Page 59 of Try Easy

Breaking the Rules

Keoni

The party startedon the beach after the winners were announced. There was beer and swipe, the potent homemade liquor born in the islands, music, and dancing. The beach was swamped with people. It was nearing midnight, and the party didn’t appear to be ending anytime soon.

Keoni was unusually quiet. For once he wasn’t telling Lou stories, or making her laugh. Everyone was begging him to play guitar, but he couldn’t be persuaded.

“Are you okay?” Lou asked.

“Not really,” he said.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, drawing him away from the buzz of conversation. It was so loud near the stage that she had to shout. “You don’t want to play?” she asked in a softer voice once they were a better distance away.

“The music isn’t in me tonight,” he said, glancing back at the stage.

Lou followed his eyes to see Declan dancing on the stage, surrounded by adoring female fans.

“That’s too bad,” Lou said. “I wanted to hear you play one more time before I left.”

“Sorry,” he said, staring off into the waves. “I just don’t feel like it.”

“Is it the contest?”

“No,” he said.

“Is it Eddie?”

Keoni went very still. He couldn’t bring himself to talk about Eddie, not even with her.

Lou blew out a frustrated breath. “You should take your own advice, Keoni,” she said.

He felt the color draining from his face, but he still didn’t answer.

“You’re trying so hard to blame yourself for something that had nothing to do with you. You need to let go.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

“I watched you before the contest. I saw that look on your face. You know the one.”

Keoni knew.

“And then Declan’s dedication…” she continued. She put her hand on his arm. “Is this where it happened?” she plowed on. “Is this where he died?”

Keoni’s breath caught in his throat. He felt like something heavy was sitting on his chest, and he couldn’t breathe.

“You didn’t kill him,” Lou said in a quiet voice that he could hardly hear over the distant noise of the party and the crashing waves.

“I didn’t save him,” Keoni said, feeling the first tear slide down his cheek.

He turned his back and swiped a hand under his eye, embarrassed to be crying in front of her.

Lou wasn’t ready to give up. She stepped around him so that they were face-to-face. Her eyes glittered with tears.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she said.

Reaching up, she brushed the tear from his cheek, just as another leaked out.

“I wanted to come here,” Keoni said, anger making his voice sound like a petulant child. “I made him come. If I would have listened to him, he would still be alive.”

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