Page 23 of Big Island Horizons
The worst part was, she had been right. In the years since their divorce, she hadn’t met a single guy who could measure up to Nate. No one she would consider letting into her home or around her daughters.
She told herself that she was better off alone. But sometimes she wondered.
“Daddy, will you help us paint?” Kiki whined, pulling at his shirt.
“Please, Dad?” Luana chimed in.
“I’ve never painted a mural before,” he said.
“It’s easy!” Kiki assured him. “I’ll show you!”
“You may have noticed that the upper half of the wall is conspicuously bare,” Lani said, gesturing to the wall that had child-sized handprints all over the lower half. “Do you want to help us out with that?”
“You can pick us up!” Luana said.
“Yeah!” Kiki shouted. “Pick us up and we’ll paint!”
“NowthatI can do,” he agreed. “Grab your brushes.”
“There’s no brushes!” Kiki shrieked gleefully. “We’re using our hands!”
“Grab your paint, then.”
The girls dipped their hands into the paint buckets and raised them up, dripping. Nate lifted them easily, one on each arm, and held them high so that they could attack the dingy old wall with fresh color.
“Hey sis,” Kekoa said in her ear.
She jumped and turned to glare at him.
“You’re staring at your ex,” he said with that mixture of ridicule and concern that was unique to siblings. “It’s not a good look.”
“Shut up.” She brushed past him and climbed up the ladder, ignoring the laugh that followed.
9
Tara
Tara drove to meet Liam in a parking lot just south of Hilo; they would drive the rest of the way together.
Liam was already there when she arrived. She gave him a silly little wave through her window as she parked the van.
He got out of his truck and opened the passenger side door for her. Her heart skipped and sped as she climbed up into the cab of his truck.
It was her first first date in over twenty years. Add in the surreal feeling of going on an actual date with someone she had known nearly that long, and Tara was a bundle of nerves.
She was grateful that Liam had suggested a hike instead of dinner at a restaurant; being out and active would help. She could channel her restless nervous energy into movement.
First, though, she had to get through the drive. As Liam looped back around to the driver’s side, she half wished that they had just met at the trailhead. It felt difficult to sit still, her pulse hammering through her veins.
Once they were on the road again, she began to breathe easier. They were side by side and moving forward, which was a lot easier than staring at each other across a table, even if she was stuck strapped into a seat.
Tara wasn’t used to sitting still.
“Are you hungry?” Liam asked as he turned onto the coastal road that curved along the bay, driving between Hilo town and the ocean. “We could stop for lunch.”
“I packed lunch.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
