Midnight Sea (Aloha Reef Series)

by Colleen Coble

  “Well, if you need anything, just ask.”

  She heard the sound of the door opening, then her aunt’s voice called. “You take it black, don’t you, Willie?”

  “Yeah.”

  Lani smelled the aroma of coffee. “What a rich, floral nose. Is it the new fullcity roast?”

  “It is. You’re good, Lani.” Rina pressed a warm cup into Lani’s hand. “See what you think. Here, Willie, you too. It’s really choice.”

  Lani sniffed the aroma. Deep and rich, the bouquet made her mouth water. She tasted it. “Perfect. Are these the aged beans?”

  “Yes.”

  “The aging really added to the depth. We have to continue to offer this.”

  “It’s pretty good,” Willie said. He slurped again. “You aged these beans, you say? How long?”

  “About a year,” Rina said.

  “I’ll have to try it with my beans.”

  The front door banged, and Josie’s voice called. “Rina, you’re sharing your secrets with the enemy.” Her voice grew closer as she spoke. “You want some cream, Lani?”

  “Please.” Lani held out her cup and tried not to show her relief. Her aunt was too trusting. Willie would steal their secrets, especially if Rina’s injunction made him mad enough. The liquid splashed into her cup.

  Josie’s heavy steps went across the lawn. “Here are your supplements, Rina. You forgot them this morning.”

  “You’re trying to kill me. I know it,” Rina said with a smile in her voice. “Just shoot me now and be done with it.”

  “Bam,” Josie said. “Now quit whining and take your pills.”

  “Jerry doesn’t want me mixing these supplements with the ones he’s trying.”

  “I’ll talk to him about it. These won’t interfere with anything.” Josie’s voice was stubborn. “I know you better than he does.”

  “I know you do, Josie. Don’t get steamed over nothing.”

  An uncomfortable silence followed, and Lani assumed her aunt was doing as she was told. Rina suffered from lupus, but under Jerry’s care she’d been doing well, almost to Josie’s chagrin. Josie had wanted to be the one to help her best friend.

  Her aunt finally spoke again. “What do you want, Willie?”

  Willie cleared his throat. “I’m not your enemy, Rina. Actually, I wondered if you might want to go to dinner with me on Friday.”

  Lani heard Rina inhale sharply. “I don’t know, Willie. We’d better not fraternize until this whole mess is sorted out.”

  Josie snorted. “If you believe his sweet talk, you’re a fool, Rina Hashimura.”

  “Hush, Josie,” Rina admonished her friend in a low voice.

  “I’d like to show you my trees,” he said. Rina didn’t answer right away. “What do you say?” he persisted. “Let’s put it behind us. You know how I feel about you, Rina.”

  “I’ll think about it.” Rina rose and headed toward the house with Josie.

  Willie sighed, and his heavy tread moved away. The car door slammed. Then the motor roared to life and the car pulled away.

  Lani wished she could see her aunt’s face. Rina cared about Willie, Lani would bet on it. The sound of rapid steps came, then the screen door banged on the house.

  “Wow,” Fawn said. “There’s no telling about love. We get fixated on a person and never move on.”

  Fawn’s pensive tone struck a chord with Lani. How many men had she hurt over the years with her carefree attitude? But no more. “Hey, could you help me with something?”

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  “I have to ask Aunt Rina what to wear every day. Could you help me organize my clothes? I thought if tops and bottoms were hung or folded together, I could pull out an outfit and know it matches.”

  “Good idea. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but those two prints you’re wearing don’t exactly make the best fashion statement.”

  “Aunt Rina is color blind.” The corners of Lani’s lips tipped up. She thought this might be the first time she’d smiled since the injury. She took off Fisher’s harness. “Have fun for a while, boy.” Moments later, water splashed over her legs. “Is he trying to get in his water bowl again?”

  “His whole face is submerged.” Fawn chuckled and touched Lani’s hand. “Let’s go see your closet. We can’t have you looking like a street person. You’ve always had fabulous fashion sense. I wanted to be you for years.”

