by Kaia Knight
Sighing, Cristiano stepped to the side, still in the doorway. Kailani squeezed past him, throwing him a confused look.
Gabriel held up her cap. “Samantha dropped this by my office after practice, said you lent it to her?” He smiled at her, trying to pretend Cristiano wasn’t standing right there.
She looked puzzled. “Oh, thanks! I hope you didn’t come all this way for just a swim cap.”
He hesitated, grasping for another reason he should be there. “Uh, nope. Just visiting Josie.”
Cristiano was still a glowering shadow hovering over their conversation. Just leave, dude! Gabriel looked pointedly at Kailani, hoping that she would invite him in, or ask him to go on a walk.
Kailani looked uncertain, crossing her arms around herself. “So, what are you up to for the rest of the weekend since we have Sunday off from practice?”
“I’m not sure, I’ll probably go for a long bike tomorrow. What about you?”
“I still have to get my books since classes start on Monday, so I’ll probably head to campus.” She glanced at Cristiano. “But we were thinking about tackling the garden today, harvesting some of the vegetables and weeding.”
Gabriel tensed at her casual we. Cristiano locked eyes with Gabriel, lifting that pompous grin once more and flashing impossibly white teeth. Gabriel cleared his throat. “Alright, well I’d best be off. Enjoy your weekend and see you at practice on Monday.”
Gabriel turned abruptly, striding back through the garden path towards the driveway. He tried to push back the anger that ebbed through him, surprised at its strength.
“Hey!” Gabriel turned to see Kailani jogging towards him. She stopped a few feet away on the flagstone path and shoved her hands in her jean pockets. “Are you okay? You seem a little…off.”
He blinked. Was it that obvious? “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit of a rough day.”
She nodded towards the path that headed deeper into the garden. “Want to walk for a bit?”
The tightness in his chest eased slightly. “Sure.”
They strolled next to the overgrown rose bushes in silence, following the pathway towards the pond. Kailani walked right to the mossy edge of the lawn and took her shoes off. Cuffing up her jeans, she stepped into the rocky shallows of the water. Kailani bent down, rummaging her hand in the water, and offered Gabriel a palm full of smooth stones.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing like chucking rocks to make a bad day a little better.” The corners of her eyes crinkled as she looked up at him, her hair falling in her face.
Gabriel smiled at her, reaching forward to grab a rock from her hand. Taking a few steps to the side, he angled his hand so it was parallel with the ground and flicked his wrist, sending the rock skipping across the pond.
“Six skips, nice!” Kailani turned towards the water and lobbed one of her stones. It landed in the water with a gulping plop. She frowned as Gabriel chuckled. “Okay, I get a redo.” She waded through the water towards him, placing the other stones in his hand except one. Then she turned, bending her knees and leaning slightly before sending it skidding across the pond, where it hopped out onto the opposite shore.
Gabriel grinned as she celebrated, his spirits lifting higher. He threw a few more rocks. “You’re right. This is oddly therapeutic.”
“So, why the rough day? Do you want to talk about it?”
He sighed and tossed another. “Eli just gave me some hard truths I wasn’t ready to hear.”
“Like what?”
After hesitating momentarily, he said, “Oh, just some goals I put on hold. I had a lot I wanted to do with my life, but things didn’t pan out like I expected.”
“Well, is it too late to start now?”
Gabriel opened and closed his mouth. The answer was painfully simple when asked like that. “No, it’s not too late. But I have obligations, I can’t just leave coaching to go chase a pipe dream.”
Kailani stood looking out over the water, her thumb absentmindedly rubbing a smooth stone. “Can I tell you something?”
“Of course,” Gabriel said, unconsciously moving closer.
“Do you know why I transferred from the University of Hawaii and joined the team here?”
He furrowed his brows and shook his head.
“I had this grand plan for how everything would work out. I had a swimming scholarship and would study business so I could take over our family bed and breakfast and make it profitable.” Kailani looked down at the minnows that now circled her feet. “But when my mom got sick, everything fell apart.”
