Almost Paradise

by Chris Keniston

  Nick pressed his lips tightly together before nodding. “Okay. We’ll do it your way.”

  Damn straight. It may have been his idea to build the damn pool, but that didn’t mean he had to get in it. Using the pool would only make staying away from the ocean even harder. He most definitely was not getting in. No way. No how. Period. Lifting the messages from yesterday again and staring at the two phone numbers, Billy contemplated which person to call first until Kara waltzed into the room.

  She kissed Nick lightly on the lips then sat in the leather seat beside Billy. “Ready when you are.”

  “First, there’s been a new development. We

  heard from Brooklyn. Our Mr. Deluca died eight days ago.”

  Kara raised a brow at Billy and puckered her lower lip in a silent question.

  “Plane crash,” Billy explained. “His wife is in ICU.”

  “Oh my. Do we have a prognosis on her?”

  “Optimistic. By now she’s been moved to critical care.”

  She gave a curt nod. “Then we start with the lawyer.”

  Nick rolled his chair closer, and Billy punched in the numbers and hit the Speaker button. No one said a word as the line echoed ring after ring. Finally a female answered. “Good afternoon, Washington and Roberts.”

  “This is Bill Everrett returning Mr. Roberts’s call from yesterday.”

  “Yes, Mr. Everrett. Unfortunately, Mr. Roberts is tied up in court this afternoon, but it’s imperative he speak with you. Is there another number you can be reached at?”

  Billy glanced at Kara and she nodded. He gave the woman his cell number while reading a note Kara shoved in front of him. “Can you tell me what exactly this in reference to?”

  “The only thing I can tell you is what Mr. Roberts said yesterday. This is in regard to the Delucas.”

  Still reading from the note. “Does this have to do with his estate?”

  Her extended silence told everyone in the room that the lady hadn’t expected the question. Finally, in the same business tone, she responded, “I’m not at liberty to say.”

  “I see.”

  Kara raised her hands and shook her head. Nothing more to be done. For now.

  “Tell Mr. Roberts I’ll be waiting to hear from him.” Billy disconnected the call, taking a moment to absorb everything he’d learned in these past few hours.

  “Now what?” Nick asked.

  “Well.” Kara pushed her seat back so she could see both men. “We’re probably making a mountain out of a molehill. If he’s been a loyal customer for years, we could be looking at a simple bequeathal. Maybe he wants you to have a new boat.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with our boats,” Billy and Nick echoed, even though they’d just discussed upgrading the Island Girl to a boat the size of the Kona Queen.

  Kara laughed. “No. But maybe he wants you to have more. I don’t know. I’m guessing. But I don’t think it’s the hornet’s nest we feared yesterday.”

  “Agreed.” Billy bobbed his head and pushed to his feet. “It’s getting late. I’m out of here.”

  “What about the PI?” Nick asked.

  “Don’t really care.” Billy grabbed his keys and his shades. “As long as they’re not suing us.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I don’t know how people can live anywhere else.” Angela rolled the car window down and lifted her nose to the fresh air. “Every day is so beautiful. Not too hot, not too cold, not too humid. Sunny days, tropical breezes, and blue waters. Makes me feel sorry for people who have to work indoors all day.”

  “There’s a reason Hawaii is known as paradise.” Billy turned off the main thoroughfare onto a narrow road.

  “Don’t I know it. My mother was less than happy when I moved to Los Angeles. She all but had a cow when I decided to move to Hawaii.”

  “Didn’t I meet her once?”

  Angela nodded. “She and my aunt came to visit. Dad doesn’t like airplanes. It’s why I have gone home for Christmas every year. Dad hates flying more than I dislike snow.”

  “How can you not like snow?”

  “Says the man who lives in paradise. Snow is wonderful to look at from the inside of a lodge with a hot chocolate in one hand and s’mores in the other. Not so much fun when all you can see is white for nine months of the year. You go a little stir crazy.”

  “Is that what happened to you?”