  “I’m no one to imitate,” Lani said. “You know, something happened that really woke me up. At the time it seemed so humiliating, but I’m not sure I would have realized who I really was if it hadn’t happened.”

  “What was it?”

  “I’d been dating this guy. His name was Ethan, but I didn’t even know his last name. I didn’t ask.” She chewed her lip and looked away. “I knew he was married, but I told myself his wife must be pretty pathetic or he wouldn’t be looking around.”

  “I see,” Fawn said.

  Lani stole a glance at her friend. Fawn would hate her now. “He bought me nice things, took me to fancy restaurants, and most importantly, he reminded me of a young Harrison Ford, and I love Harrison. So I didn’t care who I hurt.” She whispered the last words.

  “You don’t have to talk about this if it’s too painful,” Fawn said.

  Lani didn’t hear condemnation in Fawn’s voice. She shook her head. “No, it’s good for me to remember what I was, and how much I don’t want to be that person again. Anyway, I left work one day and this guy stops me. He says he’s Ethan’s brother and shoves a picture in my hand of a pretty young woman and a darling baby that looked about a year old. ‘This is who you’re hurting,’ he said. The contempt in his eyes just made me shrivel. I realized how small I was.” She shuddered at the memory.

  Fawn touched her hand. “Even a surgeon’s knife hurts, but it heals too. It’s great that you woke up.”

  Lani nodded. “I’ve never told anyone, not even Annie. Do you think I’m scum?”

  Fawn’s fingers tightened on Lani’s. “Of course not. I love you. We all make mistakes.”

  “Thanks for listening.” Lani gave Fawn’s hand a final squeeze. “Now let’s get me fashionable again. I’ve changed, but not that much.”

  Just as Ben had anticipated, Fisher and Lani were a perfect team. Just a few days into training, and it seemed as if they were attuned to each other in some mystical way. Fisher barely left her side, even when Ben removed the harness. Ben began to show Lani how to grip the leather harness, how to be sensitive to the way the dog would press against her leg, the commands Fisher expected.

  They walked along the narrow road past masses of ginger and proteas toward the Hula Orchid Farm just up the lane. Lani had improved daily at keeping her balance and stepping forward confidently with the dog at her side. A chorus of chirping crickets serenaded their passage.

  “You don’t like me, do you?” she said.

  “I don’t know you,” Ben said. He’d maintained his guard around Lani. While she didn’t seem the goodtime girl he’d met before, he figured her seeming innocence was the bait that women like her used to entice men. He refused to allow himself to fall prey.

  “I know. But your voice is often clipped when we talk. Have I offended you?”

  “Of course not, but I’m here to do a job. I doubt we’ll ever see one another when your training is complete.”

  She nodded. “Whatever you say. I could use a friend, though.” She lifted her face to the breeze. “Speaking of later, um, what about Fisher?”

  “What about him?”

  “I don’t want to lose him. How much do you want for him?”

  “He’s not for sale. When you don’t need him anymore, he’ll go to someone who does.”

  Lani’s chin jutted out. “I’m not giving him up. We belong together. You even said he was specially attuned to me.”

  Ben didn’t have an answer. Fisher was special. Even the thought of letting the dog go to anyone bothered him.

  When he didn’t an
swer, Lani bit her lip and turned her face up. “What’s the sunset like tonight?”

  “All pink and gold with a few wispy clouds,” he said. “Inhale. Go ahead, do it now.” He waited until she took a deep breath. “What do you smell?”

  A tiny frown crouched between her eyes as she concentrated. “Fresh greenery, dew, the ginger and orchids in the flower bed. Um, fresh dirt.”

  “And just smelling them brings back what they look like, doesn’t it? The beauty is still there, waiting to be called up to memory.”

  “Is this called blind psychology?” She laughed, putting her hand to her mouth. Fisher gave his happy whine and nudged her knee.

  He found himself smiling and quickly wished he hadn’t. Her wiles wouldn’t work on him. “I want you to reach out with your other senses and realize you haven’t lost everything. Just your vision. You still have touch, smell, taste, hearing. They’ll become more acute.”

