“Sounds made up to me,” Lou said, kissing him back.
Keoni laughed and ran his hand up Lou’s leg, causing goosebumps to break out along her skin. His hand dipped under the hem of her dress and went still when he realized she wasn’t wearing the bottoms of her bikini. His eyes flew to hers, and she shrugged.
“I couldn’t find them,” she confessed in a husky voice.
Keoni crushed his mouth to hers, and Lou never did hear the rest of the story about Diamond Head Crater.
By the time they made it to Henry’s house, it was afternoon. Lou only had a few hours before her flight left. She needed to change, finish packing, and tell Keoni goodbye. As soon as they walked into the house, Lou could tell something was wrong. It was eerily quiet, and no lights were on.
Keoni had expected Bones and Henry to be back from the dive, and when they weren’t, he was visibly nervous. He went into the kitchen to use the phone.
“I’m going to call the marina,” he told Lou as he dialed.
Lou nodded and went to the bedroom to find Penny. She switched on the light and saw Penny’s suitcase on the bed, closed and ready.
“She’s outside on the deck,” Keoni called from the living room.
“Anything from the marina?”
“The boat is back. They’re probably on the way now.”
Lou spotted Penny on the deck. She was sitting on a chair with her knees pulled up to her chest, staring out at the backyard.
“Penny?” Lou asked, stepping out on the porch. “What’s the matter?”
Lou knelt down by the chair and brushed Penny’s hair out of her eyes. Her face was streaked with tears and her hair hung in limp strands around her face. Lou assumed Penny was just as sad about saying goodbye to Bones as she was about saying goodbye to Keoni.
“Samuel dumped me,” she said.
Lou gasped. “What?”
“He said he didn’t mean it. He didn’t really want to marry me. He was just having a good time.” Penny sniffed back tears as Keoni came out onto the deck behind Lou. “You’re all the same, aren’t you?” she asked, leveling Keoni with a pointed stare.
Keoni’s face turned red, and he glared back. “No.”
“It’s gonna be okay,” Lou told Penny. “You’ll get back to Seattle and forget all about that big oaf.”
“He’s not an oaf,” Penny wailed, finally succumbing to her tears. “Don’t say that.”
“I’m sorry,” Lou said, bewildered.
She wasn’t sure what to say. She looked up at Keoni for help and saw that he was staring at her with narrowed eyes. His dark eyebrows were drawn together over his eyes, and his mouth was set in a frown. He turned and went back inside the house without another word.
Lou tried to console Penny for a few more minutes, but there wasn’t anything she could do or say to make her friend feel better. Lou sighed. It was going to be a long flight to Seattle, but first, she had to say goodbye to Keoni. It was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever done.
Lou took a deep breath and went inside to find Keoni. She found him sitting on a stool in the kitchen. He had helped himself to a beer and was tipping it back when she walked up beside him. She laid her hand on his shoulder. He set the can of beer down and pulled away.
“Is that what you’re going to do, Lou?” he asked, his voice sounding hollow.
“What are you talking about?”
“Are you going to go back to Seattle and forget all about me?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer before he plowed on. “This is why I don’t date tourists,” he said, making the word sound like a curse. “They all leave at some point.”
Lou realized he was trying to make a joke, but it was terribly unfunny.
“You knew I was leaving today. Nothing has changed. Except now Bones has broken Penny’s heart.”
Keoni looked away, but not before Lou saw the flash of guilt cross his face.
“You knew, didn’t you?” she demanded.
Keoni shrugged and took another sip of the beer. “It’s Bones,” he said. “He was never going to marry her.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s none of my business. Or yours either,” he said. “Penny wanted to have a good time. Bones showed her one.”
Lou’s palm itched to slap Keoni across the face, but she held back. “Is that what you were doing with me?” she asked. Her voice came out shakier than she’d planned, giving away her emotions.
