Audrey
Dinner turned into some kind of scrumptious pineapple dessert Kaila brought, dessert turned into drinks, and drinks turned into hours of talking with even more drinks. It’s wonderful to be around people again and start making new friends.
One of the hardest things I had to do was cut myself off from my friends back in Chicago when things got rough. At first, the distance between us happened naturally. Renée and Darcy had to carry on with their lives, even if I couldn’t. They were always supportive of me, but as time went on and I isolated myself more and more, I would only respond to texts to let them know I was okay. I worried, more than anything, that they’d become targets, too. And it was for that reason that I never told them where I was going or who I chose to become. I only told them goodbye, and that hopefully one day we would meet again.
I made peace with my decision to leave them behind for their own good, but it still stung, sometimes hurt, to think of them. I’ve been tempted more than once to call them and fly them to this paradise because I’ve missed being with people that I share a history with, the way Jake has a shared history with his friends. Maybe someday.
Jake catches my eye and smiles at me. I haven’t been able to talk to him one-on-one, but he’s had his eye on me all night. He looks so unbelievably handsome, and I keep dreaming up ways to have him stay the night.
I know I shouldn’t jump into a relationship with anybody, but I love being around him. Since he seems like such an easy-going guy, you’d think he’d be okay with a casual hookup, but the more I’ve gotten to know him, the more I’ve discovered he’s an all-in type of guy. I’m not sure what to do with that knowledge, but I don’t want to stop.
“Anyone need a refill?” I ask and get to my feet.
“Another margarita?” Kaila asks with a pleading smile that is impossible to deny.
“Sure, I’ll make another batch,” I tell her.
Aimi stands up from her spot on the floor between Hideo’s legs. “I’ll help you.”
This is an excellent turn of events because I’ve wanted to learn more about what I overheard earlier. “Hey, did I hear Tua right, are you the chief of police?” I ask her while chipping away at the ice.
“Yep,” she says. “Everyone is always surprised. I know I don’t fit the mold.”
“Sorry,” I tell her sheepishly. “You just seem so cool.”
“And I’m not some gruff old white dude,” she says, and that couldn’t be truer. She’s the exact opposite, in fact. But more than being a woman in her thirties with dark brown skin, it’s her gentle eyes and relaxed demeanor that throw me for a loop.
She goes on with a happy face. “But I will take what you said as a compliment.”
“You should.”
I feign concentration on getting the margarita proportions right, but what I’m really measuring is if I should confide in Aimi. Jake said that everyone here looks out for each other, and well, she’s the police chief. I might sleep better if I know she’s keeping an eye on me.
I flip the blender on and take a deep breath. Not yet and not here, with all these people.
“Who wants margs?” Aimi shouts out to the living room.
“You know I do,” Kaila sings.
“Me,” Lin says but doesn’t look up from her phone. She may be a younger carbon copy of Kaila, but she doesn’t share an ounce of her enthusiasm. She also doesn’t have a single gray hair. I wonder if she uses the same bottle black that I do.
“I told you, I only drink margaritas out of actual margarita glasses,” Darren says. God that guy is stupid.
Jake pops up and comes into the kitchen. He places his hand on my lower back and steps closer to me. “Are you having one?” he asks like my answer will shape his own.
“I was planning on it.”
“Then I’ll just stick with beer, so there’s enough for you.”
The boy is considerate, that’s for sure.
“Thanks,” I tell him. “Want a sip of mine, though?”
“If you’re sharing,” he says with one of those devilish smiles he whips out when the mood strikes.
Together, we join the rest of the party and pass out the margaritas. Jake takes a seat on one of the cushy armchairs and reaches out for my hand.
I thread my fingers through his, and he tugs me gently to him and helps me down onto his lap. He pulls my legs across his and puts one arm around my waist and his other hand on my knee.
“Ready?” I ask, offering him a sip.
