Page 2 of Big Island Summer
“How are things with you and your mom?”
“Yeah, we’re okay.” Juniper set her phone down and looked out at the rain as Emma turned onto the road. “We just talked on the phone a couple days ago.”
“I’m glad you two are talking again.”
Juniper shrugged. “We don’t go deep. But we talk about Teddy, knitting, that sort of thing. She asks how my business is going. Sometimes she talks about moving over here, but she doesn’t seem serious about it. I mean, theyjustbought a house in Redwood Grove.”
“How’s she doing?”
Another shrug, this one more of a defensive movement that brought Juniper’s shoulders nearly up to her ears.
“Fine, I guess.” Juniper picked at a tiny hole in her yoga pants. “She’s trying. It feels like she tries too hard sometimes, but at least she cares. She’s really tired, but that’s normal, right? Moms are always tired when they have new babies, aren’t they?”
“I know I was.”
Juniper nodded, releasing a breath of relief at the confirmation that what her mom was going through was normal. “Yeah, she says babies are really hard.”
Emma bit her lip, feeling a spike of worry. It had been too long since she checked in with her twin brother. She needed to know how Ethan and Laurel werereallydoing.
“I’ll get the gate,” Jun said as they coasted towards the Kealoha place. “I’ll close it behind you, and then I’m going to run next door. I told Tara I’d help with meal prep today.”
“Sounds good.” That would give Emma time to call her brother without Juniper overhearing.
As soon as the car rolled to a stop, Juniper jumped out into the drizzling rain – no yoga mat this time – and pulled the long gate open for Emma to drive through. She closed and latched it behind her, then disappeared into the next yard.
Nell was already in the carport, a sort of open-air garage common in Hawai‘i. The rain picked up, pounding against the metal roof.
“How was yoga?” Nell asked as Emma got out of her car.
“It was good. How was Kai?”
“A perfect angel.” Nell patted her sleeping baby’s back as she swayed back and forth. “He spent thirty minutes building towers for Everett to knock over.”
A shriek of laughter pulled Emma’s attention to the trampoline, where Kai and Cassie and Tara’s twins were all jumping in the downpour. Warm rain was one of her favorite things about life in the tropics. She grinned and turned back to Nell.
“You should come sometime. I’m sure the teacher wouldn’t mind if you brought the kids along. One of the ladies brought her baby last week, and Fern spent most of the class rocking the baby while she talked us through the poses.”
“Maybe. I’ll think about it. I’ll have more time once the playschool starts its summer break.”
“Not much longer to go now.” A gust of wind whipped through, making Emma shiver in her damp shirt. “I’m going to change my clothes and make some tea. You want some?”
“I’d love a cup of that lemon-mamaki blend that Juniper made.”
“Coming right up.” Emma trotted up the kitchen steps and went upstairs to change her clothes.
When she pulled her phone from her pocket and switched it out of airplane mode, it buzzed with a dozen missed calls and text messages, all from her sisters.
A shiver of fear ran up her spine.
Before her mind could run wild with what-ifs about her parents or her twin brother, she tapped her older sister’s name.
Toni picked up after one ring.
“Emma. Hi.”
“What’s up?”
“Are you alone?”