“I tried to hold it all together, taking care of everyone but myself. My grades started to slip, and I was killing myself trying to be the best on the team.” A look of doubt flashed across her eyes. “I wanted to get away from it all. The grief, the weight of the responsibility. Maybe leaving was selfish… but it was the only way I knew how to keep my dreams from slipping away. So, I came here to finish what I started.”
Gabriel watched the subtle ripple of pain across her face, masked beneath her composed expression. His hand twitched, wanting to close the distance between them as she opened her past to him.
Kailani met his gaze as she continued, “What I’ve learned the hard way is that no matter what happens to you, you can’t live in the past, wondering ‘why me’ and asking for a re-do. But if you waste what time you have left, you’re giving power to your past. And sometimes you have to be selfish and go after what you want. No one else will do it for you.”
Gabriel nodded slowly. Am I giving power to my past? No matter how far or fast I run, my demons find me when I sleep. “You’re right. I know I need to just make the next move, but I can’t seem to make myself do it, you know?”
“Sounds like you need a shove. For me, it was spending my savings on a one-way ticket here… there was no way out of it then.” She grinned at him. “What’s your one-way ticket?”
He cocked his head. “I guess signing up for the last few courses of the rescue diving class I started last summer. If they’ll even take me back, that is.”
Kailani’s eyes danced as she leaned forward conspiratorially. “If you need a letter of recommendation, as the subject of your most recent rescue I’d be happy to attest to your skills. I’ll make sure to include that the post-resuscitation kiss is optional, though.”
Gabriel laughed, the sound puncturing the intimate bubble that their serious conversation had created.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” A wave of warmth radiated within him as her smile widened. The distant protests rang in the back of his mind: You’re her coach! You shouldn’t feel like this! But the thoughts were so feeble that he brushed them away with ease. He basked in the comfort of her smile instead.
She stepped out of the water, picked up her shoes with one hand and gave him a playful push on the shoulder with the other. “There’s your shove. Now go sign up for those classes.”
“Okay, okay.” Gabriel chuckled, following her as she walked barefoot back to the garden path. At the fork in the trail, she stopped.
“Well, I’d better get started on some chores. See you on Monday, Gabe. Uh, Coach.” She waved over her shoulder before lightly stepping from stone to stone until she disappeared behind a rose trellis that led to the inn.
Gabriel headed towards his truck and whipped out of the driveway with a renewed determination. This time as he drove, he saw everything around him with the clarity of purpose. The narrow roads were lined with drooping maples, their leaves beginning to yellow as they sensed a change in the air too subtle for people to discern. He felt the wind tug at his hair as he leaned towards the window, the warmth of the sunlight settling on his arm.
Hope swelled within him as he pulled into the main campus entrance, finding a spot easily in the mostly empty lot. He walked through a set of double doors labeled Recruiting. He knocked quickly, checking his watch.
The door opened to a short, stocky man whose eyes widened in astonishment. “Gabe?” He pulled him in
for a hug, giving him a rough slap on his back before extending his arms in front of him once more, examining him. “Man, it is so good to see you! What are you doing here?”
Gabriel’s chest felt full, a smile growing on his face. He took a steadying breath. “Hey Sarge. I’m here to sign up for the last three courses. I want to be a rescue diver.”
Chapter 11
Kailani
Kailani stretched as morning light filtered through the sheer curtains. Her arms were heavy and sore, and she let them fall back down to the mattress. She wondered groggily what day it was. Sunday! No practice today. She sat up in excitement, swung her legs off the bed and pulled on her running shorts and hoodie.
Her classes would start tomorrow, so she wanted to head onto campus to grab some books and scope out the location of each lecture. Treading lightly into the kitchen, she glanced at Cristiano’s door and was relieved to see it was still shut. She ate a banana and filled her water bottle before heading out into the chill morning air.
