| |
As luck would have it, Tetsuo wasn’t able to make it to dinner last night. Kala was ready to spit nails. Holt was glad he wasn’t on the end of her temper today. Even still, he had plans to take Joely for a horseback ride today even though Tetsuo had wanted him to go right to work.
"Well, look at the city boy thinking he’s a paniolo,” Joe, the foreman, said coming into the barn.
“Is he wearing perfume?” Tony, one of the old timers, said from the door. “He smells purty.”
“It’s called a shower lolo. You should try it,” Holt said, trying to hide his smile.
“You think the cattle are going to move from Ushi to Buru while you get your beauty sleep?” Joe snarled.
It took Holt a moment to realize his Uncle named the pastures Cow and Bull in Japanese. Which while accurate, wasn’t very creative. When his mother was here, they were named after flowers. Holt supposed that the paniolos thought it was an improvement from moving the herd from Frangipani to Plumeria.
“I figured my friend and I would have a day or two to get situated. You don’t want a greenhorn, and someone who hasn’t stepped foot on this ranch in a few years, to hit the ground running without any orientation. We’d just get in your way.”
Joe squinted at him and grunted. “Yeah, well don’t think you’re going to herd from the back of the pack. I want you up front rustling.”
Holt found himself looking forward to it. Even though he had left the ranch when he was ten, he came back during the summers to work. At least, he did before the divorce. Then he had all to do to keep the resort running while his father drank the day away.
“I need some help with the fencing today too. Think you and your friend can patch up some barbed wire? Or are you afraid of getting your hands all cut up?”
“Holt?” Joely said, coming around the side of the barn.
Joe and Tony whipped off their hats. “Ma’am,” Joe said.
Holt glared at him, wondering if they were being disrespectful, but a quick look at the two paniolos showed they were dazzled by Joely’s smile and pretty face.
“Kala said you’d be out here.” She hefted a backpack. “I’ve got lunch.”
“Great, I’m just finishing up saddling the horses for our ride.”
“This is your friend?” Tony laughed. “So much for getting any work done.”
Joely crossed her arms over her chest. “I can pull my own weight.”
“Yeah? What’s that, ninety-eight pounds?” Tony asked.
Joely’s face lit up. “I know you thought that was an insult, but not even close.”
“I’m going to show her around the ranch today,” Holt interrupted before Tony could think of a comeback. “We’ll report for duty four a.m. tomorrow morning.”
“Four?” Joely choked, then wiped her face clean of reaction when the two older paniolos glanced at her. “Four it is,” she said, nodding.
“Well, I suppose you can muck out the stalls,” Joe grumbled. “Forget about the barbed wire.”
“Good to have you back, keiki,” Tony said, and with a lingering look at Joely, followed Joe out of the barn.
“Why did he call you a child?”
Holt led the mare that Kala told him to give to Joely out of the stall. He had already saddled the horse for her. “He was more of a father to me than my own father. That was Tony, and the other one was Joe. He’s the foreman. He’s mostly all bark and no bite. Unless he finds you slacking off, and then he’ll take a bite all right.”
“I’ll try to keep up.” Joely petted the horse’s neck.
“You don’t have to get up at four o’clock with the rest of us.”
“Why do you get up so early anyway?”
“The heat. The hotter it gets, the ornerier the cattle get. So, it’s easier to feed and then move them while it’s still cool out.”
“You guys are doing me a huge favor. I can sacrifice a few hours of sleep, shovel shit or whatever else you want.”
“If it was just me, they’d work me like a dog. With you here, we may just get off easy.”
“Glad to be of service.”
He walked the mare out to the pen. “Her name is Uma. Just hold on to her while I get Scout saddled.”
Of course, he didn’t have a horse of his own anymore. So, he picked out one of the spare work horses that had a little spunk in him.
“I thought we were going to take the ATVs,” she said, sounding a bit nervous.
Holt glanced out, but Uma was behaving herself. “We can tomorrow. I figured I’d give you the authentic experience. Although we’re a little late in the day for that.”
“Sorry,” she said.
“No worries.” Holt dragged out a set of stairs and set them by Uma.
“Oh, thank God,” Joely said. “I couldn’t figure out how I was going to get up in the saddle without falling on my ass or twisting my ankle.”
He helped her settle on top of the horse, and then slung himself up into his own saddle.
