by Kay Bratt
Maggie wished she could live by Charlie’s rules and say, “Okay, we aren’t adulting today so let’s stay home.” Instead she had to be responsible, and leaving him with his lip dragging the ground and teary eyes filled her with guilt.
She walked through the small lobby and noted a young barefoot man with a bearded dragon on his shoulder. On the other side of the room sat a couple with a pit bull puppy between them, oohing and aahing over it as though it was their first child. Those kinds of people usually cheered Maggie up, but she couldn’t shake the exhaustion that permeated every fiber of her being.
She was going to have to reconsider Quinn’s offer to stay at the inn. She couldn’t go through many more sleepless nights, and it would be easier if she didn’t have the logistics of getting Charlie from the apartment to Rosa. At least until everything blew over.
But wow, she hated to be that woman. Needy and afraid. The thought of giving up her freedom incensed her.
Even her double dose of green tea didn’t help her mood. Dr. Starr’s mother sat at the desk, wiping the countertop with a Clorox wipe. She took one look at Maggie and smiled sympathetically. In her lap, her little dog lay sleeping comfortably.
“Juniper’s late coming back from lunch,” she said. “I’m filling in.”
“Thanks. How’s the calendar look?” She hoped for an easy morning.
“Joe’s finishing up a dental, but next he needs you to help prep for a neuter,” Francine said. “He’s in a pretty good mood because there was a woman concerned that her duck wasn’t swimming, and he got to give her the news that there was nothing wrong with it because it was a chicken. He did it without cracking a smile too. Until she left, that is. Took him ten minutes to get himself under control, and that was only after I nearly pinched his ear off.”
Maggie could just imagine her scolding Dr. Starr for being inconsiderate to the poor pet owner. The door opened and Juniper glided in, a vision of color in her long tie-dyed skirt and crazy hair. She wore bangles on both wrists, and every step seemed in tune. Far from looking exhausted, the girl oozed confidence and energy.
“Good afternoon,” she said.
“Hi, girlie. I’m out of here,” Francine said, picking up her dog and heading for the front door. “I have a pedicure scheduled, so I’ll see you ladies later. Maggie, you hurry on to the back now.”
“I’m on my way,” Maggie said, wishing just this once she would’ve caved and had a cup—or a pint—of coffee instead of her usual herbal tea.
She went around the desk and tucked her bag into a cubby, then sat down. “Wait a second, before you go back there,” Juniper said when Francine had cleared the door and was headed for her car.
“What’s up?”
“I found him.” She smiled like the cat that ate a canary.
Maggie leaned in, her chest lying over the counter. She whispered. “You found him? Are you sure? Where is he?”
“I don’t know where he’s staying yet, but I worked backwards through the email he sent you and found out he’s been using the Wi-Fi of a little café in Lahaina. It’s on Front Street, across the way from the famous banyan tree and the old courthouse.”
The confirmation that he was so close made Maggie swallow hard with anxiety. “Let’s let the police know where to find him.”
“We need to wait until I can get an address on him,” Juniper said. “If they go to the café looking, he might go into hiding. Then who knows how long it will take to find him again. Maui’s small, but there’s a lot of places where a person can disappear.”
“He’s really good at hiding too,” Maggie said. “Once I finally secured a warrant for his arrest the last time, it took them a month to find him. But this is so frustrating. Maui isn’t very big, so that means he’s close and yet we can’t do anything.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Juniper said. “I was able to get into his computer remotely.”
“What did you do?”
“I fixed the icons on his desktop to jump around every time he tries to click on one. That will cut down on him troubling your internet life.”
“You’re a genius, Juniper.” Maggie felt her mood lifting.
“But back to next steps. He must be staying close to that café unless he’s got money to pay for a ride. I doubt he’s been able to get a car.”
“We know he has access to money or he wouldn’t have been able to get a flight here,” Maggie said.
