Romancing the Holidays: Twelve Christmas Romances - Benefits Breast Cancer Research

by Crista McHugh

  “Last night, I found myself on the beach with him. He had a hankering to dig holes.” She pointed to the beach outside. “There’s about twenty of them down there. Watch your step on the beach.”

  Pepper turned to her friend with an expression of curiosity. “I saw you out there when I got up. You and Kalani were outside with the dogs and I wondered if you were still up, talking.

  “It was just me and Olaf,” Lena said.

  “No. Kalani was on the deck by the pool,” she said. “He was watching you. I saw him clearly.”

  That was strange. If Kalani was outside at three o’clock, why hadn’t she noticed or why hadn’t he joined her on the beach?

  Just then, Jake flew into the kitchen and grinned at the ladies. “My name is Jake and I’m a coffee addict.”

  Pepper pointed to the state of the art coffee machine by the stove and they watched Jake pour coffee and add two sugar cubes to his cup.

  “Are you and Kalani playing tennis this morning?” Pepper asked. Jake was wearing tennis whites.

  He took a sip, then shook his head. “Kalani went to an AA meeting and then was going on to his Dad’s house. I’m playing tennis next door with Jim.”

  Lena was more interested in Kalani’s whereabouts than she wanted to admit, especially because she knew that Kalani and his father weren’t on speaking terms. And that last night, she’d suggested he call his father, ask to speak to him, tell him he’d turned his life around. While Pepper and Jake talked, Lena crossed her fingers behind her back and hoped that Kalani and his father could bury their differences. Had the conversation in the hot tub helped Kalani decide to do something about the fractured relationship with his father? If he’d been awake at three, it was possible he was thinking about what to say today at the Shipton house.

  * * * * *

  On the way to Christmas shop in Lahaina, Lena confessed her interest in Kalani to her friend, unable to keep it in any longer. “He’s a handsome man,” she said, looking out the window.

  “Needless to say,” Pepper teased, easing the SUV to a stop at a light.

  “But, more than that, he’s really a sweet guy. I like him more than I want to.” Lena smiled to herself. “We had such a great talk last night. I hadn’t planned on pouring out my heart like that with a stranger.”

  “And?”

  “And, it felt freeing.”

  “I’m proud of you, Lena.”

  “I think he likes me too, but I’m not sure why, or if it’s just because I’m the only other woman around here.” Lena chuckled as they turned on to Front Street.

  Lahaina Towne was decorated for Christmas. Garlands were strung across Front Street and the shop windows were filled with holly, Santa Clauses in aloha shirts and fake snow.

  “I can see he’s interested in you, Lena. When you enter the room, his eyes go to you and he’s hanging around you, competing with Olaf for your attention,” Pepper said.

  That made Lena feel light and happy. “What do you know about him? Did you two ever cross paths when he lived on Maui?”

  Pepper shrugged as they pulled in to the shopping center. “Not really. I know he was in an accident before he moved. Jake said he was pretty messed up and has a bad back now. That was why he needed to find a place to stay with a good mattress and Jake offered his place.” She laughed. “I’m not sure that’s true but I think the bad back is true. Jake thinks he’s a stand-up guy and said he wouldn’t be Kalani’s partner if he wasn’t.”

  Lena didn’t want to ask about the rumor Kalani had hit a car full of children in case there’d been a tragic ending to the story and it changed how she felt about him. Was that why he’d given up drinking and left Maui? He was drinking the night she met him in Kona. If the rumor was true, it was a horrible burden for Kalani. Especially if children were injured.

  Lena and Pepper parked the SUV and walked towards the jewelry store on the corner of Front and Dickenson. Pepper wanted to get Jake a gift but wasn’t sure jewelry was the best idea for two people who might just be having a “Christmas fling.”

  Lena hadn’t even known that people had Christmas flings.

  “To keep from being lonely,” Pepper said, which introduced a whole new set of insecurities about Kalani for Lena.

  “Let’s just see what they have.” Pepper led them into the store. Christmas music played, and garlands were strung around the doorway dotted with tiny silver and gold balls.