Sliding her backpack on, Kailani took off at a relaxed pace towards campus through the silent, wooded lanes; only the sound of her breath and the crunch of gravel underfoot broke the early morning quiet. A weight lifted off her chest at the prospect of not having to dodge dirty looks from the swim team.
Lost in her thoughts, she wove through the open, manicured lawns and gardens on campus. Her ruminations were suddenly interrupted by the distinct noise of a radio approaching behind her. Turning around, she saw a man wielding a megaphone, a stereo strapped to the front of his mountain bike as he slowly pedaled. In front of him were two lines of runners in bright clothes.
The man on the bike bellowed into the megaphone “Ready, GO!” as the two runners in the back broke away, sprinting to the front of the double lines. They hollered a word in unison: “PRE! PRE! PRE!” while fist-pumping.
What on earth? Kailani’s run faltered to a shuffle, watching the back of the pack sprint to the front two more times as they circled the quad. When the group passed by her again, she locked eyes with the girl in the back of the line, who unlike everyone else, did not have a running partner. Something about her looks familiar.
“Hold up, Coach!” the blonde girl yelled gleefully. She jogged over to Kailani, breathless. “Care to join? I’m the odd man out today and we have another twenty minutes of these slinky sprints!” She jerked her thumb to the double-line that continued in a circle for another lap around the grassy field.
“Uhh….” As if my first few days here could get any weirder. “Sure, why not?”
The girl cheered and gestured for Kailani to follow her towards the back of the double lines. “I’m Melody, by the way,” she cried over her teammate’s yelling. “What’s your name?”
“Kai!” she said, raising her voice, but it was swallowed by the holler of the coach. “Ready, go!”
Glancing to her right with a panicked expression, Kailani mirrored Melody as they split and sprinted to the front of the line. She winced as a unified shout of “PRE, PRE, PRE” resounded in her ear.
“What are you guys yelling?” Kailani panted as they settled back into an easy pace.
Melody smiled, her long golden ponytail swishing back and forth like a pendulum. “Pre? That’s for Steve Prefontaine. He’s a track legend, he was in the ’72 Olympics and put the University of Oregon on the map as a running hub.” She gasped, catching her breath before continuing. “It just started as an inside joke and turned into all this,” she said, gesturing to the fist pumps and chants around her.
Kailani shook her head and quickly fell into their rhythm, part of this strange, running machine. “Who are you guys?”
“We’re the tri club here.”
“Tri, as in Ironman triathlon?” Kailani panted, wiping her arm across her brow. “Where I grew up, Ironman is a pretty big deal.”
“Sort of, Ironman is just a distance of triathlon. A triathlon just means you swim, then bike, then run. It’s a ton of fun! You should join the club.”
“I would, but I’m already on the swim team here.” Kailani said apologetically.
“Hmm, so you’re a swimmer and you run? Sounds like you’re two thirds of a triathlete already! Do you bike?” Her eyes were bright with excitement.
“No, I...don’t know how. I never had a bike.” She glanced to Melody for her reaction, but found excitement instead of pity there.
“Don’t worry, if you hang around us enough, you’ll learn in no time.”
Kailani grinned, absorbing her optimism. Her presence was like feeling the sun on your skin for the first time in days. Kailani had only just caught her breath when the runners behind sprinted to the front, leaving her and Melody up next. She braced herself for the sprint and chanted “PRE!” with the rest of the team as they slowed in front of the group.
When the group finally eased into a cool-down, the coach wheeled up to Kailani, setting one foot down as he leaned against the frame. He was so at ease on the bike that it looked like an extension of himself. He gave her a firm handshake and a smile.
“I’m Coach Burton. Thanks for playing along,” he said good-naturedly. “They can be a bit over-the-top; sorry for interrupting your run.”
“No, not at all! I’ve been doing so much solo running, it was a great change of pace for me. Literally.” She laughed.
“What’s your name?”
“Kailani Kakoa.”
“Nice to meet you. Are you new here?”
“I actually just transferred from the University of Hawaii on a swimming scholarship, but looks like I may be missing out on a fun time.”
