No one had inquired about the dog and it looked like Olaf, a name from her daughter’s favorite movie would be hers.
Waiting for Tia to call, Lena worked at her desk. She’d recently started an at-home business, Beach Girl Jewelry, and as she processed payments and orders for the shops on the Big Island, Kauai, and Maui, Lena felt good to be generating her own income. Confirming a client order for two hundred bracelets, her biggest order so far, she realized if she could keep up with these orders and continue to expand, she might not need to take Billy’s money for alimony. Down the road, her business plan included hiring people to make her designs, leaving her free to be more creative and do all the marketing.
Lena’s phone buzzed to life and seeing her friend Pepper’s number, she brightened.
“Hello, you!”
“Are you crying in your soup yet, wondering why you let Billy have the kids?”
“Pretty much.” Pepper always made Lena smile. They’d been friends growing up in Los Angeles, having lived down the street from each other. Although Pepper was a year older, they’d reconnected when Lena moved to Kona with Billy. Pepper was a singer on Maui and when she had a gig on the Big Island, Lena always made time for either lunch, dinner or to catch Pepper’s act.
“I have a great idea I think you’re going to love,” Pepper said.
“Should I key Tammy’s car?” Lena asked.
Pepper had heard all about Billy’s girlfriend and although the thought of keying wasn’t a new one, she knew Lena was not the type of person to destroy someone’s property. “Better. Spend Christmas with me on Maui.” Pepper didn’t give Lena time to say no. “I’m house sitting Jake’s gorgeous beachfront place and even though I just walked in the door, I feel like someone should share this good luck with me. Please say you’ll spend Christmas with me in shameful opulence.”
Jake was an old boyfriend of Pepper’s. Older, because Pepper seemed to go for older men, and old as in they hadn’t been an item for two years. Jake was filthy rich, having made his money in software, kept a house in Kapalua for when he came to Maui, and still considered Pepper a good friend.
“He’s not coming to Hawaii for Christmas?” Lena didn’t want to crash the rekindling of a romance if Jake planned to show up.
“He always spends the holidays in Aspen with his parents. Consequently, I have this six thousand square foot monstrosity to myself. I just arrived, unpacked, and realized it’s way too big for just me. I need a friend and I’m guessing you might need a distraction.” Pepper laughed. “Listen to this. The house has five bedrooms, a beautiful pool overlooking the beach, chef’s kitchen. You could wake up to the sound of the waves. And spend days making jewelry while staring at the beach. Or, make jewelry on the beach.” Pepper knew Lena’s weak spots.
“I’m not sure I should leave town. What if the girls need me?”
“Kona is only a short flight from Maui. Come on, Lena. I’ll be lonely for Christmas if you don’t come. We can swim in the pool, cook, sing Christmas Carols, anything you want to do. I’ll help you make jewelry.”
Lena would never try to sing alongside Pepper, Maui’s recent entertainer of the year. But the invitation was tempting. Why couldn’t she spend the week with Pepper in shameful opulence? “Let me call you back.” Then, she remembered the puppy. “Oh, I can’t. I have a dog. I rescued a little terrier to give the girls for Christmas. I’m going to pick him up today.”
Pepper wouldn’t take no for an answer and insisted Jake wouldn’t give a flying fuck if Lena brought a dog.
Pepper didn’t mince words and Lena loved that one of them could use the “f” word these days. She promised to call back within the hour and hung up. She might not paint the kitchen this week, but had next week for that. She could work on her large order on Maui if she took her tools and supplies. The shop that requested the bracelets was on Maui, and she could make and deliver everything in the next week. Lena’s mind was racing with the possibilities. As a mother, she was not usually one to just pick up and take off and the idea of being spontaneous felt naughty. Naughty and good.
When the ticket was booked, Lena called Pepper to give her the good news. “I’m going to do it. I’ll be in at three.”
“That’s the Christmas spirit.” Pepper sounded thrilled. “We’ll go to Lahaina on the way home and get a tree!”