  “And half the youth of Wyoming. We’re outnumbered by antelope.”

  “Yellowstone and the Dakotas are on my bucket list.” Billy slowed at the now-unpaved road. “Is this going to be too much for you?”

  “No, I’m fine. I’d be more worried about your shocks.” She shifted in her seat and reached for the grab bar. “I’m thinking automobile manufacturers didn’t have the South Point Road in mind when they decided to call these things sport utility vehicles. The people who live around here must drive tanks.”

  A smile on his face, Billy kept his eyes forward. “I don’t think SUV designers thought anyone would call this a road.”

  “Do you really want to go to Yellowstone?”

  “Doesn’t everybody? Who doesn’t want to meet Yogi Bear and Boo Boo?”

  “Cartoons? You want to go to Yellowstone because of a cartoon?”

  “Well, technically, it’s Jellystone Park in the cartoon, but yeah. Are you saying there’s no place television has inspired you to want to go?”

  “Salzburg.”

  “Austria?”

  “The Sound of Music was my favorite movie as a little girl. It was something my mother and I shared growing up. I liked Gigi too, which is probably why I would like to have lunch in Paris.”

  “Both excellent choices. They’ve got some fabulous donuts you can buy from a street vendor in Salzburg. My friend and I thought they were pretzels. We went through a series of charades figuring out cost and

  were surprised as heck to discover the pretzels were donuts.”

  “Maybe someday I can show you Yellowstone.”

  “I’d like that.” Avoiding the craters in what was loosely called the end of the road, Billy pulled the car into a space beside a row of cars. “We’re here. The southernmost point in the United States.”

  “I’m really glad you didn’t think I was silly for wanting to come. It’s one of those things you keep telling yourself you’re going to do and then never follow through with.”

  “I’m sure it’s the same for people all over the world.” Billy ran around the hood of the car and opened her door. “New Yorkers probably don’t go to the Statue of Liberty or the top of the Empire State Building unless they have company from out of town any more than Parisians go up the Eiffel Tower or pose for photos at the Arc de Triomphe on their lunch hours.”

  Carefully watching her step, Angela followed Billy to the edge of the cliff. The view to either side was magnificent. A steep drop, the cliffside was like no place she’d ever seen. Her eyes scanned from left to right. Amazing.

  Holding her camera to take a photo of Billy at the edge, she caught a flash of yellow and red fly off the cliff behind him. Her heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach. “Oh my God. I think that man just fell off the cliff.”

  Billy turned to look over his shoulder and laughed.

  A woman leaned over the rim watching, searching, and holding a—towel?—the photograph forgotten. Angela stood between Billy and the woman only to be taken aback when the man in yellow and red swim trunks climbed up from a ladder onto the ledge and took the towel from the lady.

  “I should have mentioned this is a popular spot for cliff jumping.”

  “On purpose?”

  Laughter rumbled louder. “Yes, on purpose.” “But it’s like a thousand-foot drop.”

  “Actually, it’s only forty feet.”

  “Only forty feet? That’s the same as jumping off a five-story building.” “More like four.”

  “Still. You don’t think that’s a little dangerous?”

  He looked at her as though she
’d announced the Pope was Lutheran. And then she remembered. Billy had blown up bombs for a living. To him a forty-foot jump into the ocean was no more dangerous than wading in a backyard pool. Thoughts of him jumping from airplanes and helicopters and big naval ships to diffuse explosives meant to kill and destroy had her stomach lurching up to her throat and back down to her knees.

  “Are you all right?” Billy rested a hand on her arm. “You don’t look very good. It’s really no big deal. These guys grew up jumping off cliffs all over the island. They know what they’re doing.”

  “No.” She patted his hand and caught the look of concern on his face. It didn’t matter if her stomach was riding a roller coaster of nerves. Her heart did a quick somersault before settling back into place, still rattling her ribcage with a frantic beat. “I’m feeling fine. Just startled.”

