by June Kramin
He wandered over to a bookcase and pulled out a photo album. His anger seethed as he flipped through the pictures. “Don’t they make a cute couple,” he said under his breath as he looked at the many pictures of them cheek to cheek, taken with one of them holding the camera. There were a lot of pictures with them and a bi-racial couple; they looked like they were taken in Hawaii. There were a few of the man in the picture in his uniform, holding up an award. Probably the one for saving my life, he thought to himself and sighed. Ben remembered now that he had gotten the man’s name after he had climbed out of the hatch that day. Ben had reached down, offering the man his hand. He had been lying flat on his back on the deck of the boat, catching his breath.
“Holy crap, I can’t believe you held that thing by yourself,” Ben had said. “What are you? Part ox?”
He helped Van to his feet and the two men shook hands. “Petty Officer Kimball at your service and I’m just doin’ my job. Now let’s get the hell off this boat before she sinks.”
Kimball. How didn’t he catch it…but why would his mind go there?
As he flipped through the pages, two pieces of paper fell out.
The first one he opened was a marriage certificate. “Oh, perfect. He wants a divorce and she’s fighting it.” He opened up the next one and uttered yet another, “Oh, shit.” It was a death certificate. Lying on her couch, holding the album to his chest, he wondered what cruel act of fate brought him and Reggie together. He didn’t really view it as cruel; he really liked her. In fact, he was falling in love with her. He couldn’t let her go. What was the big deal? Her husband had saved his life and he’s gone now. Why should that matter?
He fell asleep on the couch clinging to the album, exhausted from not sleeping the night before and straining his brain thinking about where she could have gone.
Chapter 23
REGGIE’S PHONE RANG and Ben jumped to his feet, suddenly awake. He had no idea how long he had been asleep. Looking around the room, desperately hoping to see Reggie, he called out again. She was still nowhere to be found. He ran over and answered the phone. “Reggie?”
“Who’s this?” a female voice asked.
“Uh, her neighbor. Who’s this?”
“Her friend, Sabrina. Is she around?”
“Actually, no.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t exactly know.”
“Pardon? Then what are you doing in her house? Wait a second. Are you Ben?”
“She tell you about me?”
“Um, yeah.”
He could sense a smile in her voice. “How much?”
“We’ve been best friends forever.”
“What’d she say?”
“I’m not at liberty to share. Do you know when she’s coming back?”
“Do you have a minute?”
“I’m all ears, babe.”
Sabrina was silent as he explained what happened. When he was done he asked, “Are you still there?”
She finally answered. “Holy shit. You have to be shitting me! That was you? How in the hell was that you?”
“Look…I don’t know. I don’t have the answers to why things happened the way they did. But they did and here we are. We have to find her. Do you know where she’d go?”
“That’s easy. She’ll come here.”
“Where’s here?”
“Maui No Ka Oi, babe. Maui No Ka Oi.”
“Hawaii?”
After exchanging phone numbers with Sabrina, he rode back to his house. He found the flag up on his mailbox up and a letter inside.
Ben,
I have to go away for a while. Please look after Derf for me. Bring him here if you can, I don’t want him to get lonely.
Thanks,
R
He crumpled up the note with a muffled, “Dammit!” Maybe she was going to Maui after all. He didn’t know what to do while he waited for the call from her friend.
Ben did the only thing he could manage that didn’t require any brain activity: Fishing. He was actually happy to not have caught anything. After he put all the fishing gear away, he called Sabrina. A man answered, surprising him. When Ben explained who he was, Troy introduced himself.
“Sorry, buddy. We haven’t heard a peep from her yet. Bri is worried sick. She’s lying down.”
“Seems I bring disaster everywhere I turn, huh?”
“Van was my best friend for as long as I knew him. Don’t ask me to come to your pity party.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He did what he did and it’s done. It wasn’t just his job, it’s who he was. Uniform or not, he’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
“How’d he die? Was it another rescue?”
“Nope. Yours.”
“Mine? How so? That was five years ago. The death certificate said he died about a year ago.”
“He died in a surgery. We thought the VA docs didn’t know what the hell they were doing, but there is no evidence to show neglect or malpractice. I did a lot of investigating and I hate to say it, but where the medical profession is concerned, shit does just happen. It was one surgery too many or maybe too many pain pills…his system never recovered.”
Ben cursed under his breath.
“It’s a part of the job. He knew what he was doing.”
“He knew he was going to die saving a loser like me?”
“If you charmed that hell cat, you can’t be all that bad.”
“I gather she hasn’t taken to many men.”
“Including you? Two.” Troy paused. “You coming or what?”
“We don’t even know that she’s going there.”
“She’ll be here. I’ll get you a place to stay and I’ll pick you up. The rest is up to you.”
“I really do love her, you know.”
