Page 11 of Big Island Sunset
“Great! Where’s Rory?”
“It’s still nighttime,” groaned the five year old. Lani followed the sound of her voice and spotted a lump beneath the covers. She went to the bed and pulled back the quilts.
“Time to get up and dressed.”
“But why?” Rory moaned, drawing out the second word. “This is torture.”
“We’re going to see the sunrise!”
She scrunched her eyes closed. “I don’t care.”
Lani sighed. “And then we’ll go get malasadas.”
“Malasadas?” Rory perked up. The sugary pastries were a rare treat in a household where Tenn made amazing food from scratch every day.
“But you have to get dressed right this second.”
“Okay, okay!” Rory hurried to swap her pajamas out for the cotton dress Lani held out.
By the time she’d managed to run a brush through Rory’s hair, Tenn and Olivia were already in the truck.
“Sorry,” Lani said as she slipped into the passenger seat. “Here we are.”
“Right on time.” Tenn pulled her hand up to kiss her knuckles, then released it to start the engine.
“Are you hungry?” Olivia asked from the back seat. She held a box of her dad’s homemade protein bars out to Rory, who gave Lani a stricken look.
“You said we’d get malasadas!”
“We will,” Lani said. “After sunrise.”
Rory slumped back in her seat with a dramatic sigh.
“It’s picture day, remember?” Olivia said. “We’re taking family photos.”
“Oh yeah.” Rory perked up again and found Lani’s eyes in the mirror. “Will Babbo be there?”
Lani’s mouth dropped open in surprise. Rory’s biological father was still in Pualena, and she saw him almost every day.
After Lani had decided that he was a safe person for Rory to spend time with, she hadn’t given him much thought. He had sort of faded into the background for Lani, like a convenient babysitter, and she wondered now if she was doing her daughter a disservice by not treating him like part of the family.
“It’s just the four of us today,” Tenn answered.
“But why?” Rory demanded.
“Just the family that lives in our house. No grandparents or aunties or babbos. They’re important too, but today is just about the four of us.”
“Oh. Okay.” Appeased, Rory looked out the window.
Tenn reached for Lani’s hand, and she gave his fingers a grateful squeeze.
The sky had brightened to a dusky blue by the time they parked down by the cliffs, but they still had time before the sun crested the horizon.
Alohi was there already, waiting for them near the start of the trail with a camera hanging around her neck and her baby sleeping on her back. She was a friend of Nell’s; Lani met her when she brought an art class to the local women’s shelter. Alohi had managed to scrape together enough money for an old beater of a car, but finding affordable housing that was safe for her and her baby had proved more difficult.
“Aloha!” she greeted them, rushing forward to hug Lani.
“Good morning!” Lani returned the hug gingerly, careful not to crush Alohi’s camera or wake her baby. “Thanks for meeting us so early.”
