Page 22 of Big Island Summer
She nodded, looking chastened.
“When my mom was sick, and… after, there were times that I only felt okay when I was out on the water.”
Juniper looked away. “I’m not much of a surfer. I always end up with squeaky-clean sinuses and a big bump on my head.”
“We don’t even have to surf. Sometimes it’s enough just to get out on the water, far away from everything that’s happening back on land.”
Jun nodded along, but Lani could see that she wasn’t convinced.
“I find peace out there. A lot of us do. Maybe you would too?”
“Maybe.”
A sudden idea came to her, a sparkling memory of dolphins in a deep blue bay, and she grinned.
“How about this. The next morning we both have free, you give it a chance. Tenn has a paddleboard, and I know we can borrow another one from somebody. I’ll show you a secret beach where a huge pod of dolphins plays every day.”
Finally, a spark of interest in the girl’s eyes. “Wild dolphins?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Okay, I’m in.”
“That’s more like it!”
A woman knocked on the window, and Lani waved.
“Be right there!” To Juniper she said, “I’ll man the window, you handle the ice?”
“Deal.”
Lani went to the window with a new bounce in her step.
She knew that nothing would heal Juniper’s heart overnight; that was the work of years. But what the girl needed most was community support and healthy coping mechanisms, and Lani could help with both. There was nothing like swimming with wild dolphins; she had a good feeling about this.
And sometimes,beingthe community support was even more healing than leaning on it.
8
Emma
“Mom.” Kai stood next to Emma’s bed, shaking her shoulder. “Mom!”
“What is it, baby?”
“Teddy can’t stop crying.”
She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Outside, the sky was just starting to fade from black to gray. Teddy’s disconsolate cries drifted up the stairs and through the open door.
“Sometimes babies cry, kiddo. Uncle Ethan’s got him.”
“But he’s been crying forhours.” Kai held up his surfer alarm clock, a recent transfer station find. Pointing at the neon-colored longboard and shortboard that were the hands of the clock, he said, “He’s been crying since the red board was here, and now it’s all the wayhere!”
“That’s twenty minutes.”
“Oh.” He looked at the clock for a moment, then back up at her with a scowl. “That’s still a long time.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
