Page 29 of Big Island Sunset
“Just about thirty-nine, but yeah.”
“I’ve got a full year on you, grasshopper.”
He smiled at her, but it was a melancholy sort of smile. “Sometimes I forget how little we know each other. It feels like I’ve known you forever, but obviously there’s a lot more to learn.”
“That’s part of the fun,” she said, taking his hand.
He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”
“You make a mean lasagna,” she quipped.
“There is that,” he said with mock seriousness. Then he sighed. “Will you stay with Theo? I need to try and make things right with Jun.”
“I’ve got him.”
He stood, pressing a kiss to her head as he rose from the couch. “Curry for dinner? I haven’t forgotten.”
“Don’t worry about that. Just focus on Jun.”
“A man’s gotta eat,” he said. “And I need to show you that I’m not just a one-hit wonder in the kitchen.”
Fern smiled. “If you insist.”
“Whether or not she accepts my apology, I don’t imagine Jun wants me hanging around for long. And the curry’s a quick meal. I can still make it when I get back.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you,” he said solemnly.
“For what?”
“For taking care of Theo. For talking some sense into me. For… everything.”
“You’re welcome,” she said simply.
“I really don’t deserve you,” he sighed. “But I promise to keep trying.”
7
Lani
The lilikoi vines in the backyard were loaded with fruit: green globes that turned purple and gold before falling to the ground and filling the air with their sticky-sweet fragrance. Alien flowers dotted the wall of green, reaching out with their white and purple tendrils.
Lani walked the fenceline, filling a cardboard box with fallen fruit. The late afternoon sun was warm on her face, its last golden rays streaking sideways across the island before it disappeared to the west. It was a moment of perfect tranquility in a home that was really starting to feel likehers.
She had never felt that way in Alaska, had never felt truly safe. Even at the Kealoha place, she had never felt fully at home, had (through no fault of Emma’s) always felt like a guest who might overstay her welcome. And here with Tenn, it took a long time for her defenses to finally crumble enough for her to feel like more than just an overnight guest.
The man had hung her art on the walls before she had even moved in, and she had since painted murals directly on the walls themselves… but feeling welcome wasn’t quite the same as feeling at ease.
It took time to feel fully at home somewhere, time to settle in.
She was finally getting there, finally feeling settled and secure.
The cardboard box was full to overflowing with lilikoi, but she stood out in the yard a while longer, just drinking in the day. The tangy, tropical scent of ripe passion fruit always transported her back to her childhood summers and made her heart ache for her parents.
These days, she found that she could bear up against the grief. She loved her life too much to long for anything else.
Finally, when the shade of the mountain overtook Pualena, Lani headed inside.