He lifts up his chin as a yes and I get the hint. I bring the cup to his mouth and help him take a drink, but it doesn’t go so smoothly. Some of it drips down his chin, and he’s got quite a mess around his mouth.
“Thanks, Audrey,” he says and shakes his head.
I giggle and start wiping it away with my fingers. I kiss his lips to get the rest.
He runs his hand up my thigh to the edge of my shorts and kisses me back, a little wet with tequila. My fingers fiddle with the loose collar of his t-shirt, before slipping beneath the fabric and tracing the definition of his collarbone. “Mmm,” he sighs against my mouth, and I feel exactly the same way.
When we unlock lips, I look back across the room to see we’ve got an audience. Kaila looks as smug as ever. I’m guessing because she’s taking the credit for this, whatever this is. Lin looks utterly bored, and everyone else is smiling like a bunch of damn fools.
“Mind your own business,” Jake barks at them and the room fills up with laughter, including my own.
The night carries on and on, and I’m worried that I’m going to have houseguests for the foreseeable future.
“The only way they’ll leave is if you tell them you’re going to bed,” Jake whispers.
“Same goes for you?”
He pauses as his eyes search mine. I feel a little guilty for putting him on the spot. “Same goes for me…if that’s what you want.”
“And if it’s not?”
“I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me. Always, Audrey.”
Sara, I shout in my mind. I wish I could tell him my real name, but I can’t. I swallow and remind myself why I’m doing what I’m doing. Why I gave up my entire life back in Chicago to get away from that monster.
“I’d like you to stay,” I whisper.
His chest heaves ever so slightly and his eyes close for a brief moment. He places his hand on my jaw and rubs his thumb against my cheek. “Then I’ll stay.”
“God damn it,” Aimi says and stands up with her phone in her hand.
“What is it?” Hideo asks.
She looks over at Manny. “I’m sorry, Manny. I just got word that some vandals tagged your food truck.”
“Ah, shit. What does it say?”
“Manalua Manny’s Manhandled Meats,” Darren stupidly interjects.
Manny actually laughs at that, but I roll my eyes.
“That stupid surfing club symbol the kids have been using the past year.”
Jake shifts from beneath me and stands me up on my feet. “What’s wrong?” I whisper to him.
“I will murder him if he had anything to do with this,” he says only for me to hear.
“Who?”
He arches an eyebrow at me.
“Sam?” I whisper.
He nods and takes his trash to the kitchen. I follow him in there.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yeah, I think I should go home and give him the third degree. I’ve noticed he’s been spending time and surfing with a new crew that’s been known to cause trouble. If he messed with Manny’s truck, he’s going to be sorry. I’m sorry, newbie.”
“It’s totally okay, I get it,” I tell him, which is true, but I do feel disappointed.
He stares at me for a few beats before walking my way, lifting my chin, and kissing me hard. I can feel his regret in every ounce of what he’s giving me. He pulls back and gazes down at me. “You have no idea how really sorry I am.”
“Go,” I tell him in a hushed tone. �
�We have plenty of time.”
“Promise?” he throws at me, and it’s a deadly serious question that feels really heavy. Jake’s not dumb. I’m sure he can sense that Manalua might just be a stop along the way for me.
“Yes, I promise, as much as I can.”
He kisses me again, this time with tongue, but it’s brief. He marches through my kitchen and out the back door. No one even wonders where he’s gone, and they leave, too. The stillness of my house is unsettling. I barely sleep at all, and the sound of the ocean doesn’t offer me any comfort.
Lesson 3
"Being spat out of one of those giant, roaring Hawaiian tubes is the most amazing sensation I've ever experienced in my life. It's joy, fear and accomplishment all rolled into one experience."
Shaun Tomson
Audrey
It’s been four days since I last saw Jake. The Hut was closed the whole weekend, and when I saw it open on Monday, I hightailed it over there. To my disappointment, Jake wasn’t around. It was only Tua, and he was talking to some other old surfer. I didn’t interrupt.