  After a few minutes, Pepper found the perfect present for Jake—a wooden music box that played Somewhere Out There, a song he’d requested many times. “Not too personal, but with the proper amount of sentiment,” she said, and Lena agreed.

  Lena’s two hundred finished bracelets were in a bag on her arm, ready to be dropped off and their next stop was the Maui Beach Boutique. Handing off the jewelry gave Lena a feeling of satisfaction along with the promise of money. The owner of the boutique signed a check for two thousand dollars for Beach Girl Jewelry and Lena mentally calculated the cost of the materials from the lump sum. She’d made money today.

  “Before we leave town, let’s get little presents for everyone and do a traditional present opening on Christmas morning.” She grinned at Pepper like this was the best idea she’d had all day.

  By the time they’d bought T-shirts with silly sayings for all four of them, coffee mugs, various food items that could be wrapped, and small packs of mac nuts, Taro chips and Kona Java, Lena had the spirit of Christmas running through her in full force. They bought four stockings and enough stuffers for everyone at the drug store in the Cannery Mall and even grabbed a few rolls of Christmas paper and bows. With plans to hang stockings and set the gifts under the tree Lena was buzzing with excitement. They even had dog treats and toys for the canines. “I might have to keep the meat by products hidden until Christmas morning seeing there’s a curious puppy in the house who might tear all the presents open to find his treats,” Lena joked. “You didn’t need to pay, Pepper.” Jake’s credit card had been used for everything, which felt wrong to Lena.

  “A four-hundred-dollar charge is a drop in the bucket for Jake.” Pepper explained. “He’d be devastated to think we spent our own money. He specifically asked me to get gifts.”

  “I want to contribute,” she argued.

  Pepper smiled as they walked to the car. “Why don’t you contribute in the way Jake most appreciates? Cook another dinner tonight. And please, don’t discount the fact that you can cook, and these men are loving it. To Jake, that is worth all kinds of money. Just cook for him.”

  Lena laughed. “I was going to do that anyhow.” Maybe she’d make something special for dessert, like Tiramisu.

  With arms full of parcels, Lena and Pepper entered Jake’s house, and put their bags on the dining room table. Looking out to the beach, Lena saw the men and dogs and was happy to see that Kalani had returned. He was throwing a stick for Latte to retrieve in the water with Olaf on her tail. It was a happy scene as Lena took everything out of the bags to wrap. She’d found a T-shirt that said, Coffee Before Everything, for Kalani, and a mug that read, “#1 Dog Daddy.”

  “Let’s get on our bathing suits and join them,” Pepper said, her eyes on the ocean. “We can wrap this stuff anytime.”

  Lena could hear Kalani’s laugh and wondered if he was happy because he’d spoken with his father. “I’ll get started and come down. I’m right behind you.”

  Pepper went off to get into her bathing suit and while the men were occupied, Lena wrapped the presents quickly. By the time she’d attached tags, and placed them under the overly-tinseled Christmas tree in the living room, Pepper was wrapped around Jake in the ocean and Kalani was playing with both dogs on the beach. In her bedroom, she decided to put on her bikini. Just because there were men around, didn’t mean she couldn’t wear what she wanted and if it was just her and Pepper, she’d wear the little black bikini.

  Coming out of her room, Lena watched Kalani head for the fresh water shower on the deck. She stared at him from the shad
ows of the living room. If Kalani was handsome in jeans and a shirt, he was more handsome with very little clothing. Dark-skinned, with a fit body that suggested exercise, he looked like hard work in his coffee fields were a part of his lifestyle. A tattoo stretched along his left shoulder and over his bicep, a pattern of Hawaiian tribal designs that looked appropriately sexy on him. Lena tore her gaze away to see the dogs trailing behind Kalani. Before she could take responsibility for Olaf, Kalani called him over to the shower. “Come on, Little Fella,” he said. “Get a rinse down.” Kalani’s sweetness touched something in her heart, as his hands swiftly rubbed Olaf’s wiry hair.

  When it was Latte’s turn for a shower, Olaf broke free, shook, and ran around the pool like he’d been sprung from prison. Lena watched Kalani move Latte under the spray. What would it be like to shower with Kalani, have those hands on her? Lena allowed herself the brief fantasy. When she felt a tingling in her belly, she quickly buried the thought, took a deep breath, and went outside in her black bikini, her cheeks still flushed.

