Page 66 of Big Island Moonlight
The trees all around them were filled with kids. Emma and Toni sat nearby, chatting happily. They were surrounded by family and community, and Juniper’s heart was full of gratitude.
Her brother Teddy was the life of the party, walking unsteadily across the low hills of the forest floor and sending up peals of laughter every time he tumbled onto the soft bed of pine needles. Fern was one step behind him, as always – hisnervous, joyful shadow. Ethan was quiet, even solemn, probably remembering his own wedding nearly two decades before.
Juniper left him to it. She had her own memories to make.
24
Lani
“Whatcha dooo-in?” Rory asked, climbing onto the couch.
“Just paying some bills,” Lani told her.
“Why?”
“So we can have electricity.”
“Why?”
“So the lights will work.”
“Why?”
Lani sighed and smiled at her daughter. “Hey, do you think that you could get me a glass of water?”
“Yes!” Rory sprang up from the couch and ran to the kitchen, a girl on a mission. She ran back a moment later and shouted, “We’re making lemonade!”
“Great!”
Lani finished her computer-related chores and then wandered over to the dashboard of the website where she sold her coloring books.
She smiled, tickled to see that the number of books sold had finally inched up past one thousand in the months since she had started. It must have been a good day for sales.
And then her stomach dropped.
There had been over one thousand books purchasedthat day.
She refreshed the page, wondering if there was some weird glitch.
The number went up by another five sales.
“What in the world…” Lani stared open-mouthed at the screen for another moment, then clicked over to the social media sites she used to promote her work.
Sure enough, there had been a tidal wave of notifications overnight. She scrolled through them and saw that some girl with a huge following had posted a video of the coloring book, alternately gushing about the art and coloring in the intricate details of some of the illustrations.
That video had nearly ten million views.
Lani couldn’t breathe.
“Here’s your lemonade!” Rory sang. She crossed the living room, carrying a glass in both hands.
“What’s wrong?” Just behind Rory, Tenn frowned in concern at the look on Lani’s face.
“Mama, we made you lemonade!”
She sucked in a breath and took the glass from Rory’s hands.
“Thank you, baby.”
