“How did you do that?” Akemi demanded as Halia shut the door. Halia gave her a one-armed squeeze and kissed the top of her head.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here.” She circled around and got into the driver’s seat.
Akemi collapsed into the passenger seat beside her, looking exhausted.
“Are you hungry?” Halia asked.
“Starving. I’m still breastfeeding, so I’m always hungry. I brought a stupid amount of snacks on the plane and somehow still managed to eat them all before we’d even gotten halfway here.”
“Okay, let’s stop for food.”
“Maybe we should just go home and order takeout. I don’t want to wrestle him into his car seat again.”
“You need food,” Halia said firmly. “We’ll stop in Hilo.”
She drove a short distance to Akemi’s favorite restaurant, a place known for its fresh sugarcane juice. They each ordered a tall, cold glass of the sweet green drink, plus an ‘ulu burger for Halia and a smoky taro burger for Akemi.
They claimed a table, where Kaleo squirmed and screamed and attacked the napkin dispenser… and just generally made a terror of himself until Akemi let him down to walk between the tables.
“He’s very advanced,” Halia said mildly.
“Lucky me,” Akemi said flatly. She reached out to keep him from smacking his head into the sharp corner of the nearest table.
“You sit down,” Halia said when the server had brought their drinks to the table. “I’ll follow him for a minute.”
“Are you sure?”
“You’ve been solo for months, and I haven’t seen him since he was tiny. Hydrate.”
Akemi sank gratefully into her seat and took a deep drink of the sugarcane juice.
“I missed this,” she sighed happily. “I’ve tried it in other countries, but it’s never quite as good as here in Hawaii.”
“Mo’ beddah on the island,” Halia said.
“You’re not wrong.” She took another sip. “At least in someways. I wish this place had a space where Kaleo could run around.”
“We have lots of playgrounds.”
“No, I mean right here at the café. In most of the world, cafés come with playgrounds. Why not here?”
“It’s Hawaii,” Halia said with a shrug. “Kids play outside.”
“Not here. He’d run right into the street.”
“True.”
The waitress brought their food and set it on the table.
Halia scooped Kaleo up and brought him to sit on her knee while they ate. Once he got a taste for the ‘ulu burger, he allowed them to slot him into the high chair and feed him baby-sized bites.
“I wish there was something here for babies,” Akemi said thoughtfully, stabbing at what remained of her side salad.
“There’s no room.”
“I don’t mean this restaurant. I mean anywhere on the island.”
“There must be something.”