Keoni slammed the beer down and stood up from the stool. “How can you even ask me that question?” he demanded. “I told you about Eddie. I showed you my house,” he said. His voice dipped dangerously low as he said, “I broke my rule.”
Lou looked up at him, torn between wanting to comfort him, and wanting to defend herself.
Just then the front door flew open, and Henry burst into the house. He stormed down the hall and stopped when he saw Keoni and Lou standing in the kitchen.
“Bones is missing!” he said.
One More Night
Keoni
* * *
The blood drained from Keoni’s face, and the fear that had been momentarily forgotten while he’d been arguing with Lou came back in full force.
“What do you mean ‘missing’?” he asked.
Henry began pacing back and forth along the hall. His hair was in disarray from raking his hands through it, and his eyes were wild.
“He’s gone,” Henry said, meeting Keoni’s stare.
Keoni grabbed Henry by the collar of his shirt and yanked him onto his toes so that they were nearly at eye level.
“What happened?” he growled.
Henry clutched Keoni’s wrists. “Turn me loose,” he said.
Keoni shook Henry, making his teeth clatter together. “Tell me what happened.”
“Let him go,” Lou told Keoni, stepping between him and Henry. “You’re choking him.”
Penny came into the room and stared at them. “What’s going on?” she asked.
Keoni released Henry, and they all turned to look at Penny.
“Bones is gone,” Keoni told her.
Penny’s mouth dropped open, and her face went white. “Do you mean…” Penny swallowed, and tears sprang to her eyes. “Do you mean he’s dead?”
Henry hung his head and didn’t respond. Penny lunged herself at Henry and started hitting him in the chest with balled-up fists. Her sobs filled the room. Henry let her hit him for a few moments and then finally grabbed her hands and pulled her into a tight hug.
Keoni met Lou’s eyes over Henry’s shoulder, and they stared at each other. Lou’s eyes filled with tears. She shook her head as if she could deny the truth, but Keoni knew she was thinking the same thing as him. This was all his fault. If he had been on time, if he had gone on the dive, if he’d have been there…
There were too many ifs and they all added up to the same thing. Bones was gone, and it was all because of Keoni. It was as if Eddie’s death was happening all over again. Keoni sucked in a deep breath, feeling like he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. He sank down to the stool at the bar and held his head in his hands.
He refused to believe Bones was dead. Maybe there was still a shred of hope that he was alive, just missing.
“What happened?” Keoni demanded. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
Lou took Penny by the arm and led her to the sofa, where they sat holding each other while Henry began the story.
“When you didn’t show up,” Henry started, and then stopped abruptly when he saw Keoni’s face harden.
“Go on,” Keoni said through clenched teeth.
“When you didn’t show up, we waited for a few minutes. Then Bones got impatient. He was convinced you weren’t going to show.” Henry’s eyes darted to Lou and then back to Keoni. “Anyway, we set out for Shark’s Ridge. The weather was clear, if a little windy. It was a perfect morning for a dive.” Henry paused and swallowed hard before continuing. “Bones said he was going deep, at least 250 feet
. With a single tank of air and such a deep dive, he could only stay on the bottom for about ten minutes. I waited, counting down the minutes.”
“Why didn’t you go after him?” Penny shouted, jumping up from the sofa.
“You don’t understand,” Henry shouted back. “It would have been suicide for me to go down after him, like jumping off a ten-story building. I don’t know what I’m doing diving that deep. I was only there to drive the boat.”
Keoni saw a flash of red in front of his eyes, and he leaned against the counter, trying to get a hold of himself.
“Did you look for him at least?” Penny asked.
“Of course I looked for him. I searched for an hour. Then I called the Coast Guard. They’ve got boats out there now, looking for him.”
“They’ll find him,” Lou said.
Keoni’s head snapped up, and he said, “You don’t know that.”
“We need to stay positive,” she said. “There’s no good in worrying over something that we don’t know is true yet. It’s better to stay hopeful, don’t you see?”
Keoni didn’t see it the same way. He didn’t want to get his hopes up only to be devastated by bad news. It was better to prepare himself.
