Page 43 of Big Island Neighbors
“That’s a wonderful idea. I don’t know how I would make time to deliver, though.”
“Six more days until I get my license. Then I can deliver for you.”
“That would be a huge help.”
“He has to pass the test first.” Piper’s voice came from under the table. Tara bent to see her reading a Nancy Drew book, head resting on their younger dog.
She straighted up and took another look at the digital flier that Cody had made.
“This is amazing. It looks so professional.”
“Two birds with one stone,” he said. “I made it for my graphic design class.”
“I love it.”
“I can edit it before it goes up. Like if you don’t want to make paleo or vegan options, I can take that part off.”
“No, it’s perfect. Just about everything island-grown is already paleo, and I could easily make vegan meals if people are interested in that. This is brilliant.”
“Thanks.”
“Maybe we should add a delivery radius, like Hilo to Puna. And decide which day you’ll deliver.”
“What if we did two delivery days? One north and one south?”
“Good idea.”
Her phone buzzed on the counter, and she moved to pick it up.
Hey. A one-word text message from Mitch. Seconds later, another message came through.Can we talk?
She put her phone face-down on the counter and crossed the kitchen to pick up the still-steaming colander of‘ulu. It was just enough for the four of them tonight; she was testing recipes,seeing what she could scale to create large batches of meals to sell.
She put the boiled breadfruit into a large bowl and used a potato masher to pulverize the wedges. There was a restaurant in Hilo that made phenomenal ‘ulu burgers, and she wanted to see if she could do even better. She was going to try adding some of her honey garlic and a few spicy peppers from the garden.
A deep contentment spread through her as she mixed the ingredients together.
What most surprised her about Mitch‘s absence was the relief that she felt. Sure, there was a measure of resentment for the bind that he had left her in financially. And of course she felt for her children; Paige in particular had been struggling since her father failed to come home.
But overall, Tara felt lighter than she had in years.
There was no man sitting on the couch drinking beer and tearing Cody down. She didn’t feel a sense of panic at five o’clock to try to pull the house into showroom state before her husband got home. She didn’t have to spend her evenings justifying how they spent their days, framing the girls’ activities in schoolish terms. They were free to do as they liked.
Even the necessity of providing for herself and her children financially added to her sense of liberation.
She would have to respond to his messages at some point. She knew that.
Whatever else happened, he would always be her children’s father. But he wasn’t her priority anymore. Coddling his feelings was no longer her responsibility.
“Mom!” Paige burst into the house with Rory in tow. “Come look!”
“What is it?” Tara set the bowl of mashed‘uluaside.
“We made you a sign!”
She followed them outside and her heart warmed to hear Paige chatter, sounding more like her old self.
“Cody found us the board and put things on it to make it stand up, but me and Rory did all of the painting. Yesterday we painted the background, and today we made the sign!”
