For years, they had done everything together. Then Eddie got more serious with his girlfriend, and Declan got sponsored by a surf team. They spent less time together than they used to, but they were still closer than brothers until the day Eddie died.
Keoni heard laughter drifting up from the hill behind Henry’s house. It was a musical laugh, high-pitched and contagious. He smiled, recognizing instinctively that a laugh so beautiful must belong to Lou.
He turned to look in the direction of the laugh and saw Lou and Penny walking up the hill from the beach. Lou was wearing a white bikini that showed all her curves, and her skin had a healthy glow from the sun. Penny was dressed in a long, sheer caftan that covered her from neck to ankle, but still managed to look sexy.
Keoni had never seen two girls as beautiful, or as happy. The carefree lifestyle of Hawaii was already working its magic on Lou. She had her hair down around her shoulders, and was laughing so hard that she had trouble walking.
“Heh,” Bones called to them across the yard, getting their attention. “What’s so funny?” he asked.
Both the girls froze when they saw Bones and Keoni. Penny stopped talking, and Lou’s laughter died off. Her face darkened, and she turned to glare at Penny, who shrugged. Without a word, Lou stomped around to the back of the house. A moment later, Keoni cringed as the door slammed.
Penny came forward and greeted them both. She seemed happy to see them.
“Hi,” she said, smiling.
“Howzit?” Bones asked. “Been down to the beach?”
Penny nodded, and a grin broke out over her face. “Did you know there was a nude beach down there?” she asked.
Bones laughed. “Yeah, that’s why I don’t go down past Diamond Head, eh? We call it Secret Beach.” He ran a hand through his hair, looking uncomfortable. “I don’t like the view,” he said.
“It wasn’t so bad,” Penny said, grinning up at him.
“Yeah? Well, I can show you a lot better beaches, eh?”
“I bet you can.”
Keoni rolled his eyes and asked, “What’s the matter with Lou anyway?”
“Nothing,” Penny said. “She’s just hungry. She gets cranky when she doesn’t eat.”
“Oh,” Keoni said, relieved. “Let’s get lunch, then. I can always eat.”
“Always eating, that one,” Bones said, jerking a thumb at Keoni. “I don’t know where he puts it.”
“Shut up,” Keoni said.
“Come on inside while I change,” Penny said, leading the way into the house.
Keoni had been in a few of these houses that had been put up just after the war when he was a kid. They were all like little boxes. The construction had been done on the cheap, and after fifteen years, they were starting to show their age.
Henry’s house was tiny, but the deck out back made up for its size. Keoni could see out the double glass doors all the way to the rocky cliffs of Black Point.
Penny walked down the hall to the bedroom and closed the door. Keoni heard raised voices and then a moment later Lou came out of the bedroom. She stopped short when she saw him, then walked past him out onto the deck.
She had put a dress on over the white bikini, but her hair was still long and loose, flowing over her shoulders. Keoni watched her through the glass. She had her back to him, and she leaned against the railing, looking out at the view.
Keoni could tell by her stiff shoulders that something was wrong. He went out onto the deck to join her.
Lou heard the door open, turned around, and saw Keoni. She stared at him for a long moment. Her jaw was tense, and her eyes were hard. She looked mad as hell, and Keoni didn’t think for a minute it was because she was hungry. Lou was mad at him; he could feel her anger from across the deck like a slap in the face.
“What did I do?” he asked, coming to stand in front of her.
Lou was barefoot, and she had to raise her chin to look at Keoni.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she said.
Keoni studied Lou with narrowed eyes. “I thought we had plans,” he said.
Her chin raised a little, and her eyes hardened. “No,” she said. “We don’t.”
Keoni ran his tongue over the cut on his lip and shrugged. This was a mistake.
“You’re right,” he said, taking a step back. “I’ll go.”
When he was halfway to the deck, Lou called his name.
“Don’t go,” she said.
He turned around and looked at her.
“I’m not good with games, Lou. Tell me what you want, and I’ll do it. You don’t want me here, no hard feelings. I’ll go.”
Lou crossed the wooden deck until she was standing in front of him. “That’s the problem,” she said. “I don’t want you to go.”
“I didn’t want to come anyway. This isn’t really my thing—playing tour guide, eh?”
Keoni turned to go, but before he could take another step, Lou reached out and grabbed his wrist. She tugged him closer.
“Don’t go,” she insisted.
Their eyes locked. Full sentences were conveyed even though neither one of them spoke a word.
“I’m here now,” he said. “I might as well stay.”
“Unless you have something better to do?” she asked, cracking a smile.
Keoni shook his head. The problem was, he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather do than spend the day with Lou.
The Great Kamehameha
Keoni
* * *
The four of them spent the day together, and the next three after that. Keoni and Bones showed the girls all the landmarks that made Hawaii famous: Le’ahi Crater, the Punchbowl Cemetery, and Hanauma Bay.
Oahu had been created violently, and its rugged landscape reflected its origin.
Keoni drove. Lou sat up front, and Bones and Penny sat in the back seat. Bones pointed out places as they drove, and Keoni told stories. He told the story of Maui trapping the sun, and the tale of the youngest riddler, Kai, who used his clever tricks to avenge his father’s murder.