“The ocean is cruel and as uncaring as the gods,” Keoni said. “It takes what it wants.” Keoni’s throat was thick with emotion, and he had trouble putting a string of thoughts together. “It takes…” he started, but couldn’t continue when the image of Eddie’s lifeless body floating on the waves of Sunset Beach flashed through his mind.
Keoni hung his head in his hands and dragged in a painful breath.
The ocean had robbed him more than once. How much more would it take? How much more could one man be expected to give?
Keoni felt Lou’s hand on his back. She put her arm around his shoulder and rested her cheek against the top of his head. Her touch was firm and warm, and Keoni knew he should resist it. He knew he shouldn’t rely on her, but she was so strong. She offered him comfort, and he took it. Pulling her into his arms, he held her close. Pressing his face into her soft breasts, he heard the steady beat of her heart.
“Don’t give up,” she said, hugging him tightly. “Promise you won’t give up yet.”
Keoni nodded into Lou’s chest. He inhaled deeply, smelling Miriam’s coconut soap on her skin. He forced himself to calm down. Lou was right. They should stay hopeful as long as they could.
“I promise.”
Lou squeezed him tighter, giving him her strength. Keoni held on, wrapping his arms around her slim waist and pulling her closer. What was he going to do without this woman? He felt a wave of despair wash over him. He couldn’t bear to say goodbye to her. Not now. Not with Bones missing.
“We should get to the Keaukalanis’,” Henry said. “I told the Coast Guard to call there first.”
Keoni released Lou and stood up from the stool. His mind was whirring with what they should do next. Then he realized there was nothing they could do except wait. It was going to be hours of torture. He straightened his shoulders and raised his chin, preparing himself.
“K’den,” he said.
He took another deep breath and nodded, determined not to show how miserable he felt as he met Lou’s eyes. He would stay positive, and Lou would help him. Bones’s parents would need his strength.
Keoni reached for Lou’s hand and laced his fingers through hers. Thank god she was here. He couldn’t do this without her. “Thank you,” he said.
Lou smiled sadly, tears swimming in her eyes. “Of course,” she said.
“Let’s go,” Keoni said, releasing her to grab his keys off the counter. He was nearly to the door when he realized Lou wasn’t with him. He turned around to look at her, and when he saw the stricken look on her face, he knew. “You’re not coming,” he said.
Lou shook her head.
Keoni strode back across the room and stopped in front of Lou. He was aware that Penny and Henry were staring at him, but he didn’t care. He humbled himself in front of all of them. “I need you,” he said. “You can’t leave now.”
Tears slid down her cheeks. She bit her lip and shook her head again. “I have to go, Keoni. My flight leaves in a few hours.”
“Forget the flight. Get another one. Stay with me, please,” he begged, not caring if he looked like a fool.
Lou’s eyes darted to Henry and Penny, who were openly staring, then back to Keoni. “Let’s go outside for a minute, okay?”
“No,” Keoni said, stiffening. He couldn’t believe she would do this to him. She knew how Eddie’s death had almost killed him. “I don’t want to go outside. I want you to come with me. Give me one more night.”
Lou tilted her head back to look up at him. Her face had gone so pale that the freckles stood out on the bridge of her nose.
“I have to go home,” she said. “We have to say goodbye.”
Keoni gritted his teeth. She may as well have slapped him across the face. “I guess you got what you wanted, didn’t you?” he demanded. “A vacation fling?”
“Keoni, don’t be like this. I would stay if I could, but I have to get home. I have a job, and a family.”
“And a man.” Keoni spat the words out. “Don’t forget about him.”
“I haven’t,” Lou said in a dangerously quiet voice.
“I’m not asking for forever,” Keoni said, trying one last time. “Only for tonight.”
Lou shook her head. “I can’t give that to you.”
“That’s it, then? This is goodbye?”
