Something passed across his face, some depth of emotion that rarely slipped past his easygoing smile – but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
“Anything for you,nani,” he replied.
Laurie blushed. Usually when someone called her beautiful, it just annoyed her. It felt like a dismissal of everything that mattered, of who she truly was inside.
But in that moment, she found that she really didn’t mind.
Kekoa got out of the car and went to find his friend. By the time Laurie caught up with him, he was already working to bargain him down. He was using some words that she didn’t know – car parts, some sort of jargon related to engines.
She couldn’t catch it all by lip reading, but she got the gist. He was citing the cost of parts and convincing his cousin to knock them off the listed price. And he was doing it allin such a relaxed, easygoing way that it put the other guy at ease too. There was nothing fake or smarmy about it. Just an easy way with people that Laurie could only marvel at.
The price had already been reasonable, but in the end he got it down by a thousand dollars.
What do you think?Kekoa asked her.
It’s a good car?she asked uncertainly.Reliable?
Yes,he signed with confidence.
“Okay.” She turned to the seller. “I’ll take it.”
“I’ll get the papers.” The man walked away, and Laurie turned to Kekoa.
I thought you said it was in good shape.
“It is,” Kekoa replied.
“What was all that about it needing new parts?”
“There are a couple of things that need replacing before they wear out.” He flashed her one of those charming grins that he wielded so easily. “Nothing I can’t fix. It’s in great shape overall, and it runs well. There’s one belt in particular that looks about ready to break, but I can swap that out for you this week.”
Thanks,she gestured weakly.
Even after being acquainted nearly all their lives – and a year of knowing him well – she was still sometimes bemused by Kekoa’s easy generosity.
There was no ulterior motive, and she wasn’t the only one to benefit. She had seen him behave in the same way towards his sister, his parents, his cousins and neighbors… That was just who he was. Aloha spirit embodied.
She loved him for it.
An awareness of her own feelings had been creeping slowly along the edges of her conscious mind. It had been a long timecoming – but in that moment, self-knowledge rushed in like a charging wall of white water.
It hit her with the sudden force of an ocean wave.
She was in love with Kekoa Madeira.
And that terrified her.
7
Akemi
“We can’t go on like this,” Akemi said in her most tragic voice. She lay flat on the floor, limbs sprawled. “Mine mortal body cannot endure.”
Kaleo grinned and babbled back at her.
“Have mercy. Please. I must rest, lest I lose my mind entire.”
“Sounds a bit late for that,” Anne said from the stairs.
