Chapter 2

Maddie set her backpack down by her feet near one of the benches at the marina’s portico. The next item on the passengers’ itineraries was snorkeling at the nearby Hulopo'e beach, and the assembled company had been milling around for several minutes now, deciding how best to get there. Some groups opted to walk up the road and around the bend themselves, while others decided to wait for the promised vans which could deliver them there in a matter of seconds. Ordinarily, Maddie would walk. But snorkeling at Hulopo'e was not on her agenda, at least not today. What she needed was a ride further inland into Lana'i City, and she was hoping to hitch with one of the van drivers.

“Beautiful trip so far, huh?” a man said politely as he stepped up beside her into the shade.

“Gorgeous,” she replied. The man appeared to be in his late forties, and he dressed with the meticulous look of a businessman who took vacation only when he had to. Maddie had seen him sitting on the boat earlier with his wife and teenaged son; she had noticed the family because they barely talked to each other. At the moment, he was alone.

“Gorgeous, indeed,” he said more quietly, edging closer. He looked her up and down. “You staying somewhere in Ka'anapali tonight?”

Oh, God. Not again. She really didn’t want to put the jacket back on.

Maddie picked up her backpack. “No.” She swung it over her shoulders, walked to the opposite end of the waiting crowd, and set it down again. She dug out an oversized tee and finished donning it just as two white vans pulled up.

“Aloha!” a friendly woman’s voice called as she hopped out of the van nearest Maddie and walked around in front of it to open the passenger doors. “Welcome to Lana'i, everyone! You ready for the beach?”

Maddie studied the woman eagerly, taking in her broad face, light brown skin, and straight dark hair, but nothing in the picture stirred recognition. It was possible that Maddie had seen the woman before. She might even have known her name once. But it was also possible they had never met.

“Aloha! Welcome!”

Maddie froze. The driver of the other van had now also disembarked and was standing a mere twenty feet away. Her voice drifted through Maddie’s brain like a song, bringing with it an unexpectedly powerful wave of emotion.

Mrs. Nakama! Maddie sucked in a breath, overwhelmed. All she could do was stare at the mildly plump, strikingly attractive forty-something woman who opened the side doors of the far shuttle van. She looked almost exactly the same as Maddie remembered her. And she was still giving tours. After fifteen years. Why shouldn’t she? She had always been good at it.

Maddie was still standing, still staring, after all the other passengers had been seated. “You coming with me, dear?” the unfamiliar driver asked.

Maddie shook herself and picked up her pack. “No, I… I’d like to ride with Mrs. Nakama. If there’s still room?”

The woman looked at Maddie curiously. “Malaya?” she called over. “Can you fit one more?”

Mrs. Nakama threw Maddie only the briefest of glances. “Sure! You can sit up front.” She closed the side doors behind her other guests, popped open the front passenger door, then walked around the hood and back to her driver’s seat.

Maddie called out her thanks to both drivers, hurried to the other van, and jumped in. Her pulse pounded as Mrs. Nakama threw her a superficial smile, started up the van, and began the usual line of tour-guide small talk on the short ride up the hill and around to the beach. Maddie herself didn’t speak. Her thoughts were elsewhere.

So, she thought with amusement, “Malaya” was Mrs. Nakama’s first name? It was musical, which suited her. Had Maddie known it before? Probably, but children weren’t interested in such things. What she remembered most about Kai’s mother was that she laughed a lot, enjoyed singing, and was always full of life. Although, Maddie recalled with a vague sense of chagrin, the woman was definitely capable of anger — under certain unfortunate circumstances.

Maddie also didn’t remember her as being so pretty, no doubt because she had only seen her as someone else’s mother. But Mrs. Nakama was indeed a beauty, and Maddie found herself wondering what ethnic makeup had created such a pleasing blend of features. As a child Maddie had given little thought to race, except when reminded that she herself was a haole — white — and therefore a second-class islander. Almost all the other children at her school were some shade of brown, and they were the true Lana'ians. They might also be Filipino or Japanese or Chinese, and how all those terms fit together with being Lana'ian or Hawaiian she had never been quite sure, but it had never particularly mattered to her.

