Page 17 of Big Island Neighbors
“Okay?” She looked at Paige, who nodded but didn’t lift her eyes from the counter.
“Okay.”
Tara carried the pot of stew up the path in both hands, and Piper knocked on the front door for her. They waited for a few minutes, listening to the muffled sound of a screaming infant, before Kalea finally opened the door looking harried and exhausted.
She held the door open just enough to look through, putting one leg in the opening to block her dog, who was scrabbling at the floor in excitement.
“Hey Tara.” Her voice was thin.
“We heard your baby screaming,” Piper said.
Tara gave her an exasperated look.
“What?”
Kalea looked down at Piper with a tired smile. “She hates getting her diaper changed.”
“Oh.” She looked at the dog, who shoved her head between the door and the frame with a hopeful whine.
“Sorry, Cheddar hasn’t gotten out for a walk today. Or yesterday. Or… I don’t know what day it is. But he’s feeling a bit cooped up.”
“How about the girls take him for a walk?” Tara suggested.
“Really?” She opened the door a bit wider, and Cheddar burst through. He nearly bowled Piper over but then stayed right there, nosing her hands and wagging his whole body with excitement. “You don’t mind?”
Piper shrugged. “We can walk him.”
“Thank you so much.” She disappeared for a second and came back with a leash.
“Do you have bags?” Piper asked.
“There are some in the car,” Tara said. “Where’s Paige?”
“She doesn’t want to walk,” she muttered as she walked away with Cheddar at her heels. “She just wants to cry.”
A faint stab of pain went through Tara’s chest, and she turned to regard Paige through the car’s open window. She was already wearing her riding helmet, the purple one with fat silver ponies dancing around the brim.
Had she just drawn those a few days ago? She had been so completely happy then.
Before everything got turned upside down.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Kalea’s eyes went to the pot that Tara held in two hands. She stepped back and opened the door the rest of the way. “Come through.”
“Have you eaten yet?” she asked as she carried the stew through to the kitchen.
“Yeah, Tyler made scrambled eggs before he left for work this morning.”
“That’s great.” Tara held back any comments about how long ago that was; she was pretty sure that Tyler left for work before sunrise. “Now it’s time for lunch.”
“Is it?” Kalea dropped into a chair. “How can the days drag and disappear both at the same time? I just sit around all day doing nothing but it feels like there’s no time to get anything done.”
“You’re not doing nothing,” Tara said as she ladled out a serving of stew. “You’re keeping that baby alive, for one. And you’re getting your strength back.”
“Feed, diaper, sleep, repeat,” she said dully.
Tara put the bowl in front of her, and she cradled her sleeping baby in one arm while she picked up the spoon withanother. She watched surreptitiously while Kalea took a bite, and she felt a deep satisfaction when she saw that unmistakable look ofWow, that’s good.
“Is that plantain?” she asked after a few bites. Her voice already sounded stronger.
