Page 25 of Big Island Horizons
He ignored the signs and walked straight up to the gate.
“Promise we’re not going to get shot?” Tara asked as he ducked between the metal bars.
He laughed, a pleasant rumbling sound. “The land belongs to a friend of mine. He’s off island right now, but he doesn’t mind me hiking through. I used to bring Maddie here. We’d hike in with backpacks and camp near the waterfall.”
Tara handed him her backpack and threaded her leg through the gate, then ducked between the thick bars. When she straightened, Liam was wearing her backpack and a soft smile.
“Ready for a hike?”
She returned his smile. “Yeah.”
They tromped uphill, squelching through mud and splashing through puddles as they moved along a thin break in the greenery that could hardly be called a trail.
Tara was grateful that Liam was carrying her backpack, because before long the steep uphill slope had her panting. She was strong and used to working all day, but always on her land. She couldn’t remember the last time she had gone for a good long walk, much less a steep hike up the mountain.
It felt good.
Her legs burned and her lungs ached, but she relished the cool air and the smell of eucalyptus as they hiked through a stand of the tall trees. An ocean breeze made the tops of them move and rustle, creating a sound like rushing water.
She was glad to be out moving her body in a new way, enjoying the quiet company of a good man. It was a strange but welcome change from the endless chatter of her girls and their friends, and from the endless work and monotony of her days at home.
She had built her life deliberately, but over the years she had fallen into a sort of waking sleep. She’d grown complacent in her marriage, complacent in her everyday life.
She loved her children and her animals and the work that it took to maintain it all, but she had settled into a strange sort of stasis disguised by the constant physical motion of her days.
There were always seeds sprouting and animals being born, food that needed to be harvested, endless meals to cook. The constant transformation all around her had blinded her to the fact that she hadn’t changed or transformed as a person in years – not until her husband’s sudden departure had shaken her out of her stupor and forced her to adapt.
It felt good to be able to provide for her family financially, to connect more with the people around her and embrace the challenges of running her own business. But it was just the beginning. This new challenge had awoken something in her, and now that her meal delivery business was chugging along in a steady way, she was beginning to long for something more.
As she followed Liam up the steep and narrow trail, appreciating the breadth of his shoulders and lines of his back just as much as the nature around them, she had an inkling of whatmoremight look like.
“You alright back there?” Liam asked as he paused to pull out the water bottle he had stashed in Tara’s backpack. Before he took a drink, he offered it to her. She accepted gladly. It was relatively cool here in the shade of the trees, but she had worked up a sweat on their uphill climb.
“I’m good,” she replied once she had caught her breath.
Their fingers touched when she handed back the water bottle, and an electric zing went up her arm. Liam smiled in acknowledgement of the energy that buzzed between them, and his eyes held hers for a long moment.
“I was thinking,” she said as they started to walk again, and then paused as she tried to figure out how to put her meandering thoughts into words.
“Yes?” Liam prompted. The trail widened, and he dropped back to walk beside her.
“About complacency, I guess? I don’t know if that’s the right word, but it’s as close as I can get.”
She paused and caught her breath, thinking.
“We have these dreams when we’re young, you know? I wanted land and family. I wanted to learn how to grow my own food and have this whole old fashioned homestead. I wanted to give my kids a good childhood outside, learning real skills. And I accomplished all that.
“But I think that at some point, I stopped growing as a person. At least in big, meaningful ways. I settled into this repetitive existence. It wasn’t until recently that I tried this big new thing, providing for my family, and honestly it’s been easier than I thought it would be.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a lot. But I’m used to hard work. And now I’m getting paid for it, which is strange. But being out today got me thinking.
“I stopped adventuring. I used to drive all over the island, but once I got milking goats and all that I just… stopped. I can’t even remember the last time I spent the day at the beach, or drove over to Kona side just to go snorkeling and explore.
“I love living in Hawai’i. I love the sunny days and the warm rain, but in so many ways I’ve stopped taking advantage of it. And what’s worse, I don’t take my girls adventuring, not like I did with Cody when he was their age.”
“There’s still time,” Liam said.
“Yeah.” She smiled up at him. “There is.”
