by Edie Claire
Ri looked out. She rolled down her window a few inches, breathed in, and smiled. She had yet to see more than an occasional glimpse of the water ahead, but she could smell it. Brine. Fish. Wind. Seaweed. Water. Shells. A hundred different individual scents, all mingled together to form one unmistakable whole. The ocean. This scent differed from that of the familiar bay in Massachusetts, and she studied the aroma with glee, trying to tease out the various new scents within it.
The car weaved around a crowded parking lot. The Foundation for Ocean Mammals was headquartered at a small marina at the opposite end of the island’s central neck from the airport, near the base of the West Maui Mountain. This side of the smaller volcano evidently saw little rain, leaving the face that was visible from the marina dry and relatively colorless, except for the bright line of windmills that trailed down its slope. The blades turned as Ri watched, creating energy from the funnel effect caused by Maui’s ample winds as they converged onshore and whistled between the mountains.
The car stopped. “We’ll park here and I’ll walk you over,” Kaley offered.
Ri didn’t hesitate. She pulled a lightweight sling bag out of her backpack; tossed in her wallet, a water bottle, her eco-safe sunscreen, and a few other boat necessities; then closed the van door behind her. It was all she could do not to jog ahead of Kaley in her eagerness.
Yes! This was real. It was finally happening. She would be working with whales and dolphins in the North Pacific. Humpbacks, bottlenoses, spotteds, spinners, and monk seals! They were all here waiting for her. All of that, and her only living genetic relative on the face of the earth, too!
Whoops.
Ri’s teeth gnashed. She hated it when “the thought” cropped up unbidden like that. She hadn’t made up her mind what to do about that little piece of information yet, and with good reason. Besides the fact that the vast majority of people on earth had never taken a DNA test and were therefore not included in the sampling pool — such as virtually the entirety of the former Soviet Union — the technology itself was fraught with limitations. “Moderate confidence” was hardly a guarantee. The supposed “fifth to eighth cousin” identified as a match to herself had only a twenty to fifty percent chance of being even that closely related to her. The link could be more distant. Or the whole thing could be laboratory error. She would never know.
But you can’t totally dismiss the possibility, either. You could at least try to rule it out.
“That’s the research vessel,” Kaley announced.
Ri’s heart jumped into her throat. There it was! She’d been staring at pictures of it on the website for years now. The fifty-foot-long gleaming silver catamaran was to be her new floating classroom, and her feet itched to climb aboard and feel it pitch and roll on the relatively warm waves. The sun shone hot on Ri’s dark curls, and she marveled at the disappearance of the clouds that had surrounded the airplane just minutes ago. As they reached the water’s edge by the dock, the beauty that met Ri’s eyes was near to overwhelming.
Her view to the left across the wide bay was consumed by the big mountain, Haleakala. It rose from the flat lands through which she had traveled and sailed upwards into a ring of clouds, its middle obscured from view as if it were wearing a life preserver, while its peak gleamed in the sun. Looking out over the ocean, she could see the little boomerang-shaped island of Molokini, famous for its snorkeling, and the larger and now uninhabited Kaho'olawe behind it, which was in the process of being restored after years of use by the military as a bombing range. To her right curved the southern tip of the smaller West Mountain, the bend of which currently hid the nearby islands of Lana'i and Moloka'i from view. Behind her were steep slopes of green and brown, flowering plants and exotic trees, chattering birds, and waving palms. Before her was blue sky and blue water and a beautiful shiny research boat.
Nothing else mattered.
Really, it didn’t.
She had wanted to come to Maui long before her supposed relative relocated to the exact same island. She’d had her eye on this particular internship since she was a junior in high school, for heaven’s sake!
They reached the boat. Other people in matching shirts were standing around next to it, and Kaley made introductions. Ri’s sleepy brain felt addled again as she struggled to commit her co-interns’ names to memory.
“What a pretty name!” the brunette with the heavy mascara effused. “Is it Indian?”
“Yes,” Ri answered mechanically. The name was Indian. That wasn’t even a lie. Mirini was really Swahili, too. Her parents had chosen the names with great care, in hopes of covering their bases.
