by Kay Bratt
The song reached a crescendo, and a lump formed in Quinn’s throat.
This time she reached out. Her hand found Maria’s, and they clasped fingers, bonding as only two lonely women could do as, together, they listened to Liam’s love song.
Chapter Eight
Quinn woke to a racket. A door slammed. Then a loud clatter. Door slam again. A minute or two later, another clatter.
Groggy from lack of sleep, she looked at the clock on the nightstand.
Six fifteen. Only a few days in Maui, and she was already easing into the laid-back lifestyle, reluctant to get up until she felt completely rested.
She groaned, then rolled out of bed and went to the window, peeking out from the side to remain hidden.
Liam was there, and just as she looked, he dropped another shutter onto a pile he’d built near the main house lanai. He hesitated, then turned to the window, his gaze curious.
Quinn jerked back, feeling exposed. How had he known she was there?
She backed away and went back to the bed, climbed in, and pulled the sheet up to her chin. She wasn’t ready to face the morning.
Couldn’t a girl ever sleep in?
Quinn was angry at herself, because after the beach scene broke up and they all cleaned up, she’d walked the trail back to the cottage alone. She felt restless inside, wanting something but not quite sure what it was.
When she’d finally gone to bed about midnight or so, it had only gotten worse, leaving her staring at the ceiling for hours until she finally fell asleep.
Then she’d dreamed of trying to find her way out of the world’s largest cornfield maze. The frustration of not knowing which way to turn or how to find the exit made her feel as though she hadn’t slept a wink.
But it was time to get moving. She had two goals to accomplish: discover her roots and get her house completed. That was it.
Oh, and find Jaime. If she could find a way to put Maria’s fractured family back together again, it would bring her a sense of satisfaction and help ease the guilt of displacing them.
She had a lot to do.
Her phone lay on the nightstand, and she reached over and pressed the “Home” key. A few email notifications came up, but nothing from Ethan. He was punishing her, hoping she’d call and beg him to join her and fix her life.
Determined to get moving now, she tried again. Roll forward, feet on the floor, then a beeline for the shower. Ten minutes of scalding hot water and she started to feel human again.
She stepped out and rolled her hair in a towel before wrapping another around her body. Quickly, she applied her makeup, finishing it off with a soft pink lipstick. Her casual color, she liked to think of it.
When she leaned forward to see the end result, she wasn’t impressed. The makeup didn’t do a lot to cover the damage of a sleepless night. She should’ve brought her eye cream. In the anxiety storm leading to her trip, she’d forgotten a lot of necessities.
Well, it couldn’t be helped. Moving on, she dried her hair, then twisted it up and secured it with a pearl-encrusted comb. She dressed in crisp white linen pants and a billowy sky-blue blouse. Only then did she allow herself to go to the small kitchen and make her first cup of coffee and grab a bagel from her tiny fridge. She toasted it, coated it with cream cheese, and took it and the coffee out to the lanai. Then she came back in for her laptop.
Returning to the lanai, she set the computer down and opened it, fingers crossed that overnight something magic had happened. She signed on, then took a bite and a drink as she waited for it to load up.
Around her, the birds chirped and a breeze brought her the scent of the lovely pink plumeria flowers that graced a tree just behind her. She loved the cozy porch. It was quickly becoming her favorite morning spot.
When her Lineage page popped up, she almost dropped her coffee. There were nine results in the “New Ancestor” section. Her heart thumped, and she reminded herself to stay calm, that it didn’t necessarily mean anything. She needed matches from the same geographical area where she was looking—in her case, Maui. The thing about online genealogy searches was that it was like a team sport. It needed participants to strengthen and increase results. What if no one closely related to Quinn had ever dreamed of finding out more about their DNA? That could lead to a lot of dead ends.
She’d also read that some of the matches would turn out to be genealogists with extensive family trees, and not necessarily anyone close enough to have the information she sought.
Still, she quickly sent off a few inquiries through the Lineage database, asking those indicated as new ancestors if they knew or were related to any Sennas from Maui. When she finished, she leaned back, her hands shaking.
Liam chose that moment to burst out of the main house, some sort of power tool in his hands. He waved, and much to her chagrin, he crossed the area between them, arriving on her porch before she could get up and make a quick retreat.
Quinn closed her laptop.
“Do you wake up looking like that?” he asked, leaning over the railing and examining her from head to toe.
“What is that supposed to mean?” She kept her tone neutral. He wasn’t going to goad her into bickering back and forth.
He shrugged, and his muscles rippled, distracting her from her train of thought.
“I just mean it’s early. You look nice and all that, but are you going somewhere fancy already this morning? Don’t you ever just let your hair down and leave your face clean?”
Now she was getting mad.
“My face is clean,” she said, sending the words through gritted teeth.
“I just meant without makeup. I’ll bet you look really good all natural, your skin free and your hair loose.”
He was wrong about that, but he’d never see it.
“Well, anyway”—he stood and looked at the pile of shutters—“I thought you might want to help get those shutters ready while I work on pulling the cabinet doors off.”
