Page 6 of Big Island Sunrise
He didn’t even hear the second part. He was too busy puzzling out the remote and the novel experience of a television set with channels.
Emma drifted back to the balcony railing, drinking her now-tepid coffee. They were three stories up, surrounded by leaves.
The fog was already thinning out; she could see a bit further than before.
They would walk into town to find breakfast and a few basic groceries. Her car was due to arrive today, and she had booked a hotel walking distance from the portside lot where she had to go to pick it up.
And after that… well. A new challenge.
A fresh start.
3
Lani
“Okay, everybody got their towels?” ‘Olena kept her eyes on the kids as she lifted overstuffed beach bags out of the back of the car. “Lulu, where’s your water bottle? I can’t carry everything. Towels and water bottles, come on.”
“Where are we?” Rory clung tight to her mother’s leg.
“Keiki Beach.” Lani lifted the cooler carefully out of the truck, moving in slow motion to make sure she didn’t clock any of the kids with the oversized rectangle.
“I don’t see a beach.”
“It’s just there on the other side of that wall. No!” She hooked her daughter back with one leg just as a car drove by. “You wait for me or Auntie ‘Olena.”
“All good?” ‘Olena said. “We got everything?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“Okay, let’s go. Luana, you hold hands with the little girls.”
“But I have a water bottle and a towel!” she whined.
“Figure it out, Lulu. Water bottle under your arm, there you go. No cars, here’s your chance.”
It was early in the day and still quiet at the beach park.
A long rock wall protected the little lagoon from incoming waves, creating the perfect sheltered beach for families. The water was low this morning, and the few people there were enjoying the strip of sand that disappeared completely beneath the water at high tide.
“Look, Kacie and her mom are already here. And Olivia’s with them.”
‘Olena pointed out their friends and the girls ran off, still hand in hand. She claimed one of the picnic tables and spread plastic-bottomed blankets on the damp green lawn, claiming the space that her co-op would need for their beach day.
The girls were already down in the sand, building castles and walls against the oncoming tide.
“Mama, look what I found!” Rory ran up the steps and across the grass.
“What is it?”
“It’s for you.” She put a tiny, perfect shell in Lani’s palm.
“I love it.”
“You know what?” Rory said with gentle astonishment.
Lani smiled and leaned in. “What?”
“I don’t miss Daddy at all.”
