Chapter 4

Back in her own bedroom, Samantha dug out the least-suggestive nightgown she owned from her suitcase and put it on. When she came out into the living room, Alex was watching the late news on television.

“Anything interesting happen today?” she asked, gesturing toward the T.V.

Glancing up at her and taking note of her flannel nightgown, Alex shook his head. “Not really.”

“Do you mind if I call my parents? I want to let them know I’m all right.”

He checked his watch. “It’s three in the morning there.”

“Oh. Never mind. My dad wouldn’t like that.”

She sat down beside him, starting to feel genuinely tired.

“I’m not yapping too much, am I? Do you wish I’d shut up?”

He grinned at her. “No. I like having you around.”

With that, he got up and shut off the T.V.

“Let’s have a fire,” he suggested, and Samantha watched him as he kneeled, intending to let him do all the work, but she soon realized the fireplace was piped with gas. Within seconds, a lively fire burned in the hearth and he returned to the couch.

“You really look beat,” he told her.

“I am.”

“Here,” he said, arranging a pillow next to his leg. “Put your head down.”

Samantha did as she was told, glad of the chance to rest. They watched the fire burn briskly and Samantha thought about their evening together, about all it might have been.

We might be making love now, she acknowledged. However, she was too exhausted to pursue this thought and shut her eyes.

“Samantha.”

She opened her eyes, realized she’d been sleeping. Alex helped her sit up.

“Come on, let’s put you to bed.”

Like a sleepy child, she took his hand and let him lead her to bed. He pulled the covers up to her chin and dropped a chaste kiss on her forehead. As he started away, she grabbed his hand.

“My dad tucked me in like this ’til I was fourteen,” she told him. “Good night, Alex.”

“’Night, Samantha.”

She slept like a log through the night and, in the morning, her head hurt and she felt a little ill. She wasn’t used to drinking, really, but Alex had kindly anticipated her condition and brought her breakfast in bed.

Perched on the edge of the bed, he slowly stirred his coffee, waiting until she revived a little before discussing their plans for the day.

“Let’s rent a car,” he suggested, once she perked up a bit. “I want to show you around the island.”

With some food in her stomach and some caffeine in her veins, Samantha felt much better, so the prospect of this interested her. He disappeared for about an hour, leaving her to get ready. He’d mentioned a beach, among other attractions, so Samantha put on a bikini with a pair of shorts and a top.

After a while he returned, keys in hand. “All they had left was a red convertible Mustang,” he told her, indicating with a subtle gesture that such a car would not have been his first choice. “Do you drive, Samantha? I’ve never seen you drive.”

“Of course I drive. I just haven’t got my own car, is all. What’s that?” she asked, indicating the plastic grocery bag he was holding.

“Frozen peas.”

“For what?”

“Come on, you’ll see.”

They drove to a place called Hanauma Bay and were lucky enough to find a parking spot in the crowded lot. Alex carried their things down the steep hill to the beach.

“Ever go snorkeling?”

She shook her head. “You still haven’t told me what the peas are for.”

“They’re for the fish.”

They were soon equipped with snorkeling gear and Alex was instructing her on its use.

“It’s just like making love, Samantha,” he said, a twinkle in his eye. “The important thing is to relax. Let your body think for itself. It knows what to do, if only you’ll let it.”

Their eyes met. He was clearly teasing her about last night, so Samantha kept her lips clamped together, trying hard not to smile.

“Here, you take some of these peas. Don’t be afraid when the fish come to you. Watch.”

He plunged his hand under the sparkling clear water to demonstrate and released a handful of the frozen peas. Several vividly colored fish chased the trail of peas all the way to his hand, apparently unafraid of him. Some were quite large, and Samantha asked nervously whether they’d bite her.

“Not if you’re smart enough to let go of the peas. You’ll be all right, though. I hear you’re a genius.”

Alex coaxed her into using the snorkel and she ducked under the water. The mask made the coral seem much closer than it actually was and it took some time for Samantha to adjust to this optical illusion.

She swam among the fish, admiring them. A few were a dull gray color, but most were brilliantly colored, with backs and fins of electric blue, some a solid, sunny yellow, still others sporting bright orange tails. They swam where Samantha swam, coming right up to feast from her hands, but she managed to stay calm and even - as Alex had suggested - to relax. In time, she began to take pleasure from it, enjoying the weightlessness of her body and the way she seemed suspended over the strange, underwater kingdom.