  “Maybe we should call it a day and get back to your house.”

  “Oh, no.” She waved a finger at him. “You promised me the best Hawaiian sweetbread sandwich on the island.”

  A relieved grin took over his face. “Okay. Next stop, lunch.” His fingers slid away from her arm and snatched her hand before she could move very far.

  Warmth spread from her fingertips to her toes. A few feet away, she paused to look down the blowhole, and to her relief, instead of letting go, he squeezed her hand a little tighter. She felt like a kid on her first date, thrilled to be holding hands with a boy. He was lucky she didn’t skip the rest of the way to the car.

  By the time they pulled into the bakery, they were battling tourists for parking spots, free samples, and a place to sit and eat in peace.

  “I’ve got a blanket in the back of my car.” Billy handed her the sack lunch while he picked up the two drinks. “The beach is just down the road. Any objections to making this a picnic?”

  “None.” Once again she felt like taking hold of his hand and skipping to the car. Some days she was such a dork.

  “Let me take that.” Having set the drinks on the roof, he opened the car door.

  Angela handed over the bag. “Does your mother know what a gentleman she raised?”

  “She’d box my ears if she thought otherwise.”

  Gathering her skirt about her legs, she leaned away as Billy closed the door behind her, then watched him grab the drinks, come around the car, and climb in. Neither said a word on the drive to the beach, though they did laugh when his stomach started making gurgling noises.

  The black beach was nothing like the soft, sandy beaches of Southern California. Every step was like treading through quicksand. And unlike the mainland beaches, the closer to the shoreline, the more challenging the hike.

  She watched Billy walking ahead of her, keeping to the top rim of the beach, away from the sinking sand. Recently, whenever she’d thought he wasn’t looking, she’d take in how he moved. Except when he was so tired or stressed that he walked with a bit of limp, nothing hinted of the missing limb. Even now, he walked sure and steady, the artificial joint flexing at the ankle with the same ease as her own.

  “Is this okay?” He’d stopped at a little cutout of shade under a thatch of trees.

  Turning to her right, she scanned the nearly empty beach and the horizon. “Perfect.” When she swiveled back around to face him, she noticed his gaze had frozen on the open ocean before them. “You miss it don’t you?”

  “The navy? No. “He shook his head, still looking off to the distance.

  “But the water, yes?”

  Slowly, as though tearing his eyes away from the call of the rushing waves caused him physical pain, he turned to look at her. “I miss a lot of things. We don’t always get what we want from life.”

  And didn’t she know that. “What did you want from life?”

  He shook the blanket and set it down on the sandy bed. “That depends on how old I was. At seventeen I wanted to get away from the confines of this island and see the world.”

  “So you joined the navy?”

  “Yep. I was lucky. I found something I liked to do and was good at, too. At twenty my goal was to make a difference.”

  “So that’s why you picked the most dangerous job in the business?”

  “I wouldn’t go that far. But I chose it because I’m good at math. I’m good underwater, I’m not afraid of jumping out of airplanes or helos.”

  “You grew up jumping off the island cliffs, too, didn’t you?” She took a bite of her sandwich and almost moaned as the flavors melted in her mouth.

  His lips lifted in a cool, measured smile. “I did.”

  “Then why did you mention learning to jump out of helicopters was a challenge for a surfer dude?”

  “That first jump was a killer. But once I figured out it was no different than cliff jumping, the rest was a breeze.”

  “So you were good at your job. You served your country. You made a difference. Now what? What did you want after the navy?”

  “I never thought that far ahead. After a while I assumed I’d do my twenty years, retire with a pension, come home and help Dad with the family business.”

  “And where did a family of your own fit into that plan?”

  He shrugged. “I thought when it happens, it happens. Though like SEALs, men doing my job don’t always make the best of husbands. We’re not home often. We have really long deployments and usually not a commuter distance. And they don’t let wives on the ships.”

  “I could see where that might pose a bit of a problem.”