  “Olaf,” Lena called.

  Kalani looked up and stared at her a little too long for her comfort, making her wish she’d worn the blue one-piece suit.

  “Your dog loves to dig. I hope you have a backyard he can excavate.” Kalani nodded to Olaf.

  Lena had a clear view of the pot-holed beach below. There were ten new pits on the small beach. “Is he trying to find a crab or just amusing himself?”

  “Probably just puppy energy, but I bet your kids are going to spend time filling in holes,” he laughed. “Latte keeps trying to chew him out for digging, but he’s not having it. He won’t be bossed around.”

  Lena watched Pepper and Jake from the railing but peripherally watched Kalani rubbing Latte with a towel.

  “I’m kind of glad, for the first time in my life, that I don’t live on a beach,” she said, turning.

  Kalani was now chuckling.

  “I wonder if Olaf will be as obsessed with the dirt in our backyard.”

  “Where do you live in Kona?” He joined her at the fence, the dog towel in his hand.

  Lena told him about her little house and couldn’t keep from smiling. She loved her house. “And you are in Pahoa,” she said. “Have you heard anything?”

  Kalani said he’d just heard that the lava had veered off, away from the road and his street. “I’m free to head home anytime.” He said the last words so casually, that Lena wondered how this news wasn’t a game changer for their happy group.

  “I’m happy your house isn’t being threatened anymore,” she said, avoiding what she really wanted to say. Kalani couldn’t go home now. There were presents. And dinner. And Christmas. And, a call tonight with her girls. If Tammy wanted to see Lena’s supposed boyfriend, Lena would need Kalani. But she couldn’t say that out loud. “Will you still stay for Christmas, or leave?”

  He stared at the ocean where the wind had come up beyond the cove. “I’m not sure. My neighbors are heading back to our street now because we planned Christmas dinner together.” He looked to Lena and smiled. “Are we still on to dive today?”

  She nodded. “If you want, I’m game.” Then, she remembered the presents she’d chosen for Kalani. “If you go home, take the presents under the tree for you and Latte.” She tried to keep her disappointment from showing through to her voice. Having counted on Kalani to stay the week, Lena found herself now wondering what she’d look forward to if he left for his house in Pahoa.

  * * * * *

  With dive gear in the Escalade, Kalani drove he and Lena to the pullout for Slaughterhouse Beach and parked the car. Latte had come along, but Olaf had been crated for the few hours they’d be away. Being a big guy, Kalani had a size eighty tank to Lena’s size sixty. She’d breathe less air just because of her size, even though Kalani said he dove every week back home. The dive would be shallow and easy, and because Kalani had hung out on these beaches his whole life, he was the leader of the dive.

  “I used to surf here,” he said while they got their gear on at the back of the SUV.

  The sun beat down on Lena’s shoulders and it felt good to be going diving again. “I bet it was a life filled with the beach,” Lena said thinking she wanted that for her children.

  Once they’d navigated the steep path down and reached the sand, Latte was told to stay by their shoes at the far end to wait. Lena and Kalani walked to the water’s edge with fins in hand and surveyed the water. The wind was blowing whitecaps, farther out, but that wouldn’t affect the underwater conditions. Only surge and current would stir up the sediment and prevent good visibility. Kalani remarked the water might be murky but he knew a cool group of rocks where sea turtles liked to hang out.

  “Jake wants lobster,” Lena added, adjusting her mask to her face.

  “No can do. It’s a protected marine preserve. We can buy some on the way home though.” Kalani raised his eyebrows. “Get some of those Maine lobsters and see if the mainlander knows the difference.” They laughed and stepped into the water to put on their fins.

  At the Lahaina dive shop earlier, Tina’s husband, Jamey had lent them an underwater camera which was now attached to Kalani’s jacket. They planned to take photos for the girls during the call tonight. “Proof I’m not a hired actor,” Kalani had joked.

  “Or that I hired you for the week,” Lena added.

