Page 17 of Big Island Moonlight
He laughed. “Okay. Let’s go eat.”
“But I don’t want to leave!”
“We’ll come back,” Lani promised. “Your wristbands are good all day. We’ll go someplace pretty, eat a healthy lunch, and come back. Okay?”
Rory’s eyes were full of tears, but she nodded. Meltdown averted. Lani knew that she must bereallyhungry to be this wobbly, so she found their shoes and herded the girls back to the parking lot, where she gave them emergency snacks to hold them over on the drive.
Some miles past the resort area, Tenn pulled into a picturesque spot with plenty of shade and an ocean view. He spread out a picnic blanket and unloaded all of Rory’s favorite foods from the cooler. He’d made spam musubis, mac salad, and Rory’s favorite dip with lots of veggie sticks to accompany it. Rory inhaled the first musubi, and her mood stabilized.
“Did Babbo call yet?” she asked between bites of mac salad. “He said he would call for my birthday.”
“Let me check.” Lani pulled her phone out of the bag and took it out of airplane mode. Right away, it started to vibratewith a series of texts and missed calls from friends and family. Half of them were from Lorenzo. “Yeah, he did try to call.”
“Call him back!”
Lani frowned, hesitant to bring anyone else into their perfect family day. But it was late already in Italy, nearly midnight, and she felt guilty for leaving her phone off all morning. She glanced at Tenn, who gave her a half smile and a nod.
She tapped Lorenzo’s name and handed the phone to Rory.
“Buongiorno principessa!” he answered immediately.
“Aloha Babbo!” Rory shouted back.
“Buon compleanno, stellina!Are you having a happy birthday?”
“Yes! We were swimming all day, and there were water slides!”
Rapid-fire Italian sounded in the background, and Lorenzo’s mother pushed her way into the frame.
“Tantissimi auguri!” she said, beaming. “Cento di questi giorni!”
“What’s that mean?” Rory asked.
“She is wishing you many good things and also one hundred more birthdays,” Lorenzo told her.
“Grazie, Nonna!” she said with a grin. This set off another string of cooing Italian from her grandmother. Rory listened with a smile, taking in the love if not the words.
Tenn walked away, back to his truck, and Olivia followed.
Rory and her father talked for a few more minutes. She filled him in on her week, and he translated for his mother.
Then Tenn returned carrying a small cake covered in fluffy blue frosting (he had boiled butterfly pea petals while the girls slept to make his own natural dye) topped with plastic dolphins and a circle of six candles. Olivia burst into the birthday song, and all three of Rory’s parents joined in.
“Blow out the candles!” Olivia said when the song was finished.
Rory blew them out in one try, aided by the ocean breeze that Tenn had been blocking with one hand, and everyone cheered.
“Make a wish!”
“I wish–”
“No!” Olivia interrupted. “Not out loud! It has to be a secret, or it won’t work.”
Rory closed her eyes and screwed up her face, wishing with all of her might.
“There,” Olivia said, looking impressed. “That should do it.”
Lorenzo and his mother said their goodbyes, and Tenn cut the small cake into four equal pieces. Eating the homemade cake with her family while leaves rustled overhead and the ocean shone out to the horizon, Lani feld a deep sense of peace.