She nodded. Tears streamed down her face, but she didn’t move to wipe them away. Keoni hated to see her cry even more than he hated the thought of this being goodbye. He grabbed Lou around the waist and pulled her against his chest so hard that he felt a pain sear through his sore ribs. He crushed his mouth to hers, thrusting his tongue between her teeth. She gasped in surprise, but her lips parted as she kissed him back hungrily.
Keoni abruptly ended the kiss, leaving them both gasping for air. He took a step back, and glared down at her, taking in the delicate features of her face one more time. Her blue eyes were wide, the lashes fringed with unshed tears. Her mouth was parted, and pink from the crush of his brutal kiss. The dimple that winked in her cheek when she smiled was nowhere to be found.
“Goodbye,” he said.
Not waiting for Henry, Keoni stormed out of the house. He yanked open the door to his car, got in, and sped off toward the Keaukalanis’ house, where he would wait helplessly to find out if he had killed another one of his best friends.
Wet Roses
Lou
* * *
Lou and Penny barely spoke on the flight home to Seattle. Penny stared ahead at the seat in front of her. She was no longer crying, but she looked like she had just survived a war. Her hair hung limply around her face, and her eyes were red and swollen.
Lou had never seen Penny look so devastated before. Penny was always well-dressed and effortlessly stylish. She had a natural grace from her dance background that Lou had always admired and secretly envied. Now she looked like a crumpled version of her former self.
Reaching over the seat, Lou linked her fingers with Penny’s. She couldn’t offer much comfort other than her touch. Lou was equally as miserable as her friend. She couldn’t get Keoni’s face when she’d told him she wasn’t coming out of her mind. He’d looked so lost, so hopeless and guilty.
She had changed her mind the moment he’d walked out the door. She’d gone after him, but it had been too late. He had already peeled out of the driveway. Lou watched his VW Bug disappear down the road, stirring up a cloud of dust in its wake.
She had gone back inside and shoved her clothes into the suitcase without folding them. Henry had taken them to the airport on his way to the Keaukalanis’, promising to call them with any news on Bones.
“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Penny said, her voice cracking.
They were the first words either of them had uttered in more than two hours. Lou s
queezed Penny’s fingers and said, “Stay strong.”
“I can’t believe it,” Penny repeated, staring at the seat back in front of her with glazed eyes.
Lou turned away and stared out the window at the dark sky for the duration of the flight.
When the plane touched down, they disembarked like dead men walking. The weather was terrible. It was rainy, cold, and windy. A thick fog obscured the view of Mt. Rainier in the distance. Lou couldn’t help comparing it to the warm, fragrant air that had greeted them in Hawaii.
They trudged through the airport and collected their luggage, bundling up in their coats and jackets before they went outside to catch a taxi.
“Do you think Henry called yet?” Penny asked, her eyes brightening with hope.
“Maybe,” Lou said.
Penny and Lou both knew that if Bones didn’t turn up by tonight, the chances of him surviving were slim.
Lou pulled her hood over her head as they walked out of the airport into the cold night. The Seattle–Tacoma Airport wasn’t nearly as busy as the Honolulu terminal. Only a few cars were idling at the curb. A few people stood in the rain waiting for their rides. Lou spotted a familiar Ford Fairlane at the curb.
Lou’s mouth dropped open as the driver door swung open and a man in a black overcoat and hat climbed out.
“Paul,” Lou said in a hushed voice.
Penny followed Lou’s eyes to the curb where Paul stood, searching the faces of the passengers.
“What’s he doing here?”
“I don’t know. I guess he wanted to surprise me.” Lou grabbed Penny’s arm as she was about to wave in Paul’s direction. “Give me a minute will you?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Nothing,” Lou hissed. “Just tell him I’ve gone to the bathroom.”
Lou left her bag on the sidewalk and went back inside the warm airport. She threw off her hood, splattering rain all around her, and strode straight to the restroom.
Try Easy: A Slow-Burn Vacation Fling Love Story (Aloha Series Book 1) Page 15