But breathing through a tube proved to be trickier than Samantha had thought it would be and, as a result, she tired easily. They decided to turn in their gear and lie on the beach for a while to enjoy the heat of the sun on their bodies.

Samantha gazed out to the turquoise water.

“I felt just like the Little Mermaid, feeding those fish,” she told Alex. “We sure don’t have anything like this in L.A. You must really hate going back there.”

“Not at all,” he told her. “Except for people always thinking I’m somebody else. Once in a while I really hate that damned guy, but he does seem to lay low, so I try to return the favor.”

“Is that why you left L.A.?”

“No. It was just...too hard to work there. Paris and I went out all the time, seems like all we ever did was party.”

“Really?”

“This was a long time ago, before AIDS got so mainstream, before everybody got so uptight. Paris and I were constantly chasing women and beating the hell out of the other men. It got old after a while.”

Samantha fixed him with a fascinated gaze, secretly thrilled by this vision he gave of himself, she herself having never known a life of rough adventure. She found it very appealing. For all of her life, she’d known nothing but the tamest of men and boys.

He smiled at her, rugged and handsome.

“Don’t get the idea there was any kind of glory in that lifestyle,” he warned, seeing the admiration in her face. “And anyway, I lead quite another kind of life now.”

Samantha sighed, not caring.

She looked up at the unbelievably clear blue sky. It was still more glamorous than anything she’d ever known before, even when she was Marianne’s roommate. Marianne’s stepfathers were always well up on the social register, but nothing to compare to this. It was nice, she decided, not having to worry about every nickel, dime and dollar one spent.

Later, Samantha gazed out from her place at the table, toward the shore, toward the glittering lights of Honolulu. The band on their dinner cruise struck up a sweet, slow song and Alex stood up, clasping her hand.

“I like this song,” he told her. “Come and dance with me.”

Doing as he asked, Samantha rose to her feet and allowed him to lead her onto the wooden dance floor. She felt safe and content in his arms and knew now why so many couples chose Hawaii as their honeymoon destination. Samantha shut her eyes, allowing herself to imagine that they were on their honeymoon, too.

That first sweet song was followed by another slow one, a soft, romantic rock ballad. They lingered together on the dance floor, each unwilling to give up their private little piece of paradise. But, when the band resumed playing popular music, the pair of them relinquished their hold on one another and reluctantly went back to their places at the table. Samantha sat in a dream-state, mute, playing out her happy little fantasy in her head.

“Oh, God,” she suddenly heard him say, and the smile was swept from her face. Samantha, following his glance, saw the eager approach of a would-be fan and felt herself tense, too. She stood up and immediately shielded Alex from the girl’s view.

“Wait,” she called out. “I know what you’re thinking and before you get started, let me go ahead and tell you he’s not Jesse Dent.”

“Are you sure?” the girl asked, glancing past Samantha doubtfully.

“Yep. I’m pretty sure. He’s my new husband and his name’s Dave. He works in a video game factory and we’re here on our honeymoon.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, but he really does look like Jesse Dent.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Samantha said cheerfully, drawing the girl off. “We get that a lot.”

Once she led the girl away, she went and sat back down with Alex. There was a slight tension between them now, one that hadn’t been there earlier and it finally occurred to Samantha that, all these times he’d taken her out in public, he’d done it for her sake alone, had done it solely for her entertainment. He’d been exposing himself to the world at large each and every time, and she knew then it would never get any better. How could it? Even if people recognized Alex for himself, the two of them would be in the same position, having to continually fend off strangers in a crowd.

Shifting her glance, she found Alex’s gaze fixed upon her. He’d called her name several times, she realized.

“I’m sorry. Yes?”

“Let’s go out on the deck.”

He led her by the hand out onto the deck. They leaned against the rail together, breathing in the fresh, salty air. It was darker out here, more private, and the wind whipped Samantha’s hair over her shoulder in a wildly exhilarating manner. She thought then that, if she’d been born male, she’d have been a sailor, would’ve joined the Navy and sailed all over the world. She turned to him, nearly breathless and confessed as much.

