Haole Wood (30 page)

“When I finally got to my cell phone and managed to pull it out of my pocket, I didn’t have time to call anybody,” I said. “My fingers just took over. My send button got hit and it redialed. I couldn’t be sure, though, because Lana grabbed it and threw it under the table. Thank goodness, Shayna, my superhero, was the last person I called.”

“I almost hung up, too,” Shayna explained. “I kept saying ‘hello, hello’ and no one answered. I just heard some grunting. Then I heard Lana saying a bunch of crap. Then I knew. I heard her say she killed Mike Hokama. She let my mother be blamed for it. And I heard her hurting you.” Shayna jerked her head at me.

“And then you jumped on your bicycle to go confront a killer all by yourself?” Jac asked, shaking his head.

“I called the cops on my way,” Shayna said. “What’s the biggie? Besides, Jaswinder would have been able take her, in the end. She had some moves.”

“Good thing she did come riding to my rescue or I might not be sitting here talking to you.” I smiled at Jac. Maybe if he was lucky, we might be doing a little more than talking later on. I would bet there was nothing like thank-God-I’m-not-dead-sex.

“So let me get this straight,” Jac said. “The cops came, Lana blames everyone else.”

Shayna and I nodded.

“But, they found her poison,” I said. “It’s so weird, Jac. It’s like Lana really does not think she did anything wrong. ‘Not my fault.’ She honestly acts like her feelings are hurt and she is being horribly misunderstood.”

“And ninety-pound soaking wet Shayna saves the day.” Jac gave her a fist bump.

“She was ninety pounds of the angriest teenager I have ever seen,” I saluted her. “Hurricane Shayna.”

“I’m getting out of here.”

“Wait a minute,” I held up my hand. “You guys need to hear me out. You know how much I thank you, both. And I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my guardian angel, who really stepped up to the plate. For once,” I couldn’t help adding.

Shayna and Jac just let me babble on, like talking about my guardian angel was a figure of speech. I nodded my head up and down, trying to reel them in. “There really are guardian angels, you know.”

Shayna called me a weirdo as Jac leaned over to kiss my cheek.

“Mahalo, Shayna. I mean it,” I said, watching Shayna stomp out to the workshop like she was the boss.

“How’s your grandmother doing?” Jac asked.

“She’s great. She’s so happy, Jac. The Maui police talked to her to get her testimony on the herbs. And get this. My parents are flying out here, just for a little vacation. I’m even looking forward to seeing them.” I managed to say the last part without feeling the need to roll my eyes. “We’re making my mom a special sunshmina.”

“I bet they’re so proud of you,” he said.

“I wouldn’t go that far. But, with the way Haole Wood is going, who knows? Jac, you wouldn’t believe how well sales are doing. I am really having fun with this whole project.” I wasn’t even tempted to bring out my microphone hand.

“Have you heard what is going to happen with Lana?” he asked me.

“They think Lana’s attorney is going to say it was all an accident, that Lana was just trying to help Mike.”

“So why did she try to kill you?”

“Lana freaked out. She was so worried that Lois and I were about to figure it all out and point the finger at her, she couldn’t take that chance. They did find a rose petal at the scene, and they could have eventually tied it to Lana. I actually feel sorry for her. She had everything and it wasn’t enough.” I paused. “O’Boyle’s not on the case anymore.”

Jac laughed. “Good for O’Boyle. He’s got his hands full, if you know what I mean.”

I shook my head. “What am I missing here? What do you mean?”

“The buzz around the island is that Shayna’s mom has good reason to be getting all pretty and singing these days.”

“What?” I clasped my hands to my heart. “O’Boyle and Lois?”

Jac nodded. I smiled and hugged myself. “Sigh,” I said.

Jac stood up and kissed me. “I have to get back to work right now, but I’ll pick you up tonight for dinner. You sure you’re alright?”

“Aloha,” I said to him.

After he left, I finished my latte. I took the lid off to get the foam at the bottom. I inhaled the sweet smell. I was surprised my guardian angel wasn’t around, teasing me about telling Jac aloha.

“It is interesting how aloha means so many things,” he would say. “Pretty handy word. It can mean ‘hello,’ ‘goodbye,’ ‘friendship,’ or ‘I love you.’ Which definition are you going for?”

I slurped up the foamy milk from the bottom of my cup, sending up loving gratitude. “Thank you, for everything.” I raised my cup in a toast.

“You are welcome,” he said, suddenly appearing. “Now, do you think you can stay out of trouble for awhile? I am in a poker tournament with Luciana’s guardian angel.”

I titled my head and waved my hand, needing a little bit more.

“Mrs. Matt Damon?” he asked.

“Got it.” I said. “What do you play for?”

He folded his hands over his heart and tried to look innocent. “You do not want to know.”

“Aloha,” I said.

“Is that aloha, aloha,” he changed the timber of his voice to a higher, squeaky pitch, imitating me, I guessed, “or aloha, aloha?”

“Aloha!” I said again, blowing him a kiss.

I stretched out on the couch. An ocean breeze tickled my arms and held my attention hostage. In a trance, I couldn’t think about what happened or what was going to happen. In that magic moment, I meditated on a glimpse of nirvana.

A knock on the door broke the spell. I rolled to my feet.

“Hi,” I said, looking through the screen door. The man on the front porch looked so familiar. Where did I know him from? He reminded me of that guy I tried to help with the contact lenses. Mr. Abraham? It was him. What was he doing? Did he come to make sure I was okay? That was so sweet of him, but I still wondered why. Here, I thought he didn’t like me all that much. I pushed open the door.

“Mr. Abraham. What are you doing here? Come on in.”

He smiled and nodded his head.

“It looks like you finally got the hang of those contact lenses,” I said.

He smiled, bigger this time, and blinked a lot.

“What pretty flowers,” I said, admiring the purple orchids tucked in the crook of his arm. “Are they for me? Did you hear what happened? That is so kind of you.”

He shook his head and held the bouquet away from my outstretched hand. With the superior intelligence and understanding granted someone this side of a death defying situation, I finally got it.

“Oh. Oh, really,” I finally managed to say, shades of Shayna drawling out my words. This was rich. Halmoni and Mr. Abraham, sitting in a tree. “Hold on, a second,” I told him.

I ran to my grandmother’s bedroom and lightly tapped on her door. “Halmoni?” She opened the door, wearing lipstick, a blue sunshmina over her shoulders, and a smile.

“Wow. You are so pretty. I do believe there is a gentleman caller here for you.” She turned away, avoiding my questioning look. It appeared my eyebrows could go up as high as hers. “It’s Mr. Abraham.” I slung my arm around her to guide her down the hall. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” I whispered into her ear, wishing I wouldn’t have said that as soon as the words left my big mouth.

Halmoni stopped as we reached a golden patch of sunlight and turned to face me. Her hand reached up and smoothed back my hair. I could feel her fingers cradle the weight of my head. Her soft thumb and forefinger caressed the shell of my ear. She is just too sweet, I thought. She tightened her grip. I didn’t know my grandmother knew acupressure. What a woman. Ow. I tilted my head back. The caress down to my earlobe became a pinch. “Ouch.” I pulled away. She wore a smile I recognized from my own mirror. Was she warning me to stay out of trouble? Behave? Walk the straight and narrow?

I rubbed my ear as she headed out the door on her date, and called after her. “Not that.”