She didn’t respond right away because, truthfully, the thought of doing the shutters herself really appealed to her, but not if he was going to be supervising her.
“Or . . . ,” he said, stretching the word out, “I could just wait until Pali gets out of school and pay him to do all of them. But that’ll add to the overall project costs, and I thought I’d save you a buck or two.”
She thought of her goals and knew that Liam was probably going to be her best bet to get started in her search for Maria’s husband. That meant that at some point, they were going to have to talk anyway.
“Fine,” she said. “I can scrub and sand, if you show me how. But I don’t know how to use power tools.”
He smiled. “Anything will help my to-do list. But remember, we’ll need to clean them good before we can even start to sand. Maria can show you where to get the bucket and a scrub brush.”
“We? I thought you were going to work on the cabinet doors?”
“I am, but I’ll need to come by every now and then and make sure you aren’t taking any shortcuts,” he said, winking at her. “Are you at least going to change clothes?” he asked, his eyes trailing down the legs of her white pants.
“Of course I am,” she snapped. “But can I drink my coffee in peace first?”
He laughed. “Sassy. Good. I can handle sassy, as long as that means you’ll have a lot of energy to get the job done.”
Quinn stood, arched her back, and put her arms in the air to stretch. The shutters were clean, but it had taken just about as much elbow grease as she could muster. Maria had come out and offered to help, but when she mentioned that she was in the process of applying for jobs online, Quinn sent her back in. She needed a job more than Quinn needed help with the shutters.
Her body hurt, but it was a good kind of hurt. She felt useful.
Liam did make frequent stops to see how she was doing, but he was already coming out there to set up the cabinet doors. He planned to do some of the work there before taking them all to his shop to refinish them
. When he began scrubbing them down not ten feet from Quinn, they worked quietly, separate but together.
Now she was done, but he still had a lot of windows to go. She should offer to help.
“Hey, you want to help me hit those last two?” He looked up and pointed at the end of the line. Apparently, everyone in Hawaii could read minds.
“Of course,” she said. She was actually enjoying herself.
Before they could start, Maria called out that lunch was ready. They ate sandwiches with a delicious macaroni salad that Maria said was a local favorite. Kupuna joined them, and Quinn felt self-conscious, now unable to stop thinking about his sight. She wondered if his other senses were ultrasensitive. Could he hear her chewing? Breathing? And how did he get around the house so well?
“Kupuna, are you done?” Maria asked, then cleared his plate from the table.
“Mahalo,” he thanked her, then stood. “I’m going to take a nap.”
He went around the table and out the door, taking the hallway rather swiftly. It simply amazed Quinn. She had never seen the man use a cane, or even his hands, to feel for furniture or obstacles. However, she did notice that he avoided coming out to the lanai once he knew they’d stacked shutters and cupboard doors there.
“We’ve still got a lot of washing to do on those windows,” Liam said. “Want to hit the beach for a quick swim first?”
Quinn wouldn’t be swimming, but she did see an opportunity to talk to him about Jaime, so she nodded.
“I’ll change and meet you out back,” he said.
Quinn took her dish to the sink, but Maria shooed her away. “You’ve worked hard. Go enjoy yourself for a while.”
Maria looked a bit depressed, and Quinn wondered if the job search had discouraged her, but she didn’t want to open up a long conversation, so she let it lie and slipped out the back door. At the cottage, she checked her phone, hoping Ethan had called. But there were no missed calls, texts, or even a random email.
She heard the kitchen door slam and jumped up. Liam was ready, and she wasn’t. Because it would look suspicious if she didn’t dress the part, Quinn quickly changed into her black one-piece suit and tied a sarong around her waist, ensuring her hips were covered. With no time to spare, she slathered sunscreen on her face, neck, and arms, then tucked her feet into her sandals, grabbed a wide-brimmed hat and a towel, and stepped outside.
Liam led the way down the path to the beach. When they reached the sand, he dropped his towel and ran for the surf.
Quinn almost laughed. He was like a kid when it came to the ocean. It seemed to energize him and worked like the fountain of youth. Instantly, the serious contractor was gone, and in his place was an energetic, surf-loving young man.
She lay her towel down and sat, crossing her arms over her knees as she watched Liam dive under an oncoming wave, then burst up and out of the water once it passed.
It made her really nervous, and she could feel her muscles clenching.
He turned and waved, yelling at her to come in.
When she shook her head, he came striding out, water falling from him like a spray of bullets. A young mother and her two toddlers walked by, then entered the water a few feet from where Liam had emerged. The kids were fearless, their comfort around the water obvious in every move.
“What are you doing?” he asked, confused. He picked up his towel and wiped his face. “I thought we were going for a swim.”
“I’m okay here, but I’d like to talk to you, if you’ll give me a minute.” She used her hand to shade her eyes as she looked up at him.
“Is it important?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes. Very.”
“Then you’ll need to meet me in my office,” he said, then turned and went back to the water.
He was such a frustrating excuse for a man, Quinn thought as she watched him go. Who could have a serious conversation in the ocean? With sharks and all kinds of other strange, indistinguishable fish fluttering around her in the darkness?