Looking at Mrs. Nakama now, Maddie couldn’t help but wonder. She was fairly certain that Kai’s father’s people were Japanese, while his mother’s side of the family were Filipino. Mrs. Nakama’s smooth skin was a medium shade of brown, and her glossy black hair spread in rippling waves over her shoulders, framing an oval face with high cheekbones, a pert chin, large dark eyes, and lashes to kill for. Her son Kai had had the same pretty bone structure, not to mention the same overlong, perfectly curled eyelashes. Eyelashes no boy had any right being born with.

The stinking rat!

Maddie smiled to herself. Kai’s little sister had been cute, too. But Chika had looked more like their father.

Mrs. Nakama turned to look at Maddie periodically as they drove, but her gaze never lingered for long, and as the van pulled up to the drop-off spot at the beach, a fluttering began in Maddie’s stomach. Kai’s mother didn’t recognize her.

In another minute, Mrs. Nakama would unload the van and drive away.

“Here you go, everybody!” Mrs. Nakama announced, hopping out again to release her passengers promptly. The van was theoretically air conditioned, but no conversion van packed with people shoulder to shoulder could ever be called comfortable. Maddie opened her own door, but after stepping down, declined to close it. She still needed a ride into town.

She took a deep breath and plucked up some courage. It wasn’t Mrs. Nakama’s fault. God knew Maddie looked different, and her being here now was completely unexpected. She stood still, holding the door, waiting for the other passengers to unload and walk away. At last she was the only one left.

Mrs. Nakama turned. She studied her remaining passenger for a moment with her head cocked slightly to the side, and Maddie felt a flicker of hope. “Is there…” the van driver began uncertainly, “something I can help you with?”

“Mrs.—” Maddie stammered. She felt every bit the child again. “Mrs. Nakama?”

The woman’s eyes widened slightly.

Maddie’s heart leapt. “Picture me a foot and a half shorter and a whole lot chubbier,” she blurted. “At least in most places. Other places, I’m a bit… wider now.”

Mrs. Nakama blinked. Her chest swelled suddenly with breath. “Maddie,” she exclaimed on the exhale. “Holy— You’re Maddie!”

Maddie nodded enthusiastically. Hot tears sprang unexpectedly to her eyes, embarrassing her thoroughly until Mrs. Nakama gave a loud and merry laugh and enfolded her in a hug.

“I can’t believe it!” Mrs. Nakama gushed over her shoulder. “I wouldn’t have guessed it in a million years, but now that I know, it’s as plain as—” She pulled back and gave Maddie an approving once over. “Girl, you have turned out well, can I say it? What a beauty you are!”

Maddie smiled genuinely at the compliment. Despite being “a friend’s mom,” Malaya Nakama was a youthful forty-something, and the girlfriendy vibe she radiated now seemed a natural evolution.

“I can’t believe you’re back! After all these years! Does anybody else know you’re coming?”

Maddie shook her head. “I know I probably should have called. But I just flew into Maui for grad school two days ago, and I couldn’t wait to come over and see… well, everything! But I’m almost afraid to know what’s changed.”

Mrs. Nakama’s eyes searched hers. “Things always change. But I suspect less has changed here than most places!” She paused a moment, then smiled gently. “I never had a chance to tell you how sorry we all were about your mother.”

A quick stab of guilt flitted through Maddie’s middle. She never knew what to say to such comments. Of course it had hurt to lose her mother, but she would never get over the queer feeling that the loss hadn’t wounded her as much as it was supposed to. She had loved her mother, but the sad truth was that she felt like she had barely known her. Although she had cried into her pillow for months that rainy spring in Ohio, missing her mother had accounted for only a fraction of her grief.