Ri had always been fine with that. She should be fine with a wider field of possibility as well.
“Oh! Are you from India, then?”
But she wasn’t okay. She wasn’t okay because ever since that day when she and Mei Lin had opened that envelope together and read the results of her ethnicity breakdown, she’d felt like a complete and total fraud.
A sick feeling settled in her stomach. “Russian, Indian, and African,” she lied.
“Oh, cool!” the girl replied. Ri had forgotten the speaker’s name already.
Oh, wait. They were all wearing nametags. Her name was Shelby.
“Well, if everybody’s ready, let’s head out!” announced her new boss, a jovial fellow with an Australian accent.
Ri felt moisture behind her eyes again, and she fought back a fierce urge to scream and stamp her feet with frustration. What was wrong with her? Everything was right now. She had everything she’d been looking forward to!
For a brief moment she felt a flash of panic, a dim memory of a time when everything was scary and nothing made sense and her emotions were not under her control. When screaming and crying and lashing out was her response to any and every kind of pain.
But then she was okay again.
It was sleep deprivation. That was all.
Ri inhaled deeply, then let out a shaky breath. She wasn’t going to think about the ancestry thing right now. She just wasn’t. Two years ago, she’d made the decision to dig deeper and find out more, and she’d wound up knowing less. The ordeal had caused her so much grief she’d made a vow to forget the DNA results altogether. It was crazy to turn her life upside down over a commercial test with such low specificity. Particularly when she looked all wrong for the part.
Forget about it, she resolved again. Failure to be content with what she knew and what she had was what had landed her in this purgatory of insecurity to begin with. Taking another step in that direction now would be idiotic. She would simply have to resist the temptation. The smooth-talking snake could keep his apple. She would embrace the mystery and move on.
You seriously think you can live on this island for four solid months and not even TRY to look up a possible, honest-to-God blood relative? she argued with herself. You are SO full of it!
A brisk wind kicked up, and fellow intern Shelby groaned as her too-long bangs battered her face around her eyes. “I should have brought a headband,” she groused, flattening the offending hair with both hands. “You were smart.”
Ri blinked back at her, then produced a second headband from her bag. Her own springy curls, which appeared windblown regardless of the weather, were always safely secured off her forehead when she went out on the water, and she never traveled without a backup band.
Shelby expressed her thanks, and as the two stepped forward to board the boat, Ri looked over her shoulder at the clouds ringing Haleakala. They seemed thinner suddenly. It was amazing how quickly the clouds could move and the weather change as the trade winds swept between the mountains.
You’ll change your mind, Ri. You know you’re going to.
She stepped onto the boat.
“I am Sriha Mirini Sullivan,” the bold little preschooler had announced proudly, to anyone and everyone who asked. “I am different, and I am special. There is no one on earth exactly like me. But I am like everyone else in some way or other.”
That little girl never flinched, did she? She never shrank from the tough questions. Never once felt like a fraud.
Maui.
She was here, now. And for better or for worse, call it coincidence or call it destiny, so was “moderate-confidence” cousin fifth to eighth.
Ri’s gaze drifted over the ocean beyond the harbor, and a brilliant smile warmed her insides. It was the first of May, and getting late in the season for humpbacks. But as she watched, the white plume of a whale spout shot up clear as day, then drifted lazily sideways in the wind.
Perhaps it was destiny after all.
Chapter 2
“Yo, Lach! Hold up!”
Ri turned to see a tall redheaded man jog up to the dock and leap onto the boat. The vessel was already pulling away from the dock at the time, but he took hold of the railing, swung his long legs across the gap, and made it aboard with ease.
“Hey! What’s up?” Ri’s new boss answered, looking both worried and disgruntled. Lachland Kennedy, to whom she had just been introduced, was the head of the research team on Maui. He was a thirty-something Australian with an impressive CV in the marine biology world, and Ri couldn’t wait to work with him. Who the crazy redhead was, she had no idea.