When he showed no signs of returning, she gave in. She’d go to the edge of the water, but she was not going past her ankles. She stood and slipped her shoes and then her sarong off, taking her time to build her courage.
She turned toward the ocean.
Please don’t eat me alive.
She approached the shoreline. A small ripple reached out and tickled at her toes. When she looked at Liam, he was wearing a wide, satisfied smile that she would’ve liked to wipe off his face.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” he said, coming in closer and holding out a hand. “The sea is your friend. It doesn’t want to hurt you. It wants to comfort you.”
She waved his hand off. The surf came rushing in this time and slid over her ankles in a threatening tease before backing off again. “I’m not going all the way in. This is enough. Come closer so we can talk.”
“Just a few more steps,” he said, his voice cajoling. “At least to your knees. You can’t really feel the rhythm of the water unless it’s up to your knees.”
That was nonsense, but Quinn didn’t want to argue. She took another step, letting her feet disappear. Something touched her foot, and Quinn jumped, then felt silly. She could feel her pulse rushing through her, but she realized it wasn’t logical to feel so alarmed by the water. She was born in Hawaii! The love of water should be running in her veins, just like it did in his.
It was frustrating, this knowing that she couldn’t beat the fear, no matter how irrational she knew it was.
When she looked at him again, the ingratiating smile was gone.
He held his hand out again. “You can do it, Quinn,” he said, his tone soft, comforting.
I am a strong woman, she told herself. Then she took a deep breath and another step. She cautiously took Liam’s hand, and he led her out a few more feet until the water was at her knees. Her hands shook, and he clasped her fingers tighter.
Quinn tried to pinpoint the emotions racing through her.
It felt terrifying.
And amazing.
She looked into his eyes, and a giggle bubbled up in her throat. When it emerged, he joined her, his laughter mingling with hers. He wasn’t making fun of her either. He was celebrating the milestone that he somehow instinctively knew she’d crossed.
She took another step with him leading her, the water waist high now. She marveled at the fact that she was in her thirties and had never been that deep in the ocean before. Her fear of the sea was a mystery to her. Her mother always told her that some people are born with different phobias, and that if she absolutely didn’t feel that she could overcome it, then not to worry about it. The water could always be avoided.
But Quinn had worried anyway. She wanted to be strong. Independent. Phobias didn’t fit into that description.
“It’s nice, eh?” he said.
She nodded. Her breaths were coming fast and ragged, as though she’d just run a mile. The current was stronger than she’d imagined, and she struggled to keep her footing. Another tickle against her ankle caught her attention, and she looked down, seeing a hand-size yellow-and-black fish inches from her.
“I can see a fish,” she said, surprised that the water wasn’t as dark as her imagination had predicted.
“It’s a yellow tang,” Liam said. He was staring down too.
She almost screamed, but it wouldn’t do to make those around her think there was a shark or something, when it was probably as harmless as an oversize goldfish.
Another wave came crashing toward them, and Quinn felt the sand shift beneath her feet. The waist-high water was quickly chest high, then chin high. She could no longer touch bottom, and she let go of his hands and began to tread water, trying to turn herself toward the beach.
“It’s okay, Quinn,” he called, his voice getting lost in the wind. He reached for her, but the force of the current pushed her farther away. “Just let the wave carry you.”
I will not panic.
Another wave came—this time
a big one—and then Quinn was completely underwater and flailing. The wave toppled her until she didn’t know which way was up. She screamed, her lungs filling with the salty water that was strangling her.
Her eyes were wide open, and the salt stung. As she thrashed, trying to steady herself, a shadow came sliding in from her peripheral view.
It wasn’t Liam.
It was the biggest sea turtle that Quinn had ever seen. It was actually the only sea turtle she’d ever seen in real life, and at first she was terrified. But she realized she wasn’t thrashing anymore. The turtle had maneuvered itself just so until it was eye to eye with her, less than a foot away.
Its gaze had calmed her instantly, even as she knew she was nearly out of air.
As she looked into the turtle’s eyes, she was taken aback at the intelligence within. She realized the feeling that came over her was a sense of familiarity that was absolutely impossible. Somehow, she knew this creature, and it knew her.
Keeping its eyes locked on hers, it began to move upward, as though showing her the right direction.
Quinn felt the burn again, breaking the magic of the moment and reminding her that she was still lost underwater, her lungs straining under the pressure. Using her arms and feet, she kicked up, and her head broke the surface. She coughed, sputtering water and mucus everywhere. Her eyes burned from the salt, but she still couldn’t rub them. She treaded water as fast as she could.
When she could catch a breath, she turned, looking for the turtle, then for Liam. She wasn’t a swimmer, but she knew enough to kick her feet and keep her hands going. It was enough to keep her from going under again.
The turtle was gone, and Quinn felt a sense of loss, but Liam saw her and began a mad stroke to cross the distance to her.
He reached her in seconds, grabbing her and holding her up higher out of the water, then pushing her toward the shore. “It’s a riptide. Swim that way!” He pointed in a parallel line to the shore.