  The dive’s visibility wasn’t great, in close to shore and they headed out to forty feet. The rocks Kalani found proved to be a turtle gathering spot and very carefully, so as not to disturb the turtles, they stopped to take pictures. Kalani shot photos of Lena, and they even took an underwater selfie.

  Walking from the water, Kalani apologized for the poor visibility. “It’s fun to dive when it’s clear but this time of year…”

  “You never know.” Lena was just happy to be in the water. She’d only used half her air and was already thinking they could go diving again early tomorrow.

  “Let me take your tank for the walk up the path.” Kalani motioned for Lena to turn around.

  She didn’t want to appear like a helpless woman. “I can do it.”

  “I know you can, but I have eighty pounds on you and it’s no big deal for me to carry your gear.”

  That sounded logical, like letting Jake pay for presents. She had to let people chip in to contribute, like Kalani’s happy group of neighbors who helped each other out. “Give me the fins, then. And that camera,” she said. “We don’t want to lose our proof that I have a boyfriend who dives.”

  Kalani’s grin made Lena look away in embarrassment. “I kind of like the sound of that,” he said, grabbing the tank unit from her back.

  * * * * *

  Lena and Kalani walked in from diving when Jake told them the house next door had burst a pipe and the living room was drenched in water. Couches were soaked, tables ruined, and the carpets squishy until everything dried. The residents, a couple from New York, named Marley and Jim Stein, had planned a Christmas cocktail party that evening and were trying to figure out how to cancel when Jake offered his house.

  “And because of that,” Jake said, “we are hosting a party here in two hours,”

  The lobster they’d bought would have to wait.

  Jake looked at Lena. “Caterers are coming soon, so don’t do anything in the kitchen.” he said.

  She looked at Kalani and together, they hid the lobster in the back of the fridge for tomorrow’s dinner.

  Moments later, the caterers were filing through the house with tubs of food and the dishes to serve them on. It looked like there was enough food for a hundred people and Lena wondered how many were coming. Pepper had phoned a few friends to come over and everyone was getting ready for a party. The mood was festive with Christmas music playing throughout the house on Jake’s state of the art sound system. After taking Olaf for a big play on the beach to tire him, Lena shut herself and her dog inside their quarters while she dressed.

  Although she hadn’t brought fancy clothes, she�
�d borrowed a sparkly silver, low-cut halter top from Pepper and planned to wear white shorts with a pair of Pepper’s heels. With makeup and lots of jewelry, the right look would prevail. She teased her hair, swiped on some eyeliner and lipstick, put Olaf in the crate and by eight o’clock, headed out to the main part of the house that now buzzed with party chit chat. The festivities had begun.

  This would be the first party she’d been to as a single woman in a long time, and although something told her to march back to the bathroom and wipe off her overly-made up face, one look at Pepper fully made up in a black sparkly mini with stilettos and dangly crystal earrings and Lena knew that she’d blend in tonight.

  People were mostly gathered by the pool where the bar had been set up and Lena followed Pepper outside to get a drink. With a glass of chardonnay in hand, Lena saw Pepper’s friend Tina, and her husband Jamey. They’d all met in town at the dive shop and greeted each other with happy familiarity. Dressed in a gold shift and sensible shoes, Tina was very pregnant, not drinking, and standing beside Jamey. Lena thanked them for the gear and camera. “We got some great photos I hope to upload later. Thanks so much.”

  Tina smiled warmly. “Pepper is always filling in for me in a pinch, so free gear is one of the perks.” She winked at Pepper and Lena could see there was a genuine fondness there. Hadn’t these two women roomed together when they first arrived on Maui? Tina was petite, and her tummy bulged beyond her frame in one beachball-sized protrusion, stretching the fabric of her gold dress.

  “When are you due?” Lena asked.

  The two women talked about babies, motherhood, and pregnancy until Jamey greeted an approaching Kalani. “How long you on Maui for? I’m diving the backside of Molokini in a few days with friends.”

  The two men talked like old friends. “I’m not sure I’m staying much longer, but if I do... My place in Pahoa is under evacuation. Or was. We got the all clear today. I may fly home tomorrow.”