“Oh, right. I guess he could’ve bought a junker off someone on the island. But would he? That’s just one more way for the authorities to find him once they start hitting the Maui news with his photo. If I was a criminal, I’d lay low with making substantial purchases, even if I had fake identification.”
“You’re right. I guarantee the police will be investigating the small car lots to ask if any foreigners have bought something recently,” Maggie said.
“Yeah, probably. But listen,” she lowered her voice a little more. “If you can get a sitter for tonight, I’ll pick you up at dark, and we will ride to Lahaina for a quick investigation. I might have one tip.”
Maggie hesitated. She didn’t like to leave Charlie after dark. But if he was with Quinn, and she was only gone for an hour or two . . .
The door swung open, and a small woman walked in carrying a cat who looked a little worse for wear. They approached the desk and Maggie stepped aside.
“Can I help you?” Juniper said.
“Yes, I need an appointment for Hazel.”
“Oh, hi, Mrs. Kaufman. What’s going on with Hazel now? Didn’t we just see her last week?”
“Yes, but she’s still peeing all over my condo. I can’t take it anymore. I’ve spent a fortune on carpet cleaners.”
“Did you put the litter box inside the house like we told you?” Juniper asked.
Mrs. Kaufman shook her head and looked guilty.
“Ma’am, listen carefully. Hazel is old now. She doesn’t want to do her business outside anymore. Get her a litter box. Stat. I promise you’ll see a difference. You don’t need to pay Dr. Starr for him to tell you that, but if you want to, I’ll work you in.”
The woman looked unsure of what to do.
Maggie decided to intervene. “Mrs. Kaufman, I’m a vet tech. Would you like me to check Hazel’s vitals to make sure everything is all right? And I can listen to her heart too. Complimentary, of course. Just have a seat, and I’ll get you back as soon as I can.”
The woman beamed, then headed for a chair. On the way over, Maggie heard her shift to baby talk as she held the cat against her chest. “You’ll like that, won’t you, Hazel? They can listen to that old heart of yours to make sure it’s still ticking. I don’t want my girl checking out on me now. Later I’ll give you a bath and trim your claws.”
Maggie shared a knowing smile with Juniper. Some customers just needed attention.
“Yikes,” she said, glancing at the clock. “I’ve got to get back there before Starr comes looking for me. Thank you so much, Juniper, for doing all that investigation. And yes, we’re on for tonight. I’m sure Quinn won’t mind looking after Charlie.”
She went through the swinging doors and scrubbed, then headed to the surgery room.
Inside, Dr. Starr’s back was to her, and she noticed he wasn’t in his normal light-blue scrubs. He wore the pants, but his shirt was white.
He heard her and turned, and she saw the big black bold words across it that said, “Move Your Asana.” The shirt was at least two sizes too small and stretched across his chest.
She stopped in her tracks, her smile disappearing.
“I felt bad for your yoga instructor having to give me so much attention, so I bought a T-shirt. They’re made for women only, I suspect. This was supposed to be a large.”
“I see that. Real funny.”
He held his hands out, his expression earnest. “Not trying to be funny. Just supportive.”
Maggie paused. He really did look earnest. And the shirt—well, it was kind of hilarious, if sh
e admitted the truth. Maybe not so much to the next crazy dog mom he’d have to address. The thought of that exchange was too much.
She laughed.
Dr. Starr raised his eyebrows. “Oh, so she does have happy emotions bottled up behind that tough facade. I’m thrilled.”
Maggie shook her head and forced a serious expression forward. He was growing on her. “Dr. Starr, you’re one of a kind. Come on, we have work to do.”
“Wait, Maggie. I’m sorry for crashing your yoga class. But what it looks like to me is you need more friends. I could use a few, too, to be honest.”
“You’re my boss.”
He shrugged. “So what? This is Maui. Mainland rules and etiquette don’t apply. I’m not going to be slipping you hundred-dollar bills for being friendly, so no worries.”
He had no idea how welcome that sounded. If only she didn’t have so much pride.