“I’ve never been on a real boat before, Alex,” she told him. “I never knew it could be like this.”

“The name’s Dave, ma’am,” he corrected with a grin.

She smiled, then she sighed, knowing she’d missed so much of life already.

“This is the first time anything really special has ever happened to me. Maybe Marianne’s right, maybe I should loosen up a little. You know, go with the flow a little more. See where life takes me.”

Alex smiled indulgently, willing to let her talk.

“A week ago, I’d never have danced with you like I just did. I wouldn’t have dared get into that hot tub with you, either. Not that it wasn’t nice, but it wouldn’t have seemed...appropriate. Do you understand?”

“Of course.”

“My parents are very old-fashioned, Alex-as if you haven’t noticed. My dad tried to talk me out of coming with you to the last. I respect him for that, and that’s what makes it so hard for me. I mean, I feel so guilty.”

“Guilty? About what?”

“I’m supposed to be your employee, and yet here we are having fun together like we’re best friends or something. Plus, you’re really nice to me. You treat me like a little princess.”

He chuckled. “It won’t be like this at home, trust me,” he assured her. Their eyes met. “What’s the matter now?”

“It sounded so strange to hear you say ‘home’ like that. I don’t know anything about it, really.”

Alex turned his back to the rail and finally started to tell her more about the ranch.

“But what’s my room like?” she asked, impatient for more details. A slow smile drifted onto his lips.

“That’s a surprise.”

“Surprise?”

He turned his face away for a moment, obviously trying to decide how much to reveal to her.

“I’m having it redecorated for you,” he admitted.

“What? How?”

“I told you, it’s a surprise. But I knew from the start you couldn’t have it the way it was. Only guys have used it before.”

“But you don’t know what I like,” she said, amazed.

“I think I do.”

After that, Samantha couldn’t keep her mind off the room. She longed to see it, eager to know what sort of taste he thought she had. On the way back to the condo, she asked about it again. He enjoyed teasing her, she could tell, but he was kind enough to drop a few more hints.

“When are we going?” she asked him.

He turned to Samantha, a look of mock dismay on his face.

“Don’t tell me you want to leave so soon, when there’s so much more I have to show you?”

Not wanting to seem ungrateful, she shook her head and let the subject drop. When they got back to the condo, Alex turned on the stereo and Samantha sat down beside him.

“Can you swim?” he asked her.

“Yes. Why?”

“I want to show you my favorite swimming hole tomorrow.”

Her glance met his.

“What are you up to now?”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. I know you’re up to something.”

He shook his head, shrugging, but Samantha wasn’t convinced.

The next morning, he woke her up, impatient to get started.

“Come on, Sleepy. Let’s get a move on.”

He drove the rental car up towards the mountains and, before long, made a U-turn. He pulled off the road onto a dirt patch and parked the car.

“Where are we?”

“We’re going cliff diving,” he said, leading Samantha off the shoulder of the road and onto a dirt path.

They hadn’t walked very far when they came to a clearing with a huge boulder overlooking a natural rock pool. Some Hawaiian boys were perched to jump from the boulder, a drop of at least twenty-five feet.

“Oh, hell no,” she said flatly.

“Aw, come on. You said you wanted to loosen up a little. Well, here’s your chance, Samantha.”

“I wanted to loosen up, but I didn’t say I wanted to kill myself.”

“Come on, don’t be chicken. It’s perfectly safe. Just be careful not to jump on top of me, will you?”

“No, Alex, I - ”

Before she finished her sentence, he jumped over, plunging into the depths of the murky water below. A few seconds later, he swam to the top.

“Come on, Samantha,” he called, waving her into the water.

Her heart hammering at the prospect, she cautiously peered over the edge, which did nothing to strengthen her resolve.

“Are you nuts? It’s too high.”

One of the smaller of the local boys laughed outright.

“It’s safe, lady. Look.”

The boy, who must have been all of ten years old, joined Alex in the water. Seconds later, he, too, bobbed to the surface.

“Jump, lady, jump,” the child chanted. Soon, they were all goading her to jump.

Taking a deep breath, Samantha backed off, and then ran straight off the edge of the boulder with a shriek of fear.

She broke through the surface of the water and it seemed to take forever to come back up for air. Alex swam up beside her and she laughed, exhilarated and a little out of breath.