“Nothing bad,” the newcomer said, smiling broadly. “But you’ve got to see this. It’s unbelievable.” He looked at the assembled crew. “These your new interns? Perfect. They’ll love this.” The interloper walked over to the bridge, leaned into the doorway, and shouted something up to the research assistant driving the boat, with whom he was obviously also familiar. After a brief conversation, their captain nodded in agreement, and the redhead returned to Lachland with a smug smile on his face.
Lachland raised his hands in disbelief. “What the hell, Parker? You’re hijacking my boats, now?”
The man laughed out loud and clapped a hand on Lachland’s back. “Trust me. If she’s still there, it’ll be worth it. But we’ve got to hurry.”
“She?” Lachland asked, looking suddenly interested.
The interns watched the exchange with a mixture of confusion and amusement. Ri studied both men with fascination. She had never considered any career other than marine biology, but her minor in psychology reflected a keen interest in human nature. Although she was a strong introvert, she enjoyed studying interactions between people, watching for subtle clues in facial expression and tone that gave away hidden feelings and motives. She could blame the obsession on growing up with a psychotherapist for a mother — she and her sister were both convinced that such weird parenting had warped their young brains — but in truth, she was proud of the talent. Right now, for example, she was certain that her mentor and the man named Parker were close friends, probably with a long history between them.
Shelby let out a small sound — something between a gasp and a giggle — and Ri didn’t need to look at her co-worker’s face to understand its meaning. Any woman would have to be either gay or dead not to notice how attractive both of the men were. Lachland was blond and tanned and rugged looking, and his friend was lean and muscular, with a handsome face and sparkling eyes that promised a wicked sense of humor. The two of them standing on a boat together in the Hawaiian sunshine made a provocative eyeful, but Ri quickly noted that both were wearing wedding bands.
“I’m not saying any more,” Parker teased. “You’ll see her if we find her.”
Lachland lowered his bushy eyebrows with a growl. Then he addressed the interns. “Well, everybody, I guess we’ve had a slight change of itinerary. This is Captain Ben Parker, who used to be a friend of mine.”
“Oh, that’s cold,” Ben interrupted with mock hurt.
Lachland growled again. “He fancies himself an expert on marine mammals, but he’s just some shill with a master’s in oceanography or pottery or some damn thing.”
“I bow to your superior knowledge, as always,” Ben admitted, actually bowing, albeit facetiously.
“He knows his stuff, but instead of getting his doctorate and contributing to the academic knowledge that will ultimately save the earth,” Lachland continued, “he runs commercial whale watches so he can tell jokes and get rich off tips.”
Ben frowned. “Ouch. No subtlety, there.”
Lachland smirked. “Hey, I didn’t say they weren’t good jokes, mate.”
The men’s banter continued privately as the captain steered the boat out of the harbor and on into the open waters of Ma'alaea Bay. Ignored for the moment, the interns clustered around Ri.
Will, a big guy with loose brown curls and a face full of acne scars, gave her a friendly smile. “So, where are you from, Ri? Where’d you go to school?”
Ri smiled back. He had remembered what she preferred to be called. For that alone, she already liked him. She gave them all an abbreviated resume, and they reciprocated. Will was twenty-two and from central California. He was missing his own graduation ceremony in order to be here, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Bryant was slender and medium height, with dark hair and eyes and a quiet nature. He was twenty-six and married with a two-year-old son, and his wife was back in Sarasota, Florida, working a full-time job at a bank. Ri studied his face as he talked, struck by his nonchalant tone of voice. The situation he described, being separated from his wife and child for four solid months, sounded like sheer hell to her. But he spoke of it as more of an inconvenience.
Shelby, like Ri, was petite in stature. But unlike Ri, her skin was pale and her features delicate. She had the kind of exaggerated figure that fashion photographers favored, including both generous curves and sticklike limbs devoid of muscle, and she was meticulous enough with her appearance that she had prepared for day one of her internship with two layers of mascara and a professional manicure. Ri wasn’t quite sure what to make of her. Marine biologists tended to be earthy, physically active people.
“Where did you go to school, Shelby?” Ri asked.
