Page 10 of Big Island Sunrise
Heat flooded her face, and she took a sip of the icy drink. The sweet-tart taste of passionfruit and raw sugarcane sent a zing of pleasure all the way down to her mitochondria.
“I’ve been all around the world,” she said, more to deflect from his comments about her drawing than anything, “and I have never tasted anything half so delicious asliliko’icane juice.”
“Could you draw some things for our new menus?” Tenn was still admiring her mako shark. Those nightmares of the sea were cartoonish to begin with, all big black eyes and gills and needle teeth. It made them fun to draw. But that was just doodling.
She swallowed nervously. “What kinds of things?”
“I don’t know.” He slid into the booth across from her. “I was thinking it would be cool to have menus that looked like your old math homework, you know? Just covered in art.”
She bit back a smile. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah.” His bright, dark eyes were so earnest that Lani glanced away. She leaned towards the center of the restaurant, looking nervously at the other tables.
“Are you on the clock? I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
His grin didn’t waver, and neither did his focus. “What do you think?”
“You really want me to design the new menus?”
“Yeah.” He held up the thin printed sheet and explained, “They look like this because I’ve been tweaking the menu almost every day for months. But I think I’ve got it down now.”
“Is this…” She trailed off, looking around the old diner, and then leaned forward. “This isyourplace?”
“It is. I bought it last year.”
“Wow. Good for you.”
“We’ll see. I haven’t run it into the ground yet, so that’s something.” He passed the menu back to her and stood. “I’ll grab your burger. Add your contact info to the mako, yeah? I’ll email you the text for the menu, and you can turn it into something cool.”
“Okay. Thanks, Al–” She caught herself. “Tenn. You prefer Tenn?”
His smile lit up his whole face, and she marveled again at her own blindness in not recognizing him immediately.
“Lani King, you can call me whatever you want.”
Her smile stretched her cheeks, which were growing warmer by the second, and she looked down at the table. To give her hands something to do, she started sketching ideas on the front of the menu. Island kine things: breadfruit, sugar cane, a hen with her chicks. In the top corner, she drew a plumeria branch covered in flowers.
Her phone buzzed with a text from an unsaved number, and she opened it.
You won’t get away with this.
A chill went through her.
I’m going to the police. I’m telling them that you kidnapped my daughter.
Lani replied with shaking hands:She’s not your daughter.
The next text that came through was in all caps, and it was mostly expletives. Lani went to block this number too, but not before another text came through.
You owe me.
She blocked the number and set her phone aside, shaking.
“Ulu burger,” Tenn announced. He set the plate down and hesitated. “Lani? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Thanks.” She smiled up at him, but it was tense and tight. “Hey, where’s the nearest phone store? I need a new number.”
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