They swam to the edge of the rock pool together, Alex climbing out first to help her out.

Without really meaning to, Samantha reached up and pressed her lips to his. The local boys howled in approval and she jerked away suddenly, shocked by her own brazen behavior.

“Oh,” she said, ashamed of herself but trying to hide it, “thanks for getting me to jump.”

Alex merely smiled and, her hand in his, he led her back up the hillside.

They sat on one of the larger rocks by the water’s edge and let the sun dry them off. The local boys were still at their games, some of them jumping and some swinging from a rope swing at the far end of the pond.

“You never had any kids,” she asked absently as she watched the boys play. “You never got married?”

His expression grew serious all at once, and Alex shut his eyes.

For the first time in a very long time, he allowed himself to think about the past, about his failed marriage, about everything it could have been but had failed to be.

And oh, yes, he’d wanted children. But his ex-wife had fled the scene way too early for anything to come of it.

He stole a glance over at Samantha, who was still watching the boys play, obviously enjoying their chatter and nonsense. He realized she loved children, would be a wonderful mother.

However, there was no reason to pursue this thought. She was years younger than he was, and so sweet and innocent he couldn’t even imagine a scenario where they could be together in that way.

“I was married once, when I was in my early twenties,” he admitted. “But we never had any kids.”

He volunteered nothing else, so Samantha let the matter drop.

Before long, Alex rose to his feet and announced it was time to go back to the condo. Once there, he excused himself and went out alone.

He walked the streets of Waikiki alone, knowing there was no way he could’ve spent another evening in Samantha’s company and not plumb to its depths this strange connection he felt towards her.

What was the deal with that girl, anyway? At first she’d come off all innocence, and then that business in the hot tub and today’s kiss at the pond.

Was she hot for him, or did she just get off on teasing him?

He rejected such a thought immediately, though. Samantha’s motives were as transparent as a window to him. He knew she was attracted to him but was too afraid to act on the impulse, knew she was a good girl who didn’t fling her love around indiscriminately.

And though he did want to know her better, he knew himself well enough to know he could only do that by keeping her at the kind of emotional distance he’d kept every woman at since Jennie.

Besides, a romantic relationship with such an inexperienced young girl could do neither of them any good, could only lead to disappointment for both of them, could only hasten the inevitable ugly breakup. And what that breakup might entail made him shudder. It might mean a nasty lawsuit for sexual harassment, possibly even some kind of breach-of-contract suit. Or, at the very least, he could easily imagine Samantha’s enraged father flying over from the mainland to personally kick his ass for messing with his only baby.

Nope, he thought. Best to leave the girl alone, best to keep his hands to himself.

However, a little light flirtation could hardly hurt either of them. And so, with that in mind, he slipped into a dark, quiet bar to have a few drinks and daydream about that smokin’ hot, ripe little body of hers in that bikini she’d worn today.

It had been so many years since he’d met a young woman like Samantha, teetering on the brink of full-blown womanhood, that he actually felt a little self-conscious, wondered if he were turning into a pervert. And while he guessed she was no virgin, he knew it was unlikely she’d sleep with any man she wasn’t emotionally connected to.

No, a love-affair with her would have to come with a long-term commitment, and Alex was pretty sure he wasn’t up to that kind of thing right now. After all, his career was exactly where he wanted it to be and his domestic life was settled into a nice, even pattern of hard, serious writing peppered with plenty of leisure time to relax and dream up his next plot-line. His comfort was seen to by his very capable housekeeper and each of his books were ably received and pushed off onto the publisher by Paris.

Everything was efficient, everything in working order, everything stable. The only thing lacking in his life was, in fact, a good steady lover, one who could to deal with his many moods and sudden desires without driving him nuts, one who understood his writing career had to come first, who understood how many, many hours of solid concentration it took just to churn out one single book.

And somehow Alex doubted Samantha was the woman to handle all of that, feared she might be too high-maintenance, would require him to spend way too many of his precious hours attending to her needs.

It had been quite some time since he’d had a lover, he was forced to acknowledge, and so, he even went so far as to chat up an attractive woman sitting near him at the bar. But in the end, he found he didn’t have it in him to take her back to her hotel room, although she clearly expected him to.