“Show off,” she said, with a trace of admiration.
Grinning at her, he clicked his tongue and the two horses started moving.
“Hey, how did you do that?”
“These guys are very well trained. Just hold on to the reins and follow me. I figure we’ll be out for a couple of hours, but if you get sore or need a break let me know.”
Holt handed her a ball cap to put on her head. “It’s going to get pretty windy.” He adjusted his own.
They rode off in comfortable silence for a while. The afternoon was hot, but the quiet made up for it. A part of him missed the ocean breeze, but not the clamor of tourists or the busy bustle of the beach. It was peaceful out here, but he found that it was harder to escape his thoughts in all the silence.
“How many people work the farm?” Joely asked, startling him. He had almost forgotten she was there.
“About ten people give or take. There’s about fifty cows, and not a lot of upkeep. But there’s a lot of work keeping the pastures tended and the fences standing. When Kala and Tetsuo aren’t here, Joe is the cook. There’s the bunkhouse where they live.” He pointed to a large building closer towards the barns.
“That’s a bit further from the main house than I would have thought.” Joely rode stiffly, but for a beginner she was doing all right in the saddle. He was glad to share all of this with her. He should have asked her out a long time ago instead of waiting for something so dire like this to get them together.
“Tetsuo doesn’t like to mix with the paniolos. He hates them.”
“Why?”
Yeah, why? Holt sighed. Great topic to begin the day with. “Because my father was one of them. And Tetsuo never quite forgave him for impregnating his sister outside of marriage.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “You don’t have to tell me this if you don’t want to.”
Holt shrugged. “It is what it is. There was a shotgun wedding and six months later, I came into this world. From what I gathered, Mel got his shit together and stopped drinking. He got promoted to foreman. Then Mike came along and it all went to hell.”
Joely put a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, he started drinking and acting out. So, my grandfather decided that he needed a change of scenery. He fired him, and kicked us out.”
Joely cringed. “That must have been terrible.”
“For everyone involved.” Holt wasn’t sure why he was spilling this out. Maybe it was being back in the saddle again, riding the perimeter or maybe it was seeing Joe and Tony. Most likely it was because he liked talking with Joely and being back on the ranch made him feel raw and exposed, like a bad tooth. “But, my grandfather wouldn’t have let his daughter and her children starve. He set Mel up as the manager of what’s now the Palekaiko resort. I traded in my chaps for board shorts and the rest is history.”
“You glossed over a few points.”
He figured she’d see through that. “Yeah, well he was no better on the beach than he was in the fields. My mom left him when Mike was twelve and took him to Japan with her. I was seventeen and stayed with Mel. Someone had to look after him.”
“Oh, Holt.” She rubbed his leg.
He didn’t want her sympathy, but his body zinged to attention at her touch. “When my grandfather died, Tetsuo took over and tried to take over the resort, but my grandfather left it to my mother—who would’ve been thrilled to see it burn to the ground. It got pretty bad. Well, you remember what it was like when you first got here.”
“The locals loved us.”
“Because we were cheap and on Kaanapali beach. Mel fucked off long before you showed up, though. Tetsuo was happy running it. Or at least having one of his gangsters run it.” Holt stared out at Haleakala. The shield volcano was a comforting presence. No matter how things changed in his life, it was always there. When he was trying to fit in at Palekaiko, he could look up and see it. It had comforted him that he wasn’t that far from home. It reminded him of happier days.
“The gangsters were the worst, though.”
“Were they dangerous?” Joely asked, gripping the reins tighter.
“Not to me or Mike. Tetsuo would have drowned them out by Black Rock. But they hated Mel and would always try to make some extra money on the side.”
“Like prostitution rings?”
Holt winced. “You are never going to forgive me for that, are you?”
“Why me? Out of all the maids, why did you think I was the one turning tricks?”
“Because you were the only one I thought would be worth paying for.”
“I think that’s a compliment,” Joely said. “But I liked Tony’s better.”
“It wasn’t meant as a compliment. I was trying to answer your question. You were secretive. You didn’t let anyone get close to you. You were always getting excellent reviews from the tourists.”
“I went the extra mile for them, but not the way you’re thinking.” She swatted him.
“I guess I underestimated the appeal of fresh towels.”
“Damn straight.”