Lena’s heart was thumping against her chest in happiness. “I’m packing now.”
Chapter 2
KALANI
Kalani Shipton raced down the road towards his house with one thing in mind. Get home as fast as possible. He’d just received a call from his neighbor that Kilauea’s recent lava flow was aggressively headed towards their little pocket of houses above the town of Pahoa. Usually, the molten lava was slow enough to give people time to rent a moving truck, find a storage space, and get out of the house in plenty of time, but his neighbor, said it was travelling double fast today and it had changed direction to threaten their street. The National Park Service wanted residents to evacuate within the hour, which was barely enough time for Kalani to drive the only route around the southern shore of the Big Island to his small, two-bedroom home to get his most valuable items out of the house.
He’d raced out of the real estate office from a conference table while waiting for his business partner, Jake. Their realtor was showing Kalani the stats on coffee fields up for sale. For months, Kalani had wanted to buy Kona-side fields, expand the business, and was all in on the new purchase, but they needed Jake’s approval. When the call came in about the lava’s direction change, Kalani had to race back to Pahoa. The real estate meeting would wait until he knew his house was safe.
Luckily, he never went anywhere without his dog, Latte, and the eighty-pound mutt was now in the passenger seat of the jeep, excited by the urgency of driving quickly, snapping at the wind out the window.
“You like this, Girl?” Kalani asked. He talked to his dog all day long. It was just him leading a single-guy life in a remote part of Hawaii and he had to have someone to converse with. “We need to see if our house is in danger of being burned down. Get your bag of kibble out before it gets fried.”
Latte wagged her tail. They raced along the coastal highway, ocean on the right, not worried about speeding. Everyone on the Big Island understood Kilauea emergencies even if the deadly flaming lava usually moved slowly. And everyone understood that the sense of having time could all change in a heartbeat if seismic activity picked up. The residents of Pahoa knew that better than anyone else on the Big Island.
Last year, Kilauea had taken out several houses, just miles down the road from Kalani. And for that reason, he now kept an emergency strong box of keepsake items in the front closet of his plantation-style cottage--things like photos of his mother, her Hawaiian Heritage wedding ring, his deed to the coffee farm, and photos of him as a child that he hoped to one day show to his own children.
Seventy-five minutes later, Kalani swung the jeep onto the dirt road that led to the five homes which were now in danger. Barely a mile in, he was met with a police cruiser. The cop held up a hand for him to stop and Kalani rolled down the window. “I live down there.”
The cop nodded. “We evacuated the area. We told everyone to grab what they needed.” His eyes narrowed. “It’s risky to let you go in at this point. Everyone else is out.”
Kalani understood. “I was in Kona. I need to get my mother’s wedding ring. Can you take my dog while I do that? I don’t want to put her at risk.”
The cop glanced in the back seat. “Just tie the dog to that tree until you get back. I’ll watch her.”
She was part pit bull, as are many dogs in the Hawaiian shelters, and the cop looked wary when Kalani took her out of the jeep. “Scared of pits?”
The cop, who shrugged. “I’ve seen bites.” He backed up.
The only thing anyone was at risk of with Latte was being licked to distraction. This dog was the most timid, sweetest thing to ever find herself in the Aloha Ilio Dog Resc
ue Center.
Kalani wouldn’t be long. He knelt and petted Latte’s smooth head. “I’ll be back soon,” he said, giving the hand signal for stay, then jumped in the jeep to navigate the last bit to his house. At a rise in the road, Kalani saw a quarter mile ahead to the flow that was about three hundred yards off to the far left. Too close. You didn’t want to take a chance with two-thousand-degree molten lava.
Once he had the box of keepsakes, his laptop, some clothes, and had crammed everything he could grab quickly and threw it into his jeep, Kalani drove back to Latte, thanked the cop, and headed to his coffee farm ten miles down the road. He’d have to bunk in the little shack he called an office until the all clear was given to go home. Hopefully the flow would turn before it crossed the road to the houses.
