Laurie:You’re the best! You can just drop them at the bookshop if you’re short on time.
Halia:I can hang at the park for a while if they’re having fun. See you when we see you.
Laurie sent her aYOU ROCKgif.
Halia chuckled and pocketed her phone. She stretched as she stepped out of her closet-sized office and into theHawaiian sunshine.
Two little kids ran past in pursuit of a ball.
It was a peaceful day at A Place of Refuge. It usually was. That was the whole point of the place: to provide a safe haven, a place where mothers and children could begin to heal and finally breathe again.
Halia was proud of what she had built.
There was a cool breeze and still time enough to walk, so she let herself out through the front gate and strolled up the road towards the community center. A faint drizzle hung in the air, and the white haze in the sky was just starting to clear.
A rainbow leapt into view above the trees, and some of the habitual tension went out of Halia’s shoulders.
She lived in a beautiful place.
Living there day after day, decade after decade, it was easy to let it all fade into the background – but she tried not to let herself go blind to the beauty of it all.
Anything could feel ordinary after seeing it every day for nearly fifty years – even rainbows. One nice thing about being around kids, recent transplants, and even tourists, was that it made it easier for her to maintain a healthy perspective. The wonder on other people’s faces helped her to see the familiar scenery around her with fresh eyes time and again.
Mia and Pete were on the playground when she arrived. She checked in real quick to let them know she was there to walk them to the bookshop when they were ready, and then she settled onto a bench in the shade and let them play.
It was ridiculous, really, to think that the two ten year olds needed an adult to escort them a quarter mile through Pualena. Their mothers had grown up right there, riding miles all around town on their bikes at the same age.
But society had shifted, and so had parenting.
Halia never stepped in to critique or micromanage the way that her sisters parented… even when they veered into the realm of helicopter parenting. Their kids were happy and healthy; that was all that really mattered to her.
Shewouldlike to see her sisters relax a bit more, and remember to take care of themselves too. But no one wanted unsolicited advice from the maiden aunt.
Halia kept to her own lane, and she showed up for her family wherever she could. Today the favor was simply sitting on a park bench in the shade; sometimes showing up for people could be that simple, and that easy. The key was showing up time and again so that her family knew that they could reach out and ask, and she was proud to be that person for them.
The kids finally retreated to the shade, pink-cheeked and damp from running around in the afternoon heat.
“Do you have any water?” Pete panted.
“Where’s your water bottle?” Halia asked.
“It’s empty.”
“There’s a fountain right over there.”
Pete took off towards the water fountain, and Mia settled onto the bench next to Halia.
“How’s life, kiddo?”
“Pretty good.”
“Yeah? Are you still the best salesperson at Paradise Books?”
She rolled her eyes in a good-natured sort of way. “I’m theonlysalesgirl at Paradise Books.”
“What about your mom and Zoe?”
“They just stay behind the counter and wait. They don’t tell people where the best books are unless theyask.”
