Chapter Two

“Someone please remind me why I thought moving back to Kona would be so much better than relocating to San Francisco?” Ava looked to her brother, Billy, and his wife, Angela.

One hand on her belly, the other on her mouth, Angela stifled a laugh. “Because you want to be here to meet your firstborn niece.”

“Did you finish your juice yet? Cucumbers are very refreshing,” Ava’s mother, Maile Everrett, called from the kitchen.

Ava looked at the green concoction her mother had set beside the drafting table that Billy was in the process of assembling for her. Shifting her attention back to her very pregnant sister-in-law, she forced a smile. “Right. My niece.”

“Come on, Ava.” Her brother smiled up at her. “Look at it this way. Free room and board while you get established.”

Nodding, Ava leaned back in her new desk chair. “Right. It’s only temporary.” The problem, of course, is temporary to some could be damn-near permanent to others.

“More fritters?” Dressed in one of her usual floral caftans, Maile came into what used to be her other daughter, Kathleen’s, bedroom, but, for the immediate future, would be the home of Everrett Architectural Designs.

How could her mother serve something green one minute in the name of good health and fritters the next?

Angela rubbed her tummy. “I’ll explode if I eat another bite.”

“No thanks, Mom.” Billy tightened the last screw on the table.

“Ava, dear?”

“Hmm?”

Holding the plate under her daughter’s nose, Maile looked over Ava’s shoulder at the sketch pad. “Another coconut fritter?”

At this rate she’d not only lost her independence, pretty soon she would lose her waistline too. “No thanks, Mom.”

“That’s not the Alanis’ new addition?” Maile asked.

“No.” Already Ava had her first small job. For years her parents’ best friends had been talking of turning the tiny boxed rooms in their house into a more open concept with views of their large yard and beautiful landscaping. Whether or not they would actually do it was yet to be seen, but at least they’d have the blueprints to admire.

“Another job?” her mother prodded.

“Just doodling.” Ava had spent her entire life doodling. Except, instead of scribbling Ava loves whoever with hearts and cupids or quirky caricatures, she’d toyed with changes to her bedroom, the sunporch, the doghouse. She’d even spent an entire weekend redesigning her small school’s multipurpose cafeteria-gymnasium-auditorium. To scale.

“Not bad.” Billy stood over her other shoulder. “Very artsy.”

“Really?” She felt a grin tug at her cheeks. “It’s an aquarium.” In the month since she’d left E&S, she’d shifted her focus to the aquarium in the San Francisco Bay Area that E&S would not be invited to bid on. Of course, most likely neither would she, but putting the flowing ideas on paper had helped her maintain her sanity. Especially after she’d stormed out of the E&S conference room, packed up her desk in record time and found herself sitting on her living room sofa, alone and unemployed. And thanks to her thrill-seeking ex’s love of extreme sports and his allergy to full-time employment, her childhood piggy bank contained more money than her savings account.

“Really cool,” her brother affirmed.

“We could use something like that on the Big Island.” Angela looked over her husband’s shoulder. “Maui has an aquarium. Loved walking between the tanks and seeing the big fish swimming on the other side of the glass. It’s the only way you’ll ever get me near the sharks. Kona should have one too.”

While Ava agreed the idea was a cool one, it wasn’t very likely to ever happen. But she only needed to earn a living for now. She already had some feelers out for bigger jobs. Though her career had been stymied for the last few years at E&S, she had made connections and friends. She’d make her mark yet. And, if she played her cards right, maybe, in the not-too-distant future, she’d be competing with the big boys for the most sought-after projects.

Billy patted his sister’s shoulder. “I really appreciate you helping out tomorrow.”

“My pleasure.” She offered a halfhearted smile. “It’s been ages since I’ve had time to dive. It will be fun. Reminds me of when Pop would let us play hooky to help out, when the tourists descended en masse during whale-watching season.”

“If the bookings for the next few weeks are any indication, we’re going to have a bang-up end of season this year. Wish I had a few more sisters hanging around to bamboozle…er…persuade to help out.”

“If you need more help,” his mother began, “maybe your friend Kenny would like to lead a few dives. Isn’t he arriving soon?”

Billy shot a head-shaking glance at his wife, who, smiling that coy I’m a pregnant woman allowed to have lapses grin, hefted a lazy shoulder.

“I might have let it slip,” Angela added.

“Not sure yet, Mom. His last assignment went longer than expected. All he wants is a quiet place to decompress.”

“What?” Maile set the fritters on the drafting table. “Did I say something about making noise?”

“Oh, Mom.”

Ava almost laughed at how her big bad brother always reverted to a little boy around their mother. Except, odds were, Billy was right about one thing. With a fresh unmarried male in town, Maile Everrett was most likely already honing her matchmaker plans. The only way Ava wouldn’t be a part of that would be if her luck had changed—and she wasn’t holding out much hope for that.

* * *

“Oh, for the love of God. Who’s the genius who authorized this?” Arms spread wide apart, CEO and President of FJM Global John Maplewood, né Forrest John Maplewood, held open the most recent set of blueprints for the new shopping center. The mixed-use development was at the heart of the up-and-coming planned community of DelFrisco, California.