Jake had texted earlier to say he was now in Kona, talking about the coffee fields with the seller. Kalani had missed walking with the other men to talk about the crop and soil but he’d done his own walk-through. In the partnership, Jake was the money and Kalani was the brains, which made for a perfect pairing. No one knew coffee like Kalani and Jake told everyone who’d listen that his half-Hawaiian partner had coffee in his blood, something that made Jake smile because he hadn’t been much of a coffee drinker before he started Kona Java.
Kalani looked around his office to imagine living in this space with a dog. It wasn’t like he’d expected to have a gala Christmas season, but he’d at least thought to be in his own house for the morning when everyone else was busy with family and friends, lovers, or parents. This was his second Christmas to not be part of the Shipton festivities and the thought of missing the holiday traditions with his family tugged at his heart. There was little he could do unless his father agreed to talk and until then, friends and neighbors were a godsend.
The five houses in his neighborhood planned to have Christmas dinner at Jilly and Frank’s home this year. Before the evacuation. Now everyone was dispersed and waiting, like him. Jilly, Frank and their small boys were now at her sister’s house in Kona, hoping to get back in their house that had the Christmas tree and space for twenty friends in their main room. It was possible they’d get the all-clear soon, but evacuations always erred on the side of caution and Kalani knew it might be a week or two before he saw the inside of his house again. If ever.
Kalani was wondering how he’d sleep on the hard, wooden floor of his office when Jake called.
“The field looks perfect but then, I don’t know much except what you tell me,” Jake laughed.
Kalani was reminded of how much he liked his partner with his easy-going attitude. Jake’s permanent residence was in Los Angeles, but he had a special affinity for Hawaii that included Maui and the Big Island. Their partnership worked out well, especially because Jake didn’t want to be involved in running the farm, only contributing money and saying he had a coffee farm on the Big Island. It was a perfect set up with little to no interference from Jake. And now, he was giving Kalani more cash to buy the next farm where the conditions for growing coffee beans was damn near perfect.
“Where are you staying, tonight?” Jake asked.
“In my office until we get the all clear.” He could almost hear Jake thinking on the other end of the phone and knew his partner would offer to put him up in a hotel. Money was tight in the first few years of any business, but charity never sat well with Kalani and proving himself had become a mantra in the last year. Even though Jake was only fifteen years older, Kalani thought of him as a father figure and wanted to prove that he was honorable.
“I’ll book you a hotel,” Jake offered.
“I thought of that, but I’ll wait and see if we get back home tomorrow.” Kona was costly.
“I have the house on Maui, but I gave it to my ex-girlfriend, Pepper, because I’m flying to Aspen for Christmas. Thing is,” he said, “she might not even notice you if I gave you a key.” Jake laughed. “It’s six thousand square feet.”
“I’ll stick around Pahoa for a bit, see if Pele takes mercy on us over here.” Pele was the goddess of fire and volcanoes, and although Kalani wasn’t necessarily the spiritual type, his Hawaiian mother had instilled her children with the local beliefs. When she passed away five years ago, he’d tried to find comfort in her belief of an afterlife, but her death seemed too unfair to find consolation in anything. Kalani missed her every hour. The road back from her passing had been long and hard, but Kalani finally felt like he’d landed someplace tolerable.
Sitting at his desk in the small wooden building overlooking the coffee fields, Kalani wasn’t sure Pele existed but hoped for a Christmas miracle to turn the lava’s direction away from their homes.
Just in case, he said a little prayer to Pele to save their houses.
LENA
Lena’s heart felt lighter than it had in days. She was going on an adventure. Yes, she was separated from her children, but with the right attitude she might even see this mommy sabbatical as a nice break. Especially with the promise of Pepper to distract her.
