Sophia noticed Micah Robinson sitting in the bar. She bid us farewell for the night, unceremoniously dropping a chain necklace in Micah’s lap on her way out. He stared at it for a full minute. A range of rage and frustration washed across his face before he shrugged and let it pass over him. Micah attached the chain around his neck without further thought.
“If you’re interested in baseball, then I’d be happy to help you out,” he said, continuing his conversation with Kimo.
Kimo was practically bursting with excitement. “I’d love that,” he said, waving his hand sporadically.
Micah carefully moved his beer away from Kimo as they debated the best base to play.
Glancing across the bar, I saw Landon slowly coming in. Maya noticed him at the same time. She tapped my shoulder. “I’ve got to go pick something up. I’ll be back soon.”
Landon swung his legs onto a stool. I stood behind the bar, cleaning a hurricane glass.
“What’ll you have?” I asked.
Landon’s blue eyes were slightly guarded, but his mouth opened into an easy smile. “Surprise me.”
I grabbed a clean hurricane glass.
“I ran into Sophia Barber on my way here,” he said. “You did it. You actually found who was responsible for the corpse we stumbled upon.”
Okay, maybe news traveled a little faster than I had thought.
“I couldn’t have done it without your help,” I said. I meant it. His support and insights had made the process easier.
Landon waved his hand. “Of course you could have. You didn’t need me.”
But I did. And not just for solving the mystery. I had to tell him my feelings. If I didn’t, I’d be stuck in a cycle of what-ifs and missed connections.
Alana, you can do this.
I took a deep breath. “We’re opposites,” I blurted out.
Landon shoved his hands in his pockets. “What do you mean?”
“You mess up small talk. I freeze at deep conversations about my feelings,” I said. “You’ve got your life under control. I don’t. I’m not great a money management and you worked hard to pay your way through college. I take risks and you play it safe.”
I handed him a freshly made Blue Hawaii. “I normally keep guys at a distance. Guys I like, anyway. I’m afraid that if they get to know me, then they’ll realize that it’s not just my life that’s a mess. It’s me, too.”
“You’re not a mess,” Landon said softly.
“I feel like one,” I said. “I’ve made some questionable choices and I’ve made a bunch of mistakes. I hate messes. They’re dirty and take forever to clean. But, I realized that if everything was clean all the time, then I wouldn’t have an appreciation for cleanliness. I would take it for granted. I wouldn’t understand what it meant.”
I was rambling now, but Landon was still looking patiently at me, waiting for me to finish my thoughts.
“I don’t want to miss out on getting to know you just because I’m afraid of a little uncertainty. I like you, Landon. I don’t want you to move back to Las Vegas. I want you to stay here. Hawaii’s the greatest place on Earth, but if you weren’t here, it would be missing a piece of my heart.”
Landon slowly stepped toward me. His nose was inches away from mine. His blue eyes gazed into mine with a warm intensity. “I already accepted the job here. I couldn’t move back home. My heart is where yours is.”
His head dipped closer to mine and my lips found his in a brush of passion.
For a few glorious minutes, it was only me and him. Everything else faded into the background. Then Maya returned and I snapped back into reality, grinning.
Real life was amazing with a guy like Landon and a friend like Maya.
Maya had a pair of black neoprene diving gloves with her. “I don’t know how good these will be. Vinyl or latex gloves would probably work better, but these were at a nearby shop and I thought they’d serve you well.”
“What?” I asked.
Maya fiddled with her emerald pendant necklace, trying to come up with the right words. This wasn’t about the gloves. Not really.
“Your parents would have loved seeing you step out of your comfort zone and solve a murder,” I said while Maya collected her thoughts.
She smiled sadly. “They would have. They’d probably hang the picture of Madison’s mugshot on the refrigerator for years so they could talk about it with their friends.”
Maya blinked stray tears away from her eyes and let go of her necklace. She pressed the gloves into my hands.
“What’s this for?” I asked.
“For when things get messy. You’ve got a knack for solving crime and crime’s messy,” said Maya. “You put clues together that I never noticed. I wanted you to know that I appreciate that. You look at my life and think I’ve got it together and you’re the one floundering. But you always seem to find a way to make things better, no matter the circumstances.
“You found a way to follow your dream, even if it required you to deal with a loan shark. You helped me out when my parents died. I wouldn’t be where I am today without you in my life. Thanks.”
Maya cleared her throat, uncomfortable with saying all those nice things about me. She normally kept them inside, choosing to show her love with being there for somebody—no matter how many reservations she might have.
Helping me solve the murder was proof of that. Maya and I often disagreed. We rarely came to the same conclusion at the same time. But we had each other’s backs.
And for that, I was grateful.
I wrapped her in a big hug, much to her chagrin. “You’re the best.”
As Maya settled onto a stool next to Landon, I made another Blue Hawaii. The view of the ocean from the bar was breathtaking as the pink sky met the deep blue water. I even spotted the faint outline of a crescent moon.
It was too nice of a night, as Landon had once said.
The night that Landon had said that was too nice. Suspiciously nice. Nice enough to find a dead body.
But tonight?
There was nothing ominous tonight. With Bentley Barber’s killer caught, nothing could ruin this evening.
The emerging stars shone with illustrious beauty. I had no sand in my hair. My debt would be paid off soon.
Tonight was perfect.
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Murder and a Blue Hawaii (A Blue Hawaii Mystery Book 1) Page 16