  Her smile morphed to that familiar pout. “This isn’t permanent.”

  He wanted to point out that it had been a week and a half since the accident, and she didn’t have a glimmer of light and shadow, but he kept his mouth shut. He stared at her pensive face. Now might be a good time to probe. “How much coffee do you ship out?”

  “About sixty thousand pounds a year.”

  “Wow. Do you hire people to transport it for you?”

  She blinked and raised her perfectly shaped brows. “Just UPS.” She smiled.

  So Ethan had lied, just as Ben thought. “How many people do you employ?”

  “About ten, including Rina’s friends. Some of the others are parttime. They may have to hire someone to take my place. It depends on how long this . . . problem lasts.”

  She still skirted the possibility her condition might be permanent. Ben remembered that Tyrone had done the same. “Let’s look at the orchids.”

  “I can’t look at anything.”

  “Sure you can.” He stopped at the first bed. “What do you know about orchids?”

  “Gardening is my passion. I have a garden full of orchids outside my window.” Her tone grew wistful. “I’d thought to be a garden designer someday.”

  “Give me your hand.” She held out her hand, and he guided it to the nearest blossom. “See if you can identify this one.”

  Her small hand caressed the blossom, running down the petals to the stem and leaves and back again. The orchid had light purple flower clusters that looked almost like lilacs. She knelt and took a whiff of the fragrance. “I think it’s a Honohono superbum. It only blooms once a year, but you can’t miss that perfume.” Her hand moved to the next flower, which resembled a pansy. The white-tipped blossoms held dewdrops. “It’s a miltonia. A pansy orchid.” Her face, lit with delight, turned up to him. “You’re right, I can see them in my mind. I wish I had a picture for later, when I get my sight back.”

  “My cell phone has a camera. I’ll take a picture for you.” He whipped it out and snapped a couple of shots.

  She worked her way through the bed of flowers. Then they turned and meandered up the hillside, through a pathless meadow. They were trespassing, but right now, he didn’t care. What she learned on excursions like this would be worth a scolding from the owner. At the top of the hill, more flower beds spread out in front of them. Ben wished she could see them. Glorious colors with delicate blooms.

  Lani knelt by the first bed, and her fingers danced across the blossoms again. She caught her breath.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “What does this flower look like?” Her low voice sounded intense. She thrust her nose into the blossom.

  “It’s real pretty. The top leaf looks kind of like a shield. The center is pale green, and the edges are pink. What’s wrong?” Something rustled behind them, and Ben turned but didn’t see anything.

  “Go now,” a small voice said from behind the tree.

  A small boy, probably around eight or ten, gestured to them. He looked Polynesian, and Ben struggled to place his accent. Tongan, maybe? “Aloha,” he said.

  “He come. You go.” The little boy swept his bony arm. “Go fast.”

  When he came out from behind the trees a bit, Ben frowned. The boy had welts across his bare back. Had someone been beating him? The kid wore only loose shorts that he had to keep hitching up, and it looked like he and a washcloth didn’t have so much as a nodding acquaintance.

  “Hey, you there. You’re trespassing,” a man shouted at them from the top of the hill.

  The boy’s face paled, and he scrambled back to the safety of the foliage. “Run,” he hissed. “Must run!”

  Ben glanced toward the sound of the voice. He couldn’t see the man yet, but he grasped Lani’s hand. “We’d better get out of here.”

  “I want to see the orchid again.” She tugged her arm out of his grasp. Kneeling, she ran her fingers over the delicate blossom once more.

  “What are you doing? Get away from there,” the man shouted.

  The guy stood six-six or so and probably weighed three hundred pounds. He reminded Ben of a Sumo wrestler. Ben watched him approach, and even the dog seemed to sense his menace. Fisher planted his webbed paws in the grass and faced the man. A growl rumbled in his chest.

  “Easy, boy,” Ben said. “Come on, Lani, we need to get out of here. We’re in the wrong.”

  She stood and put her hand on his arm. “Take a quick picture of the orchid with your cell phone.”

  “Why?” Ben glanced back up the hill. The guy was only about thirty feet away, approaching with balled fists and a thunderous scowl.