Instead, he bought the woman another drink and paid his bar bill, going back out into the streets alone. For the first time in ages, he allowed himself to wander down to the International Marketplace to poke casually around the various stalls.

It was a dangerous thing to do, since he was not in any mood to be pestered by Jesse Dent fans, but he went anyway, throwing caution to the winds. Most of the stalls held nothing more than an assortment of cheap tourist items, but in one, he found a lot of very pretty glassware and crystal for sale.

Samantha would like this one, he thought with a smile, and then his conscience suddenly smote him. He recalled how he’d left her back at the condo all alone, without one word of explanation. He pictured her lying there in bed alone, worried about him, grieving over him, wondering where he was and why he’d felt it necessary to flee her presence.

He ran his fingers over a particularly lovely scent bottle and decided to get it for her and hopefully make amends for his behavior.

And Alex was right about Samantha. She did feel very bad, was acutely aware that the mention of his former wife had driven him away from her.

I’ll have to be more careful what I talk about, she told herself sternly. I’ll have to keep myself from prying into his affairs.

She tossed and turned in bed, unable to rest until she heard him come in. It was very late, past three when she heard him open the front door and softly shut it behind him. Her hearing tuned to his step, she knew by the way he tiptoed into his own room that Alex believed her to be asleep. She didn’t feel much like setting him straight, though, so she stayed put and, within a few minutes, she really was asleep.

In the morning, Samantha went out to the lanai for her breakfast. Alex had arranged for the table to be set with fine linen and china and silver. As soon as she slipped into her place, she saw the small, gift-wrapped box that sat in the middle of her plate.

He seemed to be in a better mood, at least, and she hoped he’d gotten over whatever had been bothering him. He poured her a cup of coffee and, nodding, smiled indulgently as she reached for her gift.

“Oh, how pretty,” she exclaimed, discovering an exquisite crystal and silver perfume bottle lying nestled among the lavender-colored tissue paper.

“It’s for your new bedroom, which is almost ready, by the way. We can go home in another two or three days.”

She smiled, appeased by his gift.

“What do you want to do today, Alex?” she asked. “Sky-dive? Rappel into the nearest volcano?”

“Close. I thought maybe you’d like to climb to the top of Diamond Head.”

“You mean with ropes and spikes and stuff?”

He shook his head.

“Stairs.”

“Stairs I think I can handle,” she agreed.

It was hot out there on the trail and she stopped a moment to take a big swig of water, then she glanced up again at the seemingly-endless flight of concrete stairs they were climbing.

“I’m not sure, but I think these stairs might suck even more than the ones at the Point Reyes lighthouse,” she remarked, remembering the trip her parents had taken her on when she was twelve.

“I’ve never been,” he admitted, taking a drink from his own plastic bottle, “but I’ll take your word for it.”

They resumed their climb and, in the end, Samantha was very glad they did, for she was rewarded by the most spectacular view she’d ever seen in her life. Had there ever been a bluer sea or sky? If so, then she’d never seen it.

“Look over there, Samantha,” said Alex, pointing towards Waikiki. “There’s our building,”

She looked in the direction he was pointing and could see it all, the whole of Waikiki, could actually even pick out the building housing Alex’s condo.

“Oh, my God. This is so freaking awesome. Take a picture of me for my parents, okay?”

She shifted her phone into his grasp and moved closer to the rail.

“Move to the right a little,” he told her. Once he’d taken the photo, she returned to him. Their glances met and Alex seemed pleased.

“I’ve never been anywhere like this before.”

“I love Hawaii,” he told her. “I’m just really glad you like it, too.”

She found she was aching to kiss him again and suspected he felt the same way, but he merely grinned and turned his glance away.

“There’s still time to go to the zoo,” he told her. “I think you’ll like it there. They let you feed an elephant and then there’s this giraffe thing...well, come on. You’ll see.”

The zoo turned out to be pretty small, but it was also fun and quite interesting. And though, after her trip to Diamond Head she wished she’d never see another stair in her life, she was more than willing to climb the short flight up to view the giraffes.

Once up on the viewing platform, she smiled, as she discovered they were now eye-level with the giraffes.

“Oh, my God, Alex, they should have this at all the zoos.”