  “Just a bit.” He smiled. “Anyhow, when this happened, Dad wasn’t happy to see me come home wounded, but he was happy to have me home.”

  “And were you happy?” She took another bite.

  “To be home? Some days. Back then I was furious at the world. It takes time to accept life goes on even after you’ve lost a leg. To stop being angry at everyone. Stop being fire-breathing mad every time you forget you don’t have a leg and fall out of bed at night. For the nightmares to fade.”

  “You have nightmares?”

  She guessed by the surprise in his eyes he hadn’t meant to say that. He blinked, studied her, and finally shook his head. “Not so much anymore. I know some guys who don’t sleep. Ever. The things they saw, did, haunt them. When they come home, their children don’t know them, their wives leave them, and only those who have been there can ever understand.”

  The remaining sandwich in her hand went untouched. Her thoughts circled around Billy’s words and wondered what still haunted him.

  * * *

  Somewhere between the edge of the world and the bakery, Billy had decided the day was too perfect to share with anyone else. So he’d turned his phone off and tossed it into the glove compartment. Life would not cease to exist if he didn’t answer the phone for one afternoon. Even the high-powered lawyer and Brooklyn could wait another day.

  “Enough about me. What are you thinking, Angel?”

  “I like it when you call me that.” Angela’s mouth tipped, offering the hint of a smile. “It fits.”

  “Well, that part I’m not so sure of. But it’s nice nonetheless.”

  “Tell me what’s on your mind.”

  “I’m thinking about a lot of things. Mostly, how this is one of the nicest days I’ve had in a very long time.” She continued to fidget with the edges of the sandwich wrap.

  There had to be more to what was going through her mind than what a lovely day. If she swaddled that sandwich any tighter it would cry for its mama. “And…” he prompted.

  The edges of her mouth lifted into a full-blown grin. “Same old, same old. I want to just enjoy the day, but my mind keeps drifting off to the would’ve, could’ve, should’ves in my life.”

  His gut tightened and his fists closed. Would have, should have, could have. He didn’t want to go there either.

  She stuffed the lunch leftovers in the paper bag. “It’s no secret I would have preferred to have done things differently. Find a nice guy, marry, have kids, cry when they go off to school, and grow old boun
cing grandbabies on my lap, but it’s time to move on and quit whining about what I can’t have and get moving on with what I can.”

  “You sound sure.”

  Glancing across the ocean, she bobbed her head and turned to settle her gaze on his. “I am. I really am. I think I can do a darn good job of parenting even if I don’t have the help and support of a man.”

  “No more searching for Mister Right?”

  “No Mr. Right. No Mr. Daddy. All I need is a donor and I can do this on my own. I want to bring a life into this world. I want to do my part.”

  Do her part. And what about him? He didn’t get to have happily ever afters, but maybe just this? Could this be the logic of his crazy dream? Would the ghosts really set him free with a life for a life?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Pulling her purse out of the storage compartment in the back of the SUV, Angela waited for Billy to stow the blanket before circling the car. She hadn’t lied when he asked what she was thinking. But she hadn’t dared go into detail. Today was the most fun she’d had in a very long time. But the way she felt, she couldn’t help but think that she should have noticed Billy over Nick long ago, and if she would have spent her efforts getting his attention instead of his partner’s, maybe by now she could have had the whole deal. With Billy.

  Then she remembered he didn’t feel that way about her. He was just a nice guy doing a nice thing by getting her out of the house for the day. And that was okay, too. She was going to be just fine.

  They’d barely turned out of the parking lot onto the main road to Hilo when her phone rang. “Hello.”

  “Where the heck have you been?” Lexie asked. “Having lunch. Why?”

  “Because you’re supposed to be grounded, so if you can’t go out and you’re not with any of the girls, my mind instantly goes to you slipped on a bar of soap and cracked your head open in the shower.”

  “That’s the first place your mind goes?”

  “Right after you fell down the stairs and broke your neck. Yes.”