jug down and turned around with a full glass in her hand. "He started it."

Kawehi's chin dropped a little. "You were the one who said this wasn't grade school."

Maile lifted her mouth away from the glass and gave her a stare. "Well you and I went to different grade schools." She grinned. "You went to Punahou, and I went to Kam."

Kawehi folded her arms across her chest. "I thought you said to call it Kamehameha."

Shrugging, Maile took another sip. "That's when I'm not trying to drink a glass of juice, Cuz."

Kawehi moved through the room and looked at her reflection in a magnetic mirror she'd gotten as a gift and stuck it on the refrigerator door. It had words at the top and bottom.

LOOK AT THIS FACE! WE LOVE IT!

"Better drink it quick. We were supposed to leave for the festival almost ten minutes ago."

Maile leaned her hip against the counter. "I know I joke that you're a little uptight sometimes, but I love that you're getting all done up for the festival. When was the last time you wore make-up?"

Kawehi lowered her hands down and stared at the mirror, her gaze blurring as she tried to remember. "I think it was when I married Nick."

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