“I know. It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

She glanced up at him and realized he was pretty amazing himself, taking such pains to make sure she enjoyed her visit to Oahu.

Randy had barely ever taken her anywhere, not even to some of the free or nearly-free things there were to do in Los Angeles.

Not that she’d expected to be treated to anything expensive, of course. Randy had been a student, too, but now she realized he’d never made even the slightest effort to entertain her or make her happy.

Her heart hardened once again against her former boyfriend and she was very glad she’d listened to Marianne’s advice and ditched him.

“Alex, I...I just want to thank you for taking me everywhere.”

He reached out and stroked her cheek and she gazed into his eyes again. For a brief, fleeting moment, her heart skipped a beat. She thought he was getting ready to kiss her at last, but instead, he grasped her hand and squeezed it gently.

“No, it’s nice,” he told her. “It’s nice to have someone to show around. I get kind of lonely once in a while.”

She found herself wanting, once again, to stroke his lovely cheek, the way he did hers, but was afraid to just reach out and do it. He’d never really given her the slightest encouragement and she wasn’t the type to throw herself at a man, so she accepted that he wanted to be her friend, not her lover.

“If we get up early tomorrow, we can check out the Arizona Memorial. If we wait too long, though, it’ll be packed with tourists and it’ll take forever to get in.”

“Yes, I’d like that,” she told him, releasing his grasp on her hand.

“They don’t let you bring your purse, though,” he told her. “I have no idea why, but you’d better wear cargo shorts, if you have any.”

Early the next day, they drove out to Pearl Harbor and took the boat out to the memorial.

Samantha had never really been into modern history or any of the World Wars but, once out there, once getting a look at the real sunken ship, she realized it wasn’t just some abstract story out of a history book.

It was, in fact, an actual event, was the watery grave of many countless young men, a lot of them even younger than she was, snuffed out in the prime of their lives. All of a sudden, she felt moved to tears, although she couldn’t have explained why. She had no feelings one way or another about the military or the U.S. government, but she genuinely appreciated the sacrifice all those young men from the past had made.

Alex, seeing she was on the verge of tears, slung a protective arm around her shoulders to soothe her.

She stole a quick glance up at him and noticed that he, too, was affected. She watched as he swallowed a lump in his throat.

“My grandfather died here,” he told her at last in a plaintive voice. “He died here and I never even got to know him.”

This confession set her to weeping, the same way she’d seen women from an older generation weep over Elvis Presley’s grave at Graceland many years ago.

At the time, she hadn’t understood what prompted them to cry over a total stranger’s grave, but she did now, and she buried her face in Alex’s shoulder. He took her in his arms to comfort her, and wiped away her tears when she was done crying.

His heart softened towards her then, so much that he felt his resistance weakening. For a few minutes, he even believed he could really love her, given the slightest chance.

And she seemed all too willing to give him that chance.

Samantha dried her eyes and even managed to put on a sunny smile. By then, it was time to get back on the boat, and they went back across the harbor to disembark, Alex leading her back to their car.

“I’m starving,” he said. “How about you?”

She nodded, willing to go along with just about anything he suggested. He drove them to a nearby Korean restaurant, where they had lunch together.

After they ate, Alex brought her back to the condo and excused himself yet again.

This time, Samantha couldn’t figure out why he left her alone, but it was still very early in the afternoon and he left her the key, so she slipped out of the house to explore Waikiki for herself.

She’d been there several days, but realized she’d never gotten a chance to check out the town on her own. Alex had always taken her someplace out of town, and she started to wonder if it was because people would mistake him for Jesse Dent or because he wanted to save the opportunity to shake her off once in a while.

It was a disturbing thought, of course. She adored Alex and could hardly bear the idea that he didn’t feel the same about her. But she was prepared to discover the truth, prepared to face it, no matter what it turned out to be.

Well, maybe she’d just shake him off for a while.

In the meantime, he’d left her a couple of hundred dollars with a friendly note encouraging her to spend the money as she wished.

She hesitated, of course, unused to such a large amount of spending money but, in the end, accepted Alex’s generous gift and went out onto the town alone to enjoy the sights and see what she could see.

Anonymous again without Alex by her side and feeling as if she were on vacation, she drifted along with the crowds.