I spent my afternoons this week at the beach instead of watching movies at home, hoping to catch him surfing, but that hasn’t worked out, either.
On Wednesday, I notice that the graffiti on Manny’s food truck was painted over. I’d love to know if Jake had anything to do with it, but when I get there, Manny’s is closed.
“Island life,” I say and shake my head. Life over work is the norm here, I’ve noticed. Can’t say I blame them, but I’m dying to know what’s been going on with Jake. There’s one person I’m betting has the scoop, so I head her way.
“Aloha,” Kaila says as when I enter Happy Grounds.
Still not quite ready to reciprocate that greeting, I say my usual, “Hey.”
“How are things?”
“I’m fine, but I was wondering what’s been going on with Jake and Sam. I haven’t seen them this week.”
Kaila’s eyebrows rise up. “Oh, my goodness, you haven’t heard?”
“No, I haven’t seen Jake since Friday night.”
“Have a seat, and I’ll tell you all about it. Flat white?”
“Sure, thanks.”
I knew I could rely on Kaila to get the lowdown. She comes back over with my flat white and a glass of iced tea for herself. There are still a couple of customers working on their laptops in the shop, so when she starts the story, she’s speaking just above a whisper.
“Jake went home Friday night and couldn’t find Sam. Usually Sam’s home around midnight, so Jake freaked out. He started calling him and stuff, but Sam didn’t answer. Eventually, he texted Jake with some bullshit thing like ‘I’m fine’ or something. Jake, being Jake, went driving around town and found Sam with a few other kids down at the docks. The other kids spray painted their stupid symbol on boats.”
“Oh no! I can only imagine how pissed Jake was.”
“Oh yeah.”
“The other kids scattered and Jake took Sam home. He called Aimi the next day and told her what he saw. Aimi asked him to bring Sam in, and so he did.”
“Holy crap, did she arrest him?”
“No. Sam swore he wasn’t the one doing the vandalizing, but he wouldn’t rat out his friends either, which makes sense, you know? She let him off with a big warning and told him that he had to fix Manny’s truck.”
“So, everything should be okay now, right? I mean, relatively speaking.”
“No, it doesn’t quite seem that way. Those boys, they consider themselves a gang. They’ve initiated Sam, and now Jake wants him to get out of it.”
“Oh, Jesus,” I whisper and stress rolls through me.
Kaila’s eyes are filled with concern, which is an unusual look for her. “Yeah, I mean it’s not really like the gangs of Honolulu or anything, but they’re a seedy bunch, and Sam’s a good kid. Jake is beside himself.”
“Why on earth would he join a gang?” I ask, feeling totally confused. Jake seems like such a good guardian, and the stories I’ve heard about Sam are pretty good.
“That’s been the main question a lot of us have had. Turns out his girlfriend broke up with him. He’s devastated, so that’s why.”
My scalp prickles.
“What is it?” Kaila asks.
“Well, I feel for Sam’s heartbreak, I do, but acting out because he’s been rejected by a woman is not an acceptable excuse. She has every right to not be with him.”
Kaila gives me a funny look and I know I’ve said too much. It sounds like I’m not on Sam’s side, but that kind of behavior unnerves me.
“You’re right,” she says and nods. “But kids are kids, though.”
He’s eighteen, I think to myself but don’t say it out loud. It really gets me going that men get a pass when they’re “scorned” by a woman. I had to move 4,196.3 miles away because a man couldn’t handle my rejection of him.
Kaila goes on. “Anyway, I think that Jake is going to set him straight and help him get untangled from that gang. He cares about that kid so much.”
“Yeah, that much is clear.”
“And he’d do just about anything for the people he cares about,” she says and smiles at me.
I look down at my coffee cup and weave my fingers through the handle.
“Are things going well?” Kaila asks.
“The surfing lessons are going great. Thanks for the referral,” I tell her and laugh.