“Heaven help you.” Troy chuckled. “Holler when you have your flight info.”
At seven o’clock the next night, Ben’s flight landed. Troy was there to greet him at baggage claim. “Ben?” he asked as he extended his hand to him.
“Yup. The ‘I’m lost’ look give it away?”
“Nope. It was your dreamy eyes.”
The men laughed. “She here?”
“Got here around six this morning.”
Ben removed his bag from the luggage carousel. “She say anything?”
“She’s not talking much at all. She doesn’t know I’ve come to get you. I know it’s gonna bite me in the ass later.”
“Can I ask you something?” Ben asked as they walked toward the parking lot.
“Fire away.”
“Why are you helping me? Her old man was your best friend.”
“Yes, he was, but he’s gone. All I have left of him is Reggie. The only person I love more on this planet than that girl is my wife.” Troy stopped walking. “Reggie shut down when she lost him. I was afraid we were going to lose her, too. You were the first sign of life we’ve seen in her in ages. I don’t want to see her slip away again.” He opened up his truck door. “Fix it.”
After Troy paid the parking fee and they were on their way, small talk replaced the seriousness of the situation. “This sure is one heck of a home you have here,” Ben said.
“Can’t beat it. The cost of living is a bitch, though. If I hadn’t bought when I did, I’ve never be able to move here now and buy so much as a bare piece of property, let alone beach front.”
“That bad?”
“You’ll see. My humble hollow-tile home was just appraised at a million-two.”
“No shit? How many acres?”
Troy chucked. “Acres? I’d say less than a quarter of one.”
“What?”
“You pay for paradise, my friend.”
After a not so unpleasant silence, Ben asked, “What if I can’t?”
“Can’t what?”
“Snap her out of it.”
“Then I’ll have to kill you and hide your body with the others.”
“I’m serious.”
&n
bsp; Troy lowered his sunglasses. “So am I.” When he faced the road again, he grinned. “You’ll get her to come around.”
“I don’t know.” Ben ran his fingers through his hair. “Hell of a coincidence, don’tcha think?”
“What? That she fell in love with the man who ultimately lead to her husband’s death?”
“That’s a nice way of putting it.”
“It is what it is.” Troy shrugged noncommittally. “If it wasn’t you, it would have been somebody else.”
“But it wasn’t somebody else. It was me and I love her. I love the wife of the guy who saved my life and died because of it. How can she return the love of the man that killed the love of her life?”
“Look, Ben. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the guy, but he had this ‘hero’ thing about him.”
“Hero thing?”
“He was like the firefighter that you knew would die rushing in a burning building to get that one last person as everyone else screamed, ‘No, don’t go!’” He let out a loud breath. “If I felt otherwise…would I be here with you right now?”
“Thanks,” Ben said as their eyes met.
“You can thank me by taking that fireball back with you. Sabrina is four months pregnant and going to be a bear about not being able to go out drinking with Reg.”
“She knows you’re getting me, right?”
“Yeah. She’s on your side, too. I couldn’t lie to her if I wanted to.” He made a left turn at a sign that read ‘Maalaea.’ “This is us.”
“How do you learn to pronounce the names of the towns?”
“It’ll come to you. Just don’t say anything you’re not sure of and FYI, Mahalo means ‘Thank you’ not ‘trash.’”
“Huh?”
“They have it on all the trash cans. I’ve stopped more fights between the locals and the squids with that.”
“Squids?”
“Navy boys. They’re in Lahaina often when there’s a ship in town. Not a place you want to be unless you’re lookin’ for a fight.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
~*~
Sabrina greeted them in the driveway when they pulled up. If Troy didn’t tell him she was pregnant, he never would have known. “Aloha,” she said as she gave him a tight hug and placed an orchid lei around his neck.
He said thanks and gave it a sniff. “There’s no smell.”
“Pikake is my favorite, but I didn’t want to overwhelm you.” She looped her arm around his. “Come inside. She’s at the beach watching the sunset. I said I’d be along in a minute. We can wait for her though.”
“I’d like to go to her now.”
“I kind of thought you would.” She walked him through the house and pointed to a room where he could put his bag.
“I’m staying here?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. No worries. If she flips out, tough. She has her own room.”
After Ben put his bag on the bed, Sabrina walked him to the sliding glass door and opened it up. She pointed down toward the boat harbor. “She’s probably sitting out on the break.”
“Thanks.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek then ran toward the harbor.
Troy joined his wife at the door. “Think he can pull it off?”
“I hope so. If I have to cry with her one more time, this kid will be getting a Long Island iced tea very soon.”
“Gorgeous spot you have here.”
Reggie’s head whipped around at the sound of Ben’s voice. She returned her gaze to the spot where the sun had set only moments ago. Shades of purple, red, and orange painted the sky in its aftermath.
“Why’d you come here, Ben?”