“And I didn’t think anyone else had the brains for it.”
“I guess Selma was smarter than she looked.” Joely stuck her tongue out at him.
“Not that smart. If she had given Tetsuo a cut, there would have been nothing I could do about it.”
“Wait,” she said. “Dude was in charge at that point. Well, as much as he oversaw anything before Amelia came.”
“Didn’t matter. Tetsuo still called the shots for a while. So, since Selma didn’t fork over a percentage, he was happy to let the law step in.”
Joely snorted. “Good riddance. I hated that bitch. She was a nasty piece of work.”
“Why didn’t you ever say anything? I was the head of security. You had to know I wasn’t looking the other way.”
“Because everyone knew and no one seemed to care.”
“I cared.”
“Besides, she threatened us.”
“You definitely should have told me. You didn’t have to live with that. I would have kicked that skanky bitch out just for that alone.”
“She had friends.” Joely shrugged. “It was easier to just let it be. Although, Kai and Makoa would take turns screwing around with the wheels on her cart, and Hani would take the batteries out of her walkie talkie so we didn’t have to listen to her. Why didn’t you figure it out?”
“I did. I was the one to catch her red handed.”
“Of course, you thought you were catching me.”
Holt smirked. “I was happy I didn’t. Anyway, can you forgive me? I’m sorry I was suspicious of you.”
She waved her hand at him. “I guess you had good reason. Why did your father sell the property to Dude and Marcus?”
“Something must have happened and Mel needed money fast without any questions.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know he asked Tetsuo for a loan. Of course, Tetsuo turned him down. So as fuck you to Tetsuo, Mel sold the resort to Marcus and Dude. I found out about it the same time Tetsuo did.” Holt shook his head. “Pissed doesn’t even begin to describe it. Anyway, that was about seven years ago. I haven’t seen Mel since.”
“Where do you think he is?”
Holt shrugged. “Drunk somewhere. Maybe the Big Island working on a farm. How about you? Aren’t your parents looking for you?”
“No. We’re estranged.” Her face scrunched up in anger. “I got married to Timothy to get away from them.” She shook her head. “I was young and stupid.”
“Did you try to contact them after Timothy put you in the hospital?” She was quiet for so long after that question, Holt had a feeling that the answer wasn’t going to be a good one. “You don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to.” He figured he should give her the same out she gave him.
Joely sighed. “No, but my sister, Sammy was able to help me.”
“You have a sister?”
“Two of them,” she said. “I had a brother, but he died.”
“I’m sorry.”
She blinked back tears. “It was a long time ago. Tanner was shot to death.”
“That’s awful. What happened?”
Taking off her ball cap, she ran her fingers through her hair. “Wrong place. Wrong time. He wasn’t the target. My father was.”
“Jesus,” Holt said. “Did they catch the person who did it?”
“They?” Joely gave a half laugh. “No. They didn’t. But Katie did.”
“Katie?”
“My other sister. She’s on death row at Santa Rita.”
“Fuck.” Holt was speechless. I guess I don’t have the market on really fucked up family dynamics.
“Timothy didn’t find out about any of this until after I married him. That was probably the beginning of the end for us. He was setting his sights on a career in politics. Having a jailbird for a sister-in-law puts a damper on things.”
Holt nodded. He wondered if all this was what she had been keeping from all of them that made him think she was hiding something. She had been, but it was understandable.
“He tried to speed up her execution,” she said in a small voice.
Holt’s jaw dropped. He thought he disliked the senator before, now he’d like to take him on a boat ride and throw him to the sharks.
“But he couldn’t do anything because it was out of his jurisdiction. But he tried. I hated him for that.”
“You would think he would have welcomed the divorce.”
“You’d think that. Unfortunately, he still thought he could control the narrative. Control me.” Joely shook her head. “Can we take a rest?”
“Sure.” He slid off his horse and helped her down. She was light as a feather when he put his hands on her waist and lifted her off Uma.
Joely held on to his shoulders as she steadied herself. “I’m not used to riding. It’s hard to stand.”
The horses kept walking.
“Uh, shouldn’t we catch them?”
“They’re going to go get something to drink at the pond.” He pointed. “It’s past that next hill. They’ll be back when they want an apple.”
“I thought the apples were for us,” she said.
“Not unless you want to deal with a grumpy horse.”