“I have friends.” She thought of Quinn. And Juniper, who between her work and studies was rarely around. Liam? Could she count him as a friend without Quinn? If yes, that made three.
Yeah, her friends list was terribly short these days.
“Can’t you handle one more?” he asked.
There it was, that earnest look again. Like a puppy with big eyebrows and a wet nose, just waiting for her to pat him on the head. That made her think of Charlie and how happy he’d looked at the gas station when Dr. Starr was giving him so much attention.
Having one more person in their court wouldn’t hurt anything. He was harmless, after all.
“Sure,” she relented. “We can be friends. Now, can we get to work?”
He grinned, a huge one that spread across his face like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. “Only when one: you call me Joe. And two: you promise to go surfing with me this afternoon. If we get everyone out of here at a decent time.”
Maggie hesitated, then nodded. “Charlie will love that.”
“And you’ll call me Joe?”
“Yes, I’ll call you Joe outside the clinic, but not while I’m on the clock.”
“One more thing, Maggie. I don’t want there to be any awkwardness between us, so I just wanted to say that you don’t have to feel weird about what happened at the gas station. When I was a kid, my mother used to suffer from anxiety, so I know a lot about the subject.”
Surprisingly, Maggie felt relief that he’d brought it up and now she wouldn’t have to. But she didn’t want to extend the conversation. “Thanks, Joe. Now, are we good here?”
“Yep, and before I forget, we need to preserve the testicles of our next patient. His owner wants to put them in a jar and show them to his daughter’s boyfriend as a warning to what happened to the last guy that did her wrong.”
Maggie couldn’t hold it in this time. She laughed big guffaws all the way from her belly, and it felt good. Dr. Starr—or, um, Joe—might just be a salve to her suffering soul. She needed more laughter in her life.
The water was perfect for her first surfing lesson, and Maggie tried hard to totally enjoy it. So far she was putting on a good show, but it wasn’t proving easy for her to stop thinking about who was out there watching her and just relax. It had been an exhausting day, despite the change of atmosphere between her and Dr. Starr, and she wished she could have canceled all promises and just collapsed.
Joe had brought two surfboards and Maggie straddled one, resting from the exertion she’d just put her body through as she practiced standing and dropping back to the board. They’d been out for nearly an hour, and now he lay over the second board, most of his body in the water as he grinned at her.
“I need to get out here more often,” Joe said, his breaths coming fast. “I’m showing my age.”
He really wasn’t, though. At first she’d thought he was in his midthirties or so, but Juniper had let on that he was closer to forty. His body was toned and he was strong. The only thing that remotely gave away his age was the gray that was mixed in with the dark hairs on his chest.
She’d met Dr. Starr at the beach near Quinn’s inn after going home to grab her swimwear. Since that’s where Charlie was, it made it easier for her than retrieving him and going to a different beach altogether.
At least now that it was getting near dinnertime, the Maui sun was less intimidating, and most everyone was somewhere else, leaving the water and beach wide open and nearly private.
Never in a million years when she took the job at the clinic did she imagine herself out in the water with her boss, both of them showing too much skin to even pretend to be professional.
She hoped the streaks of white under her eyes and down her nose didn’t look too ridiculous, but it was true about redheads and the sun. Maggie knew from experience that a day at the beach without protection could result in medical care for her. She burned much quicker than the average human, and it was frustrating.
She scanned the sand in the distance, wishing she’d opted for contacts instead of just glasses. It was blurry, but she found Charlie by the brightness of the new soccer ball, the black-and-white colors a contrast against the sand.
He and Liam kicked it back and forth. Quinn lay in a chair, her arm over her face, either sleeping or thinking. She stood out, too, the turquoise of her swimsuit a spot of color easy to find.
If she wasn’t sleeping, then she was stressing. Her book lay flat on her stomach, untouched. Maggie envied the sun-kissed, mellow color of her skin that her Hawaiian genes afforded her. She looked like a beautiful cover model out there, and the crazy thing was she didn’t even know it.