“Oh, you’re a tough one,” Kaila says and gets up to help some new customers. “But I’ll crack that nut at some point.”
On my way home, I see Aimi parked in her police cruiser, looking at her monitor. I’m hopeful that this is the right time to confide in her about my own situation.
“Chief,” I call out to her.
She looks up at me and smiles. “Hey Audrey, how are you?”
“Good. Can I have a few minutes of your time?”
Police Chief Aimi Tanaka is not the same soft and bubbly Aimi that was making margaritas in my kitchen on Friday night. She’s got a tough streak a mile wide while in uniform, and I feel like I’m already under her protection even though I haven’t yet told her why I need it.
Jake
This week can kiss my left nut. I hate it. I hate it so much. When our mom took off with Gus, I thought I’d be stellar at this parenting gig. After all, I’d practically been raising Sam anyway, and he was always a good kid.
But this shit? Weeks before his high school graduation? Are you kidding me? He’s honestly lucky that he’s still standing upright at this point. I’ve never actually wanted to pummel him in any serious way, not even after the spray-painting incident or the “I joined a gang” incident, but that all changed about an hour ago when I got a call from Sam's principal that he was busted for skipping, and he’s going to be suspended from school.
Fucking asshole.
So now I’m sitting outside the principal’s office waiting to talk to him. Sam is sitting across from me and hasn’t been able to meet my eyes.
Fucking right.
Our mom? She’s been MIA throughout this whole week. We don’t talk much, but when I do call, she usually gets back to me in a reasonable amount of time. Not this week. She’s heard the messages and she doesn’t want a single thing to do with it.
The principal finally comes out of his office with another set of parents. They’re older and experienced at this shit, and I envy their asshole kid for having parents that really stick around.
The principal turns to me. “Mr. Palakiko?”
Palakiko is Sam’s last name. “Garrant, actually. Jake Garrant.”
“Jake Garrant? As in Brian’s son?”
I nod sharply because I’m not in the mood for this kind of shit.
“I saw your dad surf at the Rip Curl ProAm. He was amazing.”
“If you don’t mind—” I start.
“Of course, come in.”
The principal shows us into his office, we take a seat, and he starts with a speech I’m sure he’s
given dozens of time about truancy. I stare at his polished nameplate that says, Principal Ken Hale.
“So, as a result, we’re suspending Sam for two days. This will go on his permanent record.”
“Is that really necessary?” I ask, only because it feels like I should.
“That is our standard course of action. Since he’s already been admitted into college, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“All right then,” I say and start to stand up.
“That’s all you’ve got?” Sam barks at me.
“Really?” I tell him. “You want to do this now?”
“I thought you’d fight a little harder for me.”
“What am I supposed to do? You were skipping. You’re getting the punishment you deserve.”
“You know what I’ve been through.”
“Right. The brokenhearted sob story. I’m having none of it.”
The principal speaks up. “Sam, can I have a minute with your guardian.”
Sam wipes away a small tear at the corner of his eye. “Whatever,” he says and heads for the door.
“Meet me at the truck,” I tell him, and bite my tongue from saying more.
Sam does something smart for once and doesn’t slam the door shut behind him. That would be the final straw for me.
“Mr. Garrant, I wanted to talk to you about the boys that Sam has been hanging around lately.”
“I know all about them.”
“Well then, you’re at an important moment with your brother. Sam has a bright future. He’s graduating near the top of his class. I implore you to steer him back onto the right path.”
I process his advice and nod my head. “Parenting might not be my forte, but I’ll try the best I can.”
“We’re here for you. We always have been,” the principal says, and I genuinely appreciate it.
“Thanks,” I tell him and reach across to shake his hand.
Out at the truck, Sam is leaning against my door with his arms crossed over his chest. I want to bitch him out. I want to tell him to start walking because he doesn’t deserve to be driven. I want to be as childish as he’s been lately, just to show him that I can do it better.
Between The Waves Page 6
