Page 63 of Big Island Sunrise
The waves crashing against the sand were vicious, and she was glad that the kids were back in calm water of the pond.
It felt strangely comforting, standing on such a changeable piece of land. This island was always flexing, always growing. It was a living thing, never static. The change could be violent, even devastating, but the island itself was more or less unchanged for all of that.
She stayed out there for a long time, walking barefoot along the black sand. Her breaths came deeper as she let the rough alchemy of it all soak upward, through the soles of her feet and into her bones.
19
Lani
Are you free today?The text from Tenn popped up on her phone just after she got home from dropping Rory off with ‘Olena for the day.
The shave ice place was closed on Wednesdays. Of course he knew that, owning the restaurant across the street. Maybe he also knew that she usually spent her Wednesdays with the co-op but had been relieved today by a couple who wanted to do a special art project with the kids. It was rare that she did anything both away from work and away from Rory.
She texted back a tentativeYes.
Ever been to Kehena?
Lani searched her memory. The name was familiar, some beach down in Puna, but it had never been one of her regular haunts. She couldn’t remember if she had ever actually been there or not. Before she could reply, another text came through.
Come swimming with me.
“What are you smiling about?” Emma asked. She set her milk bucket on the kitchen counter and began the process of straining the goat’s milk into chilled half-gallon jars.
“Tenn wants to take me swimming.”
“You should go.”
“You think? I feel weird, going out with him when I’ve barely gotten the ball rolling on my divorce.”
“Not that again. Don’t let yourself get stuck in the mud. You like him, I can tell.”
“I do like him,” she admitted.
“I like him too. He reminds me of Adam.”
“Really?” Lani wrinkled her nose. Adam had been a brother to her, and so the comparison between him and a prospective date was off-putting.
“He doesn’t look like him,” she acknowledged, “doesn’t even really act like him. It’s something I can’t really put words to. His energy, maybe? I think it’s that he’s just… deep-down good.”
Lani’s phone buzzed again.
Pick you up in ten minutes?
She gave the message a thumbs up.
Nine minutes later, Tenn was parked out by the front gate. She climbed up into the cab of his truck and they drove south through Puna. The road took them almost all the way to the coast, and then he turned right.
The tiny parking lot was full, but he found a roadside spot for his truck, cozied up against the jungle trees. Lani climbed out of the truck and walked through the trees to the top of the gently sloping cliffs. They were even higher than the ones near Pualena, but down at the base of them she could see a small black-sand beach in a sheltered cove.
“That’s Kehena?” she asked as Tenn came up beside her.
“Yes ma’am. It’s a bit of a trek down. Let me carry your stuff so you have both your hands.”
He stuffed her towel and water bottle into a huge beach bag and then led her down a narrow, winding path through the jungle. It took them along the cliffs for a moment before veering suddenly off the edge.
The trail spilled down the cliff like a waterfall, leveling out in places only to plunge three or four feet down steep, uneven rock. Tenn went first and turned back at each uneven spot to offer her a hand. And she took it, every time. With anyone else she probably would have refused, just crab walked or turned around and used both of her hands for climbing. But she liked having an excuse to take his hand, liked the feeling of her hand in his.
Down at the bottom, it was a straight drop from a cliff her height down to the sand. Tenn jumped down and landed lightly, sinking into the sand and bending his knees. Then he turned and held both hands out to her.
