Page 71 of Big Island Horizons
Lani clutched her fingers with one hand and drank her broth with the other. When it was gone, she set the jar aside and hesitantly took Ken’s hand in her own. He didn’t pull away.
Side by side, they waited for Tenn to wake up.
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Lani
The nurses had looked the other way for a while, but eventually a new shift clocked in and informed Lani that only Tenn’s parents were allowed to stay outside of visiting hours.
Between that and the arrival of Tenn’s mother, who looked at her with such cold condemnation that it rendered her mute, Lani retreated. Tara put an arm around her and encouraged her to go home and get some sleep.
She left, even though every step she took away from him felt excruciating and wrong.
He hadn’t woken up yet. Not really. He had come to for a while after surgery, but he’d been in such a haze that she doubted he would remember seeing her.
Both of the girls were at New Horizons. Rory had spent the night with her cousins, and Olivia had stayed with her grandmother until Sonya dropped her off at the playschool. Neither of them knew yet what had happened.
Zeke was in jail. Maybe when more time had passed, she would feel some way or other about that. Right then, she only felt tired and numb.
Without the cortisol that had fueled her for months, Lani was tired down to her bones. She had ridden to the hospital in the ambulance, and now she rode back to Pualena in Tara’s van. The ride passed in a blur, her mind blank with exhaustion.
When she got home, she collapsed onto her couch and slept like the dead.
It was late afternoon when she woke up, still feeling groggy and slow. She made herself a cup of coffee, forced down a piece of toast, and checked her messages.
There was one from ‘Olena assuring her that Rory could stay as long as she needed and another from Emma that read,I’ll be there as soon as I can. She couldn’t remember if she had told her what happened or if Emma had heard it from someone else, but she was too tired to reply. She acknowledged each message with a heart and set her phone aside.
Her mind cleared slowly as she drank her coffee.
Then a message came in from Tenn:The coast is clear.
On my way,she replied.
She finished her coffee in one gulp and grabbed her car keys.
This time, the drive from Pualena to Hilo felt interminable. Her left knee bounced restlessly as she coasted up the highway, forcing herself to drive safely instead of speeding through traffic and careening around trucks like she wanted to.
The coast is clear,he’d said. So his parents were gone? Just his mom? Was he alone?
Did Sonya blame Lani for what had happened?
She had every right to…
But Tenn had messaged her. He wanted her there.
Incredibly, after everything that she had put him through, he still wanted her around.
And she needed to be near him. After nearly losing him, being away from him caused her physical pain. Sonya could glare all she liked. Lani wasn’t going to let herself be chased away again.
All that silent blustering began to fade as she parked in front of the hospital and walked in.
What if he had called her here to end things?
Was that why he wanted to see her alone?
She summoned her courage and walked in. As soon as she saw his smiling face, her heart lifted. He looked pale and tired, but worlds better than he had that morning.
Lani said a quick, silent prayer of thanks to the donors whose blood had restored some of his strength.