After picking up Olaf from Tia’s house, she pulled in to the airport with her dog sitting obediently in the passenger seat, completely unaware that he’d soon be forced into a travel crate and flown to a different island. Tia had reassured Lena that Olaf was potty trained, was a quiet little thing for a puppy, loved children and was great with other dogs. With curly white hair and a sweet face, Olaf was looking better and better as their new family dog. She’d borrowed Tia’s travel crate and felt fortunate her friend had trained Olaf to sleep in it.
“The girls are going to love you.” Lena said, happy that she finally had a dog, something her girls had been requesting for the last year.
After checking in for her flight, she walked with Olaf towards her gate when a text came in. Her first thought was that it might be about the kids and she pulled the phone from her pocket to see the text was from Tammy. Something told her to not read it, but she’d already seen Audrey’s name in the body of the text.
“Audrey says I’m too pretty to be a mommy! Isn’t that adorable?”
The insinuation that Audrey thought Tammy was prettier than Lena, was Tammy’s point. And the fact that Tammy was trying to get under Lena’s skin. There was no reason for sending a text like this except to be mean. Tammy already had Billy. She’d won, if that was her goal.
Lena continued to her gate with Olaf trotting happily beside her, the leash in one hand and the crate in the other. Stopping to get a better grip on the crate, Lena looked to her dog. “Tammy tried to say my girls don’t think I’m pretty.” she whispered.
When Olaf wagged his tail, Lena felt she had to set the little guy straight. “For the record, we don’t like Tammy, OK boy?”
The dog looked at her with such devotion, that Lena had to laugh out loud.
* * * * *
The interisland plane touched down on Maui pavement and taxied to a stop as Lena heaved a sigh of relief. She wasn’t a great flier and with Olaf in the cargo hold below, she nervously hoped he’d done better than her. It wasn’t until she’d retrieved her dog, that she started to feel a release of nervous tension.
After finding her large suitcase from the baggage claim carousel, Lena finally let Olaf out of his crate. With a leashed dog, a crate, and a rolling blue suitcase, Lena navigated her way through the late afternoon crowd to the curb. Although she didn’t see Pepper’s car, Lena noticed a wave from a black Escalade with Pepper’s light hair beyond the windshield.
Lena waved back, hoping it was her friend.
Pepper jumped out and headed for Lena, as well as she could in four-inch heels, while Olaf pulled against the leash in puppy enthusiasm.
“I’m so happy you’re here!” The two women hugged it out and when Pepper bent to greet the dog, Lena compared her own attire of white shorts and a T-shirt, to Pepper’s dress and heels. Again, she felt like she hadn’t given her appearance enough effort. “It looks like I might be underdressed.” Why did she always compare herself to women who spent time on their
appearance? She had to believe she was fine just the way she was and not try to be someone she wasn’t. She was more beach girl. Casual.
“You look great,” Pepper said, wearing a teal bandage dress that looked painted on her curvaceous figure. In heels and curly strawberry blonde hair cascading across her shoulders, Pepper looked more like evening cocktails than airport pickup. But that was Pepper. Her motto was to suit up for every occasion because you never knew who was looking. As a singer and Maui celebrity, Pepper was judged on her appearance nightly. Billy used to say the two women looked like Beach Babe hangs out with Jessica Rabbit. Where Lena was a pony-tailed brunette with tanned skin, Pepper had a mane of luxurious light-colored hair and a creamy complexion.
“If I looked like you in short shorts and no makeup, I’d dress like that too.” Pepper took the leash.
“Whose sweet ride?” Lena motioned to the SUV.
“Jake’s. There are perks with this house. Wait until you see.” Pepper had Olaf jump in the back seat then helped Lena load her suitcase and the crate into the Escalade. “Divorce suits you,” she joked, looking Lena up and down. “You are positively glowing.”
Lena wasn’t sure that was true, but smiled and hopped into the passenger seat. “I might be glowing now, but I assure you I had a tear-stained face four hours ago.”
Romancing the Holidays: Twelve Christmas Romances - Benefits Breast Cancer Research Page 44