“It’s a good group of kids,” he said with fatherly affection, glancing over at the group who were squirting each other with water bottles. “But they could use a little motivation in the water, maybe we can have you lead one of our swims to kick ‘em into shape. You’re welcome to drop in on a practice whenever you’d like. Just make sure to tell your coach - if you get injured on my watch, Steve will think I did it on purpose to steal you for our own. It’s happened before!” His smile took years off his tanned face; he winked and, with a wave to the team, he biked off.
“Hey!” Melody jogged up to Kailani, beckoning her over to the group. “We always eat brunch here on campus after our Sunday runs. It’s a running tradition.” She paused, surprise crossing her face. “Hah! Get it? But really, come join us!”
Kailani hesitated, shifting her feet, “Uh...well, I don’t have a dining pass since I live off campus, and I was going to go to the campus bookstore for some supplies.” She shifted her backpack, and Melody’s eyes flicked towards it before widening.
“Oh! I was wondering why you looked so familiar — it was you on the trail last week, wasn’t it?”
Kailani’s eyebrows came together. “What?” Then it clicked; the two runners she had seen at the top of the mountain. “Oh! You were the one that called the police?”
Melody nodded and her ponytail bobbed furiously. “Yeah! We only went another mile after passing you before we turned around, and all we saw was your bag. We were scared shitless! Ariel and I looked for a while but didn’t have cell service. So we grabbed your bag and pretty much booked it back to the car to call the police. So, what happened?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Well, I’ve got time. Let me swipe you into the dining hall and we can talk while we eat, I’m starving!”
Kailani did not stand a chance against Melody’s warm smile and infectious energy. Filing into the eating hall, the group claimed a large table that must have been their usual spot. The dining facility staff seemed happy to see them, greeting each athlete by name as they passed food over the glass partition.
Melody grabbed Kailani by the elbow and towed her towards the head of the table. She cleared her throat dramatically and tapped a spoon on her glass of orange juice with a resounding ring. “Ah-hem!” As the table turned her way, Melody gestured to Kailani. “I would like to introduce Kailani! She’s on the swim team, but not for long if
I can help it, because she’s too good of a runner to not be a triathlete.”
Kailani blushed, waving a hand. The team went down the line, introducing themselves as they joked and chatted. Slowly, Kailani relaxed into the pleasant atmosphere as they swapped stories of open-water swimming and long, mountainous runs. These are my people.
Over an hour later, Melody and Kailani split off from the group to head for the bookstore, and the team shouted their goodbyes.
“She’s awesome!” a voice enthused as they walked away. Kailani tensed, waiting for an admonishing response that never came. She had grown accustomed to people treating each other as competition, ripping each other down at every opportunity. She started to thaw, thinking of what it would be like to be surrounded by people like Melody every day. They crossed the campus, and as they chatted Kailani felt a small part of her begin to soften.
Melody pulled up to the farmhouse, turning down the music as she parked.
Kailani glanced at her gratefully. “Thanks again for the ride! I feel like a hitchhiker. I set out with every intention to run, then somehow I come home in someone else’s car.”
“You don’t have a car?”
“Not yet,” replied Kailani sheepishly. “I only just moved here a few days ago, so I haven’t had the time to go car hunting.” More like the money.
Melody looked puzzled. “So, you just run…everywhere? That’s crazy.”
Kailani nodded, blushing fiercely. “You get used to it.” Well that was fun while it lasted. She already thinks I’m crazy.
Melody smiled and punched her lightly on the arm. “That’s why you’re so dang fast, maybe I should give it a try.” She looked more serious. “But really – anytime you need a ride, let me know. My place is only half a mile down the road. When you mentioned Lilac Ranch, I finally had a legit excuse to check it out.”
“Wait, you’ve never been here? I thought they had festivals and bake sales all the time?”
“Huh. Maybe, I guess I always pictured it being more of a bingo-night crowd since the owners are a sweet, older couple.”
