Page 65 of Big Island Horizons
“I’m sorry.” His voice was soft and sad. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s okay.” She put the lid on the bucket and let the goat down off the milking stand.
“Have you told Emma yet?” He had been gently urging her to tell Emma what was going on so that she could come home and take over the homestead chores, freeing Lani up to retreat to Tenn’s house for the duration. But putting two more people she loved in the line of fire was the last thing that she wanted.
“I’m not going to ask her to come back early.”
“You don’t have to. But you could tell her what’s going on and lethermake that decision.”
She just nodded. She would tell Emma before she came back, and she would ask her if she wanted them to leave the property. But she wouldn’t use it as a ploy to get out of the chores she had agreed to handle.
Emma had done so much for her already; she wouldn’t ask more of her.
They were quiet as they walked back up to the house.
The cottage waited, warm and welcoming as ever. Lani longed for the old feeling of warmth and security that she’d once experienced each time she’d walked through her front door, but Zeke had taken that from her. She didn’t feel fully safe in her own home anymore.
Rory and Olivia sat at the kitchen table with two of the coloring books that Lani had made. Her notions of printing and selling those felt strange to her now, hazy and absurd. Maybe it was just the stress and sleep deprivation making everything seem that way.
“Let’s play hooky today,” Tenn said as he cleared the remains of breakfast pancakes from the table.
“I’m supposed to help with the co-op,” she said tiredly.
“I already checked with ‘Olena. She’s fine without us today.”
“What’s hooky?” Rory asked.
“It means no school and no work,” Olivia told her.
She looked at her mom. “Can we go to the secret beach?”
The tension in Lani’s chest loosened, just a little. That hidden cove was one of the few places she felt safe, tucked away from civilization and held by the Earth itself.
“Okay,” she agreed.
A cheer went up from the girls, and Tenn’s smile warmed her heart.
“I’m gonna wear my pineapples!” Rory ran to find her swimsuit.
“We can stop at the cafe and grab some food to go,” Tenn said.
“No,” Lani said reflexively. The idea of stopping in town made her nervous. What if Zeke saw them together? What if he followed? “We have plenty of food here. I’ll pack lunch.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. Let me just get this milk put away and then I’ll make some sandwiches. We have tons of fruit too, and that mamaki tea in the fridge.”
“Okay, that sounds great. What can I do to help?”
“Could you feed the animals?”
“Which ones?”
“The goats are good, but Zuko and Dio? And the chickens. There’s some scratch in a bucket by the door.”
“On it.”
“I want to feed the chickens!” Olivia said.