“You did.” Arms folded across her middle, John’s assistant, Evelyn, stood, shaking her head at him. “And I quote, I don’t care if the damn thing is made of bubble gum, just get a fence installed. You got your fence.”

The lunatic in his head, hacking away at his eyeballs with an ice pick, was at it again. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he squeezed his eyes shut and willed the hammering to go away. “It’s a construction sight. Not a luxury estate. Chain link and a padlock would have done the trick.”

Evelyn nodded. “Yes, that’s what I said.”

“And?” He straightened, letting the drawings roll closed.

“And the new project manager insisted that a wood fence would be a better deterrent to prevent the thieves from the temptation of returning to the scene of the crime. It was up before any of us knew what he’d done.” Exasperation dripped from her dry tone.

Evelyn didn’t have to say anything more. John knew she was as frustrated with the unnecessary cost overrun as he was. Her title might be administrative assistant, but she did a better job of keeping his ship in order than his chief operations officer.

“All right. I’ll handle it.”

Evelyn dropped her hands to her sides and, stepping over to the wet bar, spilled two aspirin into her palm and poured a glass of water, before returning to her boss’s side. “And just how are you going to do that? You’re supposed to be on vacation, starting in seven hours and twenty-one minutes.”

“Rearrange my day.” He accepted the pills, popped them in his mouth and swallowed them dry. “I can probably push my flight back.”

Still holding out the glass of water, Evelyn waited patiently for him to accept it. “The headache will only get worse if you dehydrate.”

“Yes, Mother.” The truth was, Evelyn wasn’t even old enough to be his big sister, but Evelyn kept him in line, like a mama duck with her ducklings. He took hold of the glass and gulped down half the contents in one swallow.

“No.” Evelyn shook her head. “I’ve already spoken with Derrick. He’ll handle it. Annette Deluca has worked hard to put this surprise birthday party together for your sister, and you are not going to muck up her plans.”

Beside him, his cell phone rang, and, recognizing the number, he held up a finger to Evelyn and took the call from his man in charge of the upcoming Sacramento project. “What have you got for me?”

As the head of North American projects, Derrick was as valuable to John as Evelyn. “Not much. Things are coming together. Still waiting on some updates from the architectural firm.”

John noticed Evelyn pull out her phone, punch at the keypad, then begin chatting and laughing with the person on the other end.

“What updates?” John asked.

“The usual. City inspectors want some design adjustments, before they’ll issue all the permits. Last-minute use of space. Same old, same old.”

“I could—”

“No. Evelyn will shoot me if you use this delay as an excuse to postpone your vacation. And honestly she’s right. You haven’t taken time off in years. This will be great. The whole family together in Paradise. Just go.”

Right. Just go. Easier said than done. John set his phone on his desk, and Evelyn thrust hers in his face. From her huge grin, he had a good idea who was on the other end.

Added reassurance that he wouldn’t cancel his plans. His one weak spot, Magnolia.

“Hi, sis.”

“Evelyn sounds worried about you. Again.”

He stabbed one finger at the bridge of his nose. The aspirins were already making a difference, just not enough. “You know how it is. Good help is hard to find. City inspectors are a royal pain in my ass. One of these days I’m going to tell all of them to go—”

“Forrest.”

He cringed at the use of his given name. “Well, you asked.”

“Maybe if you didn’t take on so many projects.”

“It’s called earning a living.”

“Oh, give me a break. You passed earning a living after you built your first shopping mall. You’ve more than exceeded Father’s portfolio. By now you should be just shy of ruling the world.”

The laughter in his sister’s voice made him want to laugh too and seemed to do more to relieve the pounding in his head than the aspirin. But, as Evelyn had no doubt expected, the sound of his sister’s voice reminded him why he’d agreed to take this vacation in the first place. He very much wanted to be part of the big surprise birthday bash Magnolia’s boss had arranged. Evelyn had won again. He would not disappoint his favorite sister. He would leave everything behind and go celebrate her life.

“I need to go. Evelyn is cracking the whip.”

The woman seated in front of him raised one questioning brow.

“Well—”

Magnolia sounded wistful.

“—I do wish you would consider coming for a visit. It’s so easy to relax here. Forget about the real world.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Promises, promises.” Her amused tone returned in time to stop John from feeling the tiniest bit guilty for lying to her about his plans.

“Love you, sis.”

“Back at you.”

Evelyn held out her hand for the phone, and, in the other hand, she dangled a set of keys. “Your schedule has been cleared. Your bags have been packed. The driver is picking you up at exactly 5:00 p.m., and you will be spending a full and entire month in Hawaii.” Evelyn jingled the keys so he’d take them. “Not four weeks. Thirty whole days in Kona. You can even play tourist and visit one of the other islands. Maybe meet a nice girl. Have some fun. You remember what that is, don’t you?”

He snatched the keys from her. Temporary insanity was the only possible reason for why he’d agreed to those travel dates. One minute he was unraveling a mess in Dubai, and, the next, Evelyn had him booked first class to Kona, not returning for a full month. Now she wanted him to play footsie with strange women. Not that having a woman to relax with didn’t hold its appeal, but he’d learned the hard way where other people were concerned, so did his money.

“Don’t look so constipated. You’ll learn to love it. After all, there’s a reason they call it Paradise.”