Page 16 of Big Island Moonlight
He grinned and held her closer, kissing the top of her head. Juniper leaned into him, trying to take strength from his confidence that everything would work out. Maybe he was right. Maybe it would. Juniper wanted to believe in him, in them. In herself.
In that moment, though, she was just too tired.
6
Lani
“Mom, watch this!” Rory leaped from a concrete cliff and landed in the water with a splash.
They had only been there for half an hour, and Lani had already heard those words about a hundred times. But it was her baby’s birthday, and so when Rory resurfaced, Lani cheered and clapped like it was the first time that Rory had ever jumped into a pool.
Rory’s sixth birthday had landed on a Saturday. They’d celebrated the day before with all of the playschool kids, and then they’d woken up before dawn on her actual birthday to drive across the island. Rory had requested a day at one of the Kona-side resorts in lieu of a birthday gift. The rooms were way beyond their budget, but they could manage a day pass.
Lani and Tenn were lounging in the shade while the girls raced down the waterslides and played in the artificial waterfalls. It wasn’t her favorite place on the island – she muchpreferred the salt tang of the beach or even the muddy smell of the jungle to the chlorine-saturated air of the resorts - but the air was full of the girls’ laughter, and that was more than enough to make the day a good one.
“Dad!” Olivia hauled herself out of the pool to stand in front of them. Her long golden braids dripped water onto the parched concrete. “I want to do flips.”
Tenn peered at her through his sunglasses. “Now?”
“Right now!” Rory shouted from the pool.
Olivia grinned triumphantly. “Birthday girl says.”
“As the birthday girl commands,” he said with exaggerated reluctance. The girls urged him on as he rose slowly from his lounge chair, then shrieked with laughter when he toppled dramatically into the water.
Standing near the middle of the pool, he put his hands under Olivia’s feet while she balanced herself and stood. Then, with a sudden upward push, he sent her flying through the air in a backflip. She landed a moment later with a splash, and Rory cheered.
Lani took a couple of videos, recording one flip for each of the girls, and then she dropped her phone – still on airplane mode – back into her bag. She hadn’t brought her tablet either, not even to draw. She was determined to enjoy the day without a screen between her and her loved ones.
The girls played all morning as the resort became more and more crowded. They went down the slides countless times and made friends with other kids their age. Finally, hunger drove them ashore.
“I’m famished!” Rory said emphatically.
Lani laughed. “Good word.”
“Can we have lunch now?”
“Yep. But there’s no food allowed in here, so we need to go someplace else to eat.”
“They have food!” Rory cried, pointing at another family a few feet away.
“They bought that food here.”
“Why can’t we buy food here?” she demanded.
“It’s junk,” Olivia said.
“Expensive junk,” Lani agreed quietly.
“But it’s my birthday,” Rory whined.
“That’s why Dad packed you a special birthday lunch!” Olivia told her.
Rory’s lower lip still trembled.
“There you are!” Tenn walked over, still dripping. “I thought you were going to come down the slide.”
“We can’t,” said Rory dramatically. “We’re starving to death.”