They stopped often to eat picnics at the beaches, or take photographs. Penny and Bones would wander off together, getting to know each other better, while Keoni stayed with Lou.
She took pictures of everything, and they talked. They told each other their life stories. Their upbringing couldn’t have been more different. Keoni was one of five siblings, and Lou only had John. Keoni had a close relationship with his parents and everyone in his extended family, including Bones, who was his cousin on his mother’s side. Lou and her parents had never been close, but now they saw each other only twice a year—Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Keoni’s family was poor and uneducated. Lou’s father was an engineer at Boeing, and her mother was an elementary school teacher.
“Do you make up those stories?” Lou asked as they sipped cold Cokes outside a gas station on Highway 1.
Penny and Bones had gone in to buy some food, and they were taking forever. It was hot under the sun, and the cold Cokes tasted like fizzy drinks from heaven.
“Nah,” Keoni said.
Lou raised her eyebrow at him. “Did you make up that one about the talking spear?” she asked.
“Nah. That’s a true story.”
Lou laughed and sipped her Coke. Keoni watched her throat as she swallowed. There was a bead of sweat pooling in the hollow of her throat, and Keoni had the sudden desire to lick her there.
Lou looked up and caught him staring.
“I’ve got somebody at home,” she said.
“I figured as much.”
“I should have told you earlier.”
Keoni shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”
“But that’s why I can’t,” she said. “You understand what I’m saying?”
Keoni drank his Coke, looking away. “You mean if you didn’t have this guy, you would go for me?”
“Maybe.”
“What if it isn’t all up to you?” he asked. “Ever think of that? Wh
at if I don’t want to?”
Lou looked up at him, her eyes innocent and wide. “You kissed me,” she said.
His shoulders raised slightly, and he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “I kiss a lot of girls,” he said.
It was what she probably assumed of him, Keoni thought. He might as well let her believe it. It didn’t matter. She was leaving in a few days, and they could forget all about each other.
Bones and Penny came out of the gas station with a supply of food and beer for the rest of the afternoon, and they took off up the Pali Highway.
Lou was quiet while Bones and Penny chatted and laughed in the back seat, and Mick Jagger’s voice rang over the speakers.
Keoni drove up the winding path of the highway, sneaking looks at Lou when the road straightened out. She had her hair tied back from her face with a colorful scarf, but a few strands kept escaping to blow across her face. Keoni wished he hadn’t said anything about kissing a lot of girls. It hadn’t been true. He’d only said it because he was jealous of the man Lou had back at home. He should have known a girl who looked like her would have a steady boyfriend.
“Do you know any stories about this place?” Penny asked Keoni.
“Sure.”
“Tell us one of them,” Penny said.
“And don’t make it up this time,” Lou said.
“I never do,” he insisted.
“Tell the one about Kamehameha,” Bones said. “It’s about me,” he added.
Keoni drove through the first Nu’uanu Tunnel. When they came out the other side, the road pitched higher. He concentrated on navigating the hairpin turns for a moment, and then began to weave his story about the great warrior chief who had lived 200 years ago.
Keoni had an easy way of speaking once he got started. His father had been a great storyteller, and he’d passed both the talent and the stories down to Keoni.
“Even though Kamehameha was not the true heir,” he said, “he was favored by Ku, the god of war, and he was chosen to rule.” Keoni turned onto a gravel drive that led to a parking lot and stopped the car. “But Kamehameha didn’t want to rule. He wanted to live the good life. He wanted to surf and party. He didn’t want to fight.”
Keoni cut the engine, and they climbed out of the car. They were high on a cliff, 1000 feet above sea level. The mountains rose around them, disappearing into a lavender mist of clouds.
“Then what happened?” Lou asked.
“Kamehameha was attacked and forced to fight back. He found out that he was even better at leading an army than he was at partying. He got a taste for battle, and he was no longer satisfied with his small kingdom. He dreamed of uniting all the islands under his rule.”
They walked together to the stone terrace that overlooked the windward side of the island. Keoni waited for Lou to snap a few photos before continuing.
“First Kamehameha conquered Kauai, then he moved on to Maui and Molokai,” he said. “Oahu was the last to fall. Warriors met Kamehameha’s soldiers at the base of Diamond Head and were driven all the way back up the mountains. To this very spot.”
Keoni paused dramatically at the edge of the cliff. A steel railing and a bronze sign commemorating the spot kept tourists from stepping over the edge. In the distance, they could see the ancient windward villages of Kaneohe and Kailua.
“The defenders of Oahu chose death over being captured by the great chief,” Keoni said.
“You mean they jumped?” Lou asked, horrified.
Keoni shrugged. “Some were pushed.”
Lou stiffened and took a step back from the cliff’s edge. “Is this a real story?” she asked Bones.
“It’s real,” Bones said.
“When they developed this road into a highway,” Keoni said, “the construction workers found over 800 skulls—the remains of the men who died in battle.”
“That’s some story,” Lou said.
“Wait,” said Penny. “What does this story have to do with you?”