  “Just do it. Quick.”

  Ben slipped his phone out and quickly snapped the photo, then grabbed Lani up in his arms and strode toward the road. Fisher bounded after them. Lani felt as light as a China doll against his chest. Her hair smelled of something exotic like sandalwood. She trembled a little.

  “I wish I could see.” Her slender arms clasped his neck.

  They reached the road. Ben glanced back. The guy still chugged toward them as though he had every intention of taking away the cell phone. “I’m going to have to put you down,” he told Lani. He set her on the road. “Take Fisher and head back to your aunt’s.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Don’t argue. Just leave.” He guided her hand to the harness. “Forward, Fisher.” He watched her stumble after the dog. They’d walked this road plenty of times. She should be able to find her way back. He turned to face the big man, who had picked up speed and came rushing toward him.

  The man held out a hand as big as a giant clamshell. “Hand it over,” he demanded. “You got no right to be taking pictures of our flowers. They’re proprietary.”

  “Look, I’m not giving you my cell phone. I’m sorry I trespassed. I don’t want to fight you, but you’re not taking my property.”

  The man lowered his head and bellowed as he charged Ben. Ben sidestepped and grabbed the man’s elbow as he passed, flipping him to the ground. His eyes and mouth opened, but nothing but a grunt came from his lips. He rolled to his stomach and sprang to his feet, a graceful act for a big guy. He came at Ben with his fists up and jabbed a meaty paw toward Ben’s face.

  Ben danced back, ducking the blows as they came. If one connected with his face, he was in trouble. He wished he had a Taser like he used to carry when he worked the streets on the police force. Then the man switched tactics and charged Ben. His massive arms circled Ben’s waist, and the two men went tumbling into the ditch beside the road. Bits of lava gravel dug into Ben’s arms and back as he tried to loosen the man’s grip. He managed to get his knee up and dig into the guy’s stomach. He got one arm loose. There was a pincher move he’d learned in karate training. He positioned his fingers on the man’s shoulder by his neck and squeezed.

  The guy’s face jammed so close to Ben’s, he could smell his breath, reeking of garlic. Ben applied pressure to the nerve, and the man’s face went slack. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he sagged onto Ben. His bulk
just about pressed the air from Ben’s lungs. Ben struggled to throw him off and finally managed to wiggle out from under him. When he’d staggered to his feet, he stumbled onto the road and headed back to Rina’s. The guy would recover in a few minutes, and Ben didn’t want to be anywhere close.

  Was it possible? With her fingers tight around the dog’s harness, Lani stumbled into something on the road, probably a rock, and nearly fell. Fisher shoved against her, and she regained her balance. She leaned against his soft fur and caught her breath. Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her. When she’d touched the petals, the vision of the rare orchid had flashed through her memory. And that fragrance! She couldn’t be wrong. She’d seen the rare orchid in Thailand at an orchid show last year. She’d never forget its beauty.

  Without Ben along, her confidence eroded. She stumbled along the pebbled lane. The crickets were louder now. Lani had never before noticed how there were different notes in the chirps, almost like an orchestra. The lightest sounds, bare whispers she’d never heard, brought vivid pictures—dark leaves rustling in the breeze, the flutter of birds’ wings, the faint splash of fish in the pond that ran beside the road.

  She heard a conversation and moved toward the sound. Fisher led her in the direction of Fawn’s voice. Her steps quickened when she heard a man’s voice too. “Yoshi, is that you?”

  “Aloha, kaina. I thought I’d drop in and see how you were doing.” Yoshi kissed her cheek.

  She tugged on his arm. “Quick, you need to go check on the trainer. Some guy chased us.” She pointed behind her, hoping her gestures pointed in the right direction.

  “Ben’s in trouble?” Yoshi’s voice sharpened. “Where?”

  “By the orchid farm.” He didn’t answer her, and Lani heard someone running away. She turned her face toward where she’d last heard Fawn’s voice. “Did he go?”

  “He’s running down the road,” Fawn said.

  “How did he know Ben’s name? Did you tell him?”