“I graduated from UT Austin last year,” Shelby replied, sounding like a Texan. “I’m starting on my master’s at A&M next fall, at Corpus Christi. Can’t wait. I applied everywhere for a job last year and wound up working retail.”
“Yeah,” Will sympathized. “You can’t get jack in this field with a bachelor’s. You were lucky to get that aquarium job, Ri.”
Ri chuckled. “I started out cleaning tanks at minimum wage for fifteen hours a week. And it’s a crappy little tourist trap, really. Just fish and turtles and a couple of sharks. But I talked myself into full time eventually.”
The others laughed with her. In truth, she’d come on board at a time when half the plants in the giant shark tank were dying, and she’d diagnosed the problem with a few quick tests and was able to turn things around. In three years she’d gone from part-time tank cleaner to Assistant Manager of Aquatics, and the assistant part was a joke because there hadn’t been a manager in a year and a half — they just didn’t want to pay her any more.
Bryant cleared his throat. “I haven’t had any trouble getting work with a bachelor’s,” he said offhandedly. “But Jen and I really want to move to Hawaii, so I’m hoping something will open up for me here. Shouldn’t be too difficult.”
Shelby and Will exchanged a dark look, and Ri gathered that in the short time since the others had met yesterday afternoon, Bryant had already made himself unpopular. Which was unfortunate, because the four of them would be spending a whole lot of time together — all summer long.
Ri resolved to try and like Bryant anyway. She was always intentional about relationships, at least the important ones. Another side effect of lifelong, in-home psychotherapy.
Shelby turned to Ri with a smile. “So, we know that Bryant’s left his wife behind, Will’s crushing on some girl in the gift shop, and I’m on the rebound. What’s your story?”
“It’s not a crush,” Will protested playfully. “I am in love.”
Shelby rolled her eyes. “You met her less than twenty-four hours ago.”
“So? Don’t you believe in l
ove at first sight?” he teased.
“Not hardly,” Shelby shot back. “I don’t believe in love at all. Ri?”
Ri’s gaze moved from one to the other. These people certainly moved fast with the chit chat. “I’m single,” she reported with a shrug.
“Good!” Shelby said with a smile. “You and I can go clubbing this weekend. Rebound man is here somewhere, just waiting for me. I can feel it.”
Ri smiled noncommittally as she searched her brain for a response. “Clubbing” had never been her idea of a good time, but it was Shelby’s unabashed announcement of her quest for a rebound man that left Ri speechless. Shelby’s tone had not been serious, but the look in her deep blue eyes left no doubt of her true intent. The woman was wounded. And hurting. And desperate to stop the bleeding.
Sometimes, Ri’s talent for seeing deep gave her more information than she wanted to know.
She was saved from responding by Lachland, who returned to his mentees to begin their planned tour of the research vessel. As the boat moved steadily further from shore he walked the four of them from stem to stern, proudly describing its environmentally responsible design and special whale protection features. He had only just begun to explain the use of its gear when his friend Ben interrupted him, pointing eagerly out over the water.
“This had better be good,” Lachland complained again.
“Just look, will you?” Ben returned. “You’re amazingly lucky, you know. It’s been nearly half an hour now, and she’s still there! Logging right where we left her.”
Ri looked out over the ocean to see the unmistakable dark gray profile of the dorsal fin and back of a humpback whale. The animal was still some distance away but appeared to be resting at the surface, sleeping or “logging.” From the length of back that was visible on either side of the fin, the whale seemed to be quite large.
“There’s a calf with her,” Ben added. “Just saw it a second ago.”
“Probably a late season calf,” Lachland explained to the interns as the boat approached. “Whale numbers here in May are way down from the peak in February. Most of the whales have headed to the feeding grounds in Alaska already, now that the calving and breeding season is pretty much over. There’s no food for them here, and they’re hungry. But the females who give birth later in the season tend to stick around Hawaii a little longer, so that their calves have time to put on enough blubber before migrating back to colder waters. And of course, a few mature males will hang around as long as the females are here. Hungry or no, they’ll stay as long as they’ve got a shot. From her length, this female appears—”