Something tickled past the toes on her left foot, and Maggie silently pulled her legs up as far as she could. She didn’t want to look like a wimp, even as she imagined a jellyfish or some other unnamed but toxic creature trying to get close.
“Ready to give it a go?” Joe asked. “I see one coming, and you’ll have to paddle hard.”
“Nope, I need a minute.” They waited and the wave came, lifted them both in a gentle, fluid motion and let them back down. It felt like heaven.
“You’re a fast learner,” he said. “I think you can probably take a small wave now.”
That was an overcompliment if she’d ever heard one. She hadn’t yet been able to stand up for more than few seconds, and the scrapes on the insides of her thighs were burning like fire. She had to admit, though, she should be spending more time in the water or at least on the beach, breathing in the fresh air and letting nature soothe her mind. In the warm caress of the sea, she’d nearly forgotten her troubles.
“I’ve never surfed, but I do have a competitive spirit,” Maggie replied. “Growing up with brothers will do that to you. I never wanted them to baby me, so I was always trying to prove myself.”
“I can see that,” Joe said. “Even in the clinic, the more I give you to do, the less likely you are to ask for help. Is everything a challenge to you?”
She nodded. “I guess you could put it that way.”
“Don’t you ever just want to let your guard down?” He bobbed up and down on another wave as he squinted at her. “Or let someone help you?”
“Nope. I let my guard down once, and it brought me nothing but trouble.” She looked for Charlie again.
She saw Liam first. He’d gone to sit by Quinn, and they appeared to be deep in conversation. Then she saw Charlie, kicking his ball down the beach. Woodrow was near, frolicking each time the ball dropped out of Charlie’s reach.
Charlie was too far for her to tell his expression, but she guessed he was lost in his daydreams of becoming a soccer star.
A man coming down the path that led from the hotel caught Maggie’s eye. He didn’t look like a beachgoer. From her perspective, it appeared he was wearing jeans and closed shoes.
He shielded his eyes to look over the water, then scan the beach.
“I wonder who that is,” Maggie said. “He’s looking for someone.”
Joe turned and looked. “I don’t know, but he’s headed in Charlie’s direction.”
&n
bsp; Maggie watched as the man turned toward her son and began a determined stride. Her pulse accelerated, but she tried to tell herself to calm down, that not every stranger was danger. Probably just a tourist with an interest in soccer.
Or little boys. Hers in particular.
That thought spurred her into action. She lay on her belly and headed to shore, paddling as fast as she could. “Charlie,” she called out, but her voice was drowned out by the wind and waves, and he didn’t turn.
She called again, desperate this time.
Even Liam and Quinn didn’t hear her.
“Now that’s what I mean about putting your all into it,” Joe yelled from behind her. “But you’re going the wrong way.”
Damn it! The man was bridging the distance between him and her son. She wanted to scream at Woodrow, command him to be on guard.
“Maggie, wait. What’s wrong?” Joe yelled.
He was right behind her now, probably thinking she was a maniac, but Maggie didn’t care. What if the man snatched Charlie and ran? She was moving so recklessly that the saltwater continued a direct hit to her eyes, burning them with every splash.
Only a few yards from the sand now, she saw Charlie turn as though the man had called out. Then he stood there, staring at him.
Maggie reached, paddling harder, digging deeper.
The man covered the distance between him and Charlie, and to her horror, he picked up her son. Woodrow jumped up on his legs but didn’t appear aggressive. Why wasn’t he intervening?
A new strength she’d never known she had filled her, and she seemed to float over the water, her board barely skimming the waves as she paddled in.
Luckily when she got close enough to get her feet under her, she recognized the stranger who held her son in a bear hug. It was no less shocking, though, as it had to have taken a miracle for Charlie’s dad to conquer his fear of flying in order for him to get there. She felt instant sympathy for his seatmate for the more than five thousand miles.