Bones laughed. “How many greats ago was Kamehameha?” he asked Keoni.
“Three, I think.”
“He was our great-great-great-grandfather,” Bones told Penny.
“So you are the descendants of a murderer?” Penny asked.
“Yeah, I guess we are,” Bones admitted. “Do you want to see the Old Trail?” he asked, offering Penny his hand.
She accepted, and once again, Lou and Keoni were alone together.
“Should I be scared?” Lou asked.
“Why?”
“You have the blood of a murderer running through your veins.”
“We all probably do. I just know about mine.”
Lou burst out laughing. Keoni smiled. He hadn’t really been making a joke, but he liked hearing Lou’s laugh so much that he didn’t point that out.
A gust of wind suddenly tore through the valley, plastering their clothes against their bodies.
Lou held the scarf in her hair in place, laughing harder as the wind tried to rip it away.
“That was the ghosts of the dead soldiers,” Keoni said when the wind died away.
Lou’s face fell, and Keoni smiled.
“That was a joke,” he said.
Lou shook her head, chuckling, then her laugh died away. “I don’t think we should see each other anymore,” she said.
“K’den,” Keoni said.
“It’s for the best.”
“K’den.”
“I mean it.”
“Me, too.”
“You have that rule about tourists…”
“Who told you about that?”
“Kimo.”
Keoni nodded. “It’s a good rule.”
“Right,” Lou agreed. “And I have Paul.”
“Paul?” Keoni asked, hating to say the name.
“Yes. Paul and I have been seeing each other for almost two years.”
“What’s wrong with him, eh?”
Lou’s shoulders straightened. “Nothing.”
“Well, then why didn’t he marry you already?”
“What do you mean? We are getting married soon.”
“I woulda married you already,” Keoni said, shaking his head.
Lou laughed, and then fell silent as she saw that Keoni wasn’t joking.
Bones and Penny came back again, and they got in the car and drove off. Keoni hadn’t really meant to say he would marry Lou, but now that he thought about, it didn’t seem so bad. He’d only known her a few days, but he could already tell that she could be the girl he’d been looking for his whole life. Too bad she was a tourist.
Chili Water
Makaha Beach, Oahu
January 28
* * *
Lou
* * *
Despite saying they weren’t going to see each other anymore, Keoni and Lou couldn’t stop. They spent every day together.
Lou was falling for Keoni, and Penny was falling for Bones. But neither one of them wanted to stop.
Bones invited them to spend the day at Makaha, the beach town on the west side of the island where he’d grown up. They borrowed Henry’s car and made the long drive across the island to get to Makaha.
Henry warned them that Makaha wasn’t the friendliest place on the island. The people of Makaha were mostly natives, and they didn’t like tourists.
“Just be careful what you do in Makaha,” Henry said. “There’s only one way in and one way out.”
“What do you mean?” Lou asked.
“There’s only one road that goes to Makaha, and it’s a dead end.”
Lou thought about Henry’s warning as she drove along the Farrington Highway toward Makaha. The road was etched in between the jagged cliffs of the Wai’anae mountain range and the Pacific Ocean. They passed one small gas station, but the rest of the road was deserted.
When they got to Makaha the first car they saw had a bumper sticker that read Welcome to Makaha—Now Go Home!
“Geez,” Penny said, reading the bumper
sticker. “They really don’t like tourists here, do they?”
Lou looked up to see Bones coming toward their car. “I don’t think anyone is going to mess with us while we’re here,” she said.
Penny jumped out of the car and flung herself into Bones’s waiting arms. He picked her up, and they kissed as if no one was watching. Lou glanced away and got her camera out of her bag. She started down to the beach, and Bones hollered at her to wait.
“Stay with me,” he said.
“Does everybody hate tourists at this beach?” she asked, feeling a shiver of fear as she glanced around.
The beach looked harmless enough. It was quiet except for a few families and some guys with diving gear.
“Pretty much,” Bones said. “But don’t worry. Keoni will stay with you.”
Lou nodded. She hadn’t been sure if Keoni was coming today or not. She knew he had hardly been sleeping in between showing them around the island during the day and working at night. Lou thought maybe he might not come to Makaha. She couldn’t deny that she was excited to see him again.
They walked down to the beach, and Lou spotted Keoni right away. He was standing near a picnic area next to a tall red surfboard. His hands were planted on his hips, and he was studying the waves.
It was a moment before he noticed her, and Lou took advantage of the time to study him. If not for his modern clothing, Keoni could have been a surfer from a long-ago generation. Lou imagined that Keoni’s ancestors had stood in the very same spot hundreds of years ago, looking at the very same waves.
Keoni turned and looked at Lou. A smile broke out over his face, and she couldn’t help smiling back. Keoni’s lip had begun to heal, and his smile was more devastating every day.
“This is where you won the trophies,” she said, coming to stand next to him.
“You looked at my trophies?” he asked.
“They were kind of hard to miss,” she said.
Keoni shook his head, blushing.
“You’re not embarrassed, are you?” Lou asked. “You should be proud.”
Try Easy: A Slow-Burn Vacation Fling Love Story (Aloha Series Book 1) Page 8