Almost every storefront on the main drag was the same, some Asian-looking guy trying to hawk cheap tourist items. There were battery-operated hula girls who swung their hips to tinny hula music and t-shirts explaining how so-and-so went on vacation but had only thought to bring the recipient back some crummy shirt.

She even passed several Japanese take-out establishments with fake plastic sushi and saimin displayed in their windows. She felt compelled to stop and examine them, surprised anyone would find them appetizing.

And there were tourists everywhere, practically overrunning the place. She overheard several different languages, was surprised to discover Hawaii was very popular with the Japanese. She’d seen pictures of Japan and it looked very similar to Hawaii. Nevertheless, there they were in large, organized groups, cameras strapped around their necks, eagerly snapping photos of everything they saw.

She quickly realized what Waikiki’s chief attraction for Alex must be: the awesome view from his condo and its proximity to the many beauties of the island.

She retraced her steps and followed Lewers Street until it ended a few blocks later at a canal. There was a group of college-age guys out on the canal practicing in an outrigger canoe and she stood a while and watched them.

In the end, she returned to the condo with no idea how else to kill the rest of the day. Deep inside, she felt satisfied, although she did feel a little bit lonely and homesick. She decided to call her mother.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, sweetie. How are you doing, are you okay?” her mother asked, a trace of apprehension in her voice.

“Of course. I’m fine, Mom.”

“What’s it like over there?”

“I hope you guys’ll come over some time,” Samantha stated. “I know you’d love it as much as I do.”

She then proceeded to describe everything she and Alex had done so far and told her mom all about his gorgeous condo. Her mother, having quite obviously allowed Samantha’s dad to instill some doubt into her head, asked cautiously if Alex was around.

“No,” Samantha answered. “I think his girlfriend lives nearby. Sometimes he goes out and I don’t see him for hours, but he’s got all the cable channels and a really nice view of the ocean.”

This seemed to soothe her mother somehow, and Samantha knew she’d report all this to her dad and set him at ease, too. And though she hated misleading her mother, she felt better when she rang off, knowing she’d assuaged her parents’ fears.

She then called Marianne, realizing she hadn’t touched bases with her best friend since she arrived in Hawaii.

“How’s everything going over there?” Samantha asked.

“Oh, God, Samantha, I really think I’m in love.”

“You are? With Paris?”

“Yes. He is so sweet. I’ve never had anyone care about me the way he does. But how’s everything with you and Alex?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Aren’t you guys getting along?”

“No, we are. It’s just that...I not too sure he’s all that interested in me as a woman. Which is okay. I mean, that’s pretty much how I planned this whole thing anyway, so who cares?”

“I do,” Marianne told her. “I want you to be just as happy as I am. Hell, you’re my best friend.”

“So are you,” Samantha admitted, “so don’t worry about me, all right? Everything will turn out okay.”

Despite her confidence, Alex stayed gone for quite some time. To her relief, he returned well before nightfall looking contrite again, only this time with no gift to offer.

Samantha couldn’t even bring herself to care, couldn’t think of any way of taking him to task for ditching her for so long. She let his transgression drop, telling him she was glad to see him back again and listening eagerly to what he had to tell her.

“Good news,” he said. “My housekeeper called, and we can go home the day after tomorrow.”

They spent the next day out on the North Shore. After having seen the baby-friendly waves of Waikiki Beach, the pounding surf here astounded her. Alex told her about the world-famous surfing competitions that took place here each winter, how the huge, wild waves here were legendary.

She sucked in the fresh salt air, very appreciative of the wild, churning surf. Something within her made her regret that she’d never learned to surf, for she could picture herself perched on a long board, cutting in and out of the waves like the guys they were watching, letting the surf curl over her and riding that translucent blue tube to the end.

Alex seemed to understand what she was feeling and smiled at her.

“When we come back to Waikiki in a few months, we can take a surfing lesson if you want,” he offered.

She smiled, surprised. “How did you know?”

“You don’t exactly have a poker face, you know. Come on. We’ve got to get back.”

He took her hand and walked her back to his rental car for the drive back towards Waikiki. Samantha glanced at him once she got into the car, realizing how perceptive, how in tune with her feelings he really was. She gained a silent strength from this knowledge and, once they got back to the condo, she spent the remainder of the day with him as they packed their things, chatting like old friends.