Page 48 of Big Island Summer
“Hey Jun.” Emma went to the sink and started scrubbing the dirt from her hands. “I’m going to need one of those burners, just long enough to make some scrambled eggs.”
“Okay, no problem.” Juniper switched off one of the front burners and moved the huge pot onto a metal trivet.
“Are you hungry?”
“Not really.”
“Willing to eat some eggs anyway?”
Jun gave her a wan smile. “Sure.”
“Your turn,” Emma said to Kai as she stepped away from the sink. “Wash up.”
She pulled a mixing bowl down from the cupboard and grabbed a carton of eggs. The shells were jade and blue and gold, all gathered from their backyard hens. She put another little bowl next to the first, this one for the shells. When they had collected enough in the freezer, she would bake them and pulverize them into powder, then feed them back to the hens as a calcium supplement or sprinkle them around seedlings in her garden.
Kai started cracking eggs, working carefully with both hands to make sure that no shells went into the big bowl, and Emma turned her attention to Juniper.
“How are you holding up?” she asked quietly.
Juniper gave her a brittle smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m fine.”
“If you want to talk–”
“I’m fine,” she repeated, sharper this time.
“Okay.” Emma stared at the back of her niece’s head, wishing she knew how to get through to her.
“How many eggs should I do?” Kai asked, calling out like they were standing across the house from each other instead of a few feet apart.
“All of them.”
“All of them?” he repeated, wide eyed.
“Yep.” Emma looked back at Jun, still hovering. “Hey, so I’ve been thinking about fixing this place up. Do you want to give me a hand? Maybe look at some paint samples with me?”
“No thanks.”
“Not even for the tower room?”
“I like everything how it is.” Juniper turned off the rest of the burners. “These just need to cool a while. I’ll be upstairs.”
“Mom! The eggs are done!”
“Great.” Emma forced her eyes off of her niece’s retreating back and smiled at Kai. “Do you want to mix them?”
“Can I use the fast mixer? The one that gets plugged in?”
“Sure.” She rummaged through cabinets in search of the hand mixer.
“Hey Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I help fix this place up?”
A low chuckle of surprise escaped her as she moved from one cabinet to the next.
“What’s so funny?” Kai demanded.