“Thank you,” Maddie replied. “It was a shock to everyone in the family, her having a heart attack as young as she was; they say she didn’t have any signs beforehand. I’ll confess I was angry at my father for a long time, whisking me away like he did. But I understand now how hard the circumstances must have been for him. I know he did the best he could.”

Crow’s feet appeared at the corners of Mrs. Nakama’s almond-shaped eyes, and for several seconds, frown lines marred her brow. But then a soft smile returned, making her look years younger again. “It was a very hard time for your father, I’m sure,” she said soothingly. “No doubt he thought you needed your grandparents, and the sooner the better.”

“I wrote to Kai, you know,” Maddie blurted, regretting the words immediately. They sounded almost petulant. Well, hell. It still bothered her, didn’t it? Poor little girl that she was, her mother dies suddenly, she’s dragged thousands of miles from home, and her supposed best friend can’t take the time to answer one lousy letter?

Mrs. Nakama’s eyebrows lifted slightly.

Maddie cringed at her blunder. Nothing was more endearing to a mother than having veiled insults flung at her only son. Maddie backtracked quickly. “I mean, he never answered, but that’s not surprising. Boys that age hate to write, right? It’s my fault, really. I feel bad that I didn’t call Nana. I don’t know why I didn’t. I didn’t even think about it. Maybe because I wasn’t used to talking to her on the phone — or any of you. Maybe if my grandparents had suggested it — but they didn’t understand. They tell me now that at the time, I rambled on so much about everybody else on Lana'i but my mother, they thought it must be some kind of defense mechanism—”

Maddie shut her mouth. Her emotions were running away with her. Too much, too soon. “I’m sorry,” she added, laughing at herself a little. “You’re very unlucky to be the first person I’ve run into here. There’s just so much stuff I’ve been waiting forever to say, and to ask. But I know you’re busy working. Is there any chance you could give me a ride into town? If not, I’ll be happy to pay anybody with four wheels to drive out and pick me up.”

Mrs. Nakama looked unsettled as she waved off the suggestion. She pulled out her phone and checked the time. “Of course we’ll get you into town! I can’t hijack the van that long, but Gloria’s out of school now. She can come get you.”

“Gloria?” Maddie repeated. “Baby Gloria?”

Mrs. Nakama smirked. “She’s seventeen now, God help us.”

Maddie blew out a breath. She herself might have grown up in the last fifteen years, but for Kai’s youngest sister, who had been born when they were eight, to do likewise seemed preposterous. “I don’t want to put her to any trouble. I can wait and go in with the tour later if I have to.”

Mrs. Nakama was already calling. “It’s no trouble. She’s trouble, but not you. You have someplace to stay already? How long are you going to be here?”

Maddie’s heart warmed. She was so damned lucky. “Just overnight. But no, I haven’t found anyplace to stay yet.”

“You’ll stay with Nana,” Mrs. Nakama announced. “She’s got room. She’ll be so happy. Should I tell her, or you want to surprise her yourself? She— Gloria?” Mrs. Nakama’s voice turned scary-mom in an instant. “Who’s that I hear talking? Where are you?”

Maddie hugged herself. Nana. Her precious, precious Nana was alive and well… and she was going to stay with her tonight! As it became clear that Gloria was in trouble with her mother for reasons unrelated to the requested ride, Maddie left her pack on the ground near the van and stepped away to give the mother and daughter some privacy.

The beach park at Hulopo'e looked different. There had been a parking lot, restrooms, and picnic benches when she left, but the whole park area was larger and fancier now, and there were more people both on the beach and in the water. But the changes were only superficial, and as she caught sight of the same stretch of sand on which she’d spent so many joyful hours splashing and playing, her feet began to itch abominably. The urge to kick off her flip-flops and go running straight out into the clear blue water was so strong it was almost overwhelming. “Patience, Maddie,” she begged. “Patience.”