“I think that’s pretty obvious.” He sat next to her.
“Who’s watching Derf?”
“My sister is making sure he gets plenty of attention.” He reached for her hand. “Damn, you make me fight for this. I love you, Reggie.”
“I can’t see you anymore.”
“Like hell you can’t. I can’t let you just throw away what we have.”
“Yes, you can.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “You don’t know anything about this. You have to listen to me and leave. Please. Just leave.”
“I don’t know what? That I’m the reason your husband is dead?” Her head turned again to face him. He removed her sunglasses and stared into her eyes. “I know everything, Reggie.”
“Since when?”
“Not until yesterday, in case you’re thinking this craziness was some kind of hidden agenda on my behalf. I went to your place looking for you. I recognized him from the picture above the fireplace. A guy doesn’t forget the face of someone that does something like that for him, you know. At least I understand why you never let me come in. Must have been something good if, after what we had, you can’t even put his pictures away.”
“Then you understand why I can’t be with you.”
“No, I don’t. This doesn’t have anything to do with us.”
“It has everything to do with us.” Reggie stood. “If he wasn’t gone, there would be no us. If there was no you, there would still be a him!” She bit her lip and looked away from him.
Slowly he came to his feet and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I can’t change what is done. I especially can’t change how I feel about you. I don’t know why fate has things so twisted up for us, but you can’t fight it, Reg. It’s too much coincidence to ignore. We must be meant to be together. You can’t mourn him forever.”
She broke free of his hold with another tear rolling down her check. She defiantly brushed it away. “Watch me.” Reggie turned her back to him and headed toward the house.
~*~
“I figured you’d find your way here,” Troy said as he sat next to Ben at the bar off the harbor, Buzz’s Warf. “Didn’t go well?”
“The understatement of the year.”
“Well, you should be me right now.” Troy sighed.
“How so?”
“She flipped when she found your bag in the spare room.”
Ben spun in his chair. “She take off?”
“No. Bri wouldn’t let her, but I think I’ll wait a while before I go back.”
~*~
The two men stumbled in shortly after midnight. Troy said good night and tiptoed down the hall to his bedroom. He was glad everyone was asleep.
“You have a new best friend now, Troy?” Reggie asked with her arms crossed. He could finally see her standing in front of her bedroom with the door wide open.
“No, Reg, but he really is a great guy.”
“Some friend you are.”
“Look, this has to stop. I miss Van, too, Reg, but he’s gone. I’ve moved on and so should you.”
She stepped closer to him and stood on her tippy toes, wanting to be more face to face. “Don’t you dare tell me what to do!”
“I’m not telling you what to do, but I am saying you need to move on. Ben’s a nice guy and he loves you. Van’s dead, Reg, and he ain’t comin’ back.”
She slapped his face.
Troy didn’t flinch from the blow. “Hit me again.”
“What?” she hissed. Reggie had been glaring at him, fire in her eyes. Her fists were clenched at her sides as the anger caused her to quake.
“Hit me again. If that’s what it takes to make you feel better, then by all means, hit me again.”
Reggie’s features softened. She fell into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so sorry.” She cried softly into his chest as he rocked her.
“Let’s get you to bed.” He danced in small steps into her room while still holding her tight. By the time they reached the bed, he had her softly giggling.
She climbed in bed and he pulled the sheet up to her chin. “You want me to close the window?”
“No, the breeze feels good.”
“Good night then, princess.” He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead; she grasped his hand as he tried to leave.
“I’m re
ally sorry I hit you, Troy.”
“I could take you.” He sat down on the bed and brushed a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.
“I love you, you know.”
“Yes, I know. It’s my burden.”
“You really like him?”
“I do, Reg. Drives me crazy though.”
“How so?”
“Don’t take this wrong or go freaky on me again, but he has a few of Van’s quirks and it kind of trips me out.”
“The hair thing?”
Troy laughed. “That’s one of them.” He reached for her hand. “Reg?”
“Hmmm?”
“You know Van would have never wanted to live out his years in a wheelchair.”
“I know.”
“It’s not Ben’s fault that he’s the one that lived.”
“I know.”
“Knowing the outcome, Van would do it again in a heartbeat.”
“Even if it meant leaving me?” Tears filled her eyes.
“You know he worshiped the quicksand you walked on, but yes, princess, I’m sorry. He was a hero first and a husband second.” Troy leaned down and held her tight. “Let him go, Reg.”
~*~
Despite all the beer the previous night, Ben was up early. The sight of the ocean was far too inviting. He walked across the street to go for a swim. When he came back, Troy was in the kitchen making coffee. “How was the water?” he asked when Ben walked in.
“Felt great but your damn beach is loaded with these,” he said as he held up a Kiawe branch. “Pulled it outta my foot. I’ll be wearing sneakers next time.”