She had never been very good at patience. In her mind she saw the same bay as it had appeared fifteen years ago. Kai was standing in the shallow water near the reefs, poised with a handmade spear. He could stand there motionless, just like that, seemingly forever.

Don’t you get bored? Maddie had whined.

No.

I don’t believe you.

No answer.

I’m not that hungry. Can’t we just go home and eat?

I’m hungry. Be patient! Sheesh.

There’s one.

I see it.

So go get it!

Don’t move! he ordered.

But if you stepped over there you could—

I’m fine.

She groaned. Will you just—

And then, always, he would spear a fish.

“Maddie?” Mrs. Nakama called.

Maddie whirled around, embarrassed. Exactly why she was embarrassed, she wasn’t sure. “Yes?” she replied.

“Gloria will be here in a couple minutes,” Mrs. Nakama said. “Keep an eye out for a red truck. She’ll take you to Nana’s house and then Nana will bring you over for dinner tonight.” She stepped in closer and her eyes grew suddenly moist. “I still can’t believe our little Maddie grew up into you,” she said fondly, leaning in to deliver another quick hug. “And that you came back to us. I’m sorry I can’t chat more now. I have to go; I have to run some people back over to the harbor to look for something they lost. But we’ll catch up over dinner. Okay?”

“That sounds fabulous,” Maddie agreed. “Thank you so much.”

Mrs. Nakama snorted out a laugh. In most women, any sort of snort would be unattractive, but her particularly merry take on the art could only make one smile. “Don’t thank me yet. Gloria’s in a mood — I caught her hanging out with that guy at the golf course again. Just don’t pay any attention to her. She’s doing that high school senior thing where the parents go from ‘Wah, my baby’s leaving home,’ to ‘God, get this child out of my house!’ You know what I mean?”

Maddie chuckled. “That bad, huh?”

Mrs. Nakama swore. “Worse than that. Chika was bad. Gloria’s…” She waved a hand in the air and shook her head. “There’s no words.”

Chika. Maddie did some quick math in her head. The Nakamas’ middle child would be 22 now. Maybe out of college, if she had gone to college. “How is Chika?” Maddie asked tentatively. The older sister was just three years younger than Kai, and although Maddie had known her well and even played with her sometimes, Chika had her own set of friends.

Mrs. Nakama smiled. “She’s good. She’s working in Honolulu now, but she visits every couple of months.”

“That’s nice.” Maddie hesitated. This was the perfect time to ask about Kai. It would almost be strange if she didn’t.

“Well, it looks like my passengers are ready,” Mrs. Nakama said, moving back toward the van where a flustered-looking young couple were being led by one of the boat crew. “I’ve got to go, but we’ll talk more tonight, all right? See you then!”

“See you!” Maddie called, her gay tone belying her disappointment at the missed opportunity. She watched as the passengers loaded up and the van drove away.

Patience, Maddie. All her questions would be answered soon enough.

She was tempted to run to the beach now and at least dip her toes in the water, but if Gloria had been “caught” at the nearby golf course at Manele, the Nakamas’ truck could roll up any second, and it would be foolish to prevail on Gloria’s good nature to wait around. Maddie’s memories of “the baby,” who had been all of two when she left, were positive. She remembered a sleeping infant and a cute, placid toddler who didn’t talk much, but was always ready with a smile. How difficult could the teenager be?

An engine roared. Maddie looked up to see a bright red four-door pickup tearing down the lane towards the park. Kicking up a storm of dust on either side, it made a wide turn in the parking lot and came to stop with a jerk six feet short of Maddie’s toes. The passenger window was half rolled down, and as the dust slowly cleared, the angry face of a very short teenaged girl became visible behind the steering wheel. The girl said nothing, merely glared, and Maddie stood silent a moment, watching her.

“So?” the driver bellowed finally. “If you don’t know who I am, go away! If you’re this chick I’m supposed to take to Nana’s house, then get the hell in!”