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His aunt, wearing a billowing flowered muumuu, poked her head out of the screen door and waved. “How did the first day of training go?”
“Not so well.” He dragged his heavy toolbox out of the back of his Jeep and carried it up to the back porch.
His aunt frowned. “Why? You scared her off already?”
“No. She’s crazy.” Kai brushed past her and went into her house, which always smelled like tropical flowers. He made a beeline for her kitchen and set the toolbox down on the counter. He opened the loose cabinet door—second from the sink—and studied the loose hinge.
“Why?”
Kai dug around in his toolbox to come up with a screwdriver.
“She won’t let me drink. Or have sex. Or...”
Kaimana burst into laughter. “Sounds like she does know what she’s doing, then.”
“Ruining my life, you mean?” Kai grumbled as he went to work on the hinge.
“You should give Jun one more chance. Let me babysit her little one for one week.”
He focused on his work.
“But, Auntie, she has crazy ideas about kale shakes and Chi and... No. I can’t work with her. I just can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Aunt Kaimana challenged him.
“Does it matter?”
“Only if you want to surf.” Aunt Kaimana shrugged. “I’d be happy if you didn’t, but you might feel differently.”
In a few more seconds, he’d finished fixing the door. “There,” he said. “Good as new.”
Aunt Kaimana inspected his work and nodded her approval.
He went to her fridge and opened it and grabbed a beer from inside, twisting off the cap.
“You drink too much,” Aunt Kaimana said, jabbing a finger into Kai’s chest and then stealing the bottle.
“Hey, that’s mine!”
“It’s my fridge, so it’s mine.” Aunt Kaimana grinned, mischief on her face, as she happily took a swig of the beer. “There’s more to life than surfing. Maybe you should think about retiring. When are you going to quit this young man’s game? You’re too old to be helicoptering into waves.”
“I only helicoptered in a few times. Most of the time, I get towed in by a Jet Ski.”
“Same difference. It’s all suicide, if you ask me.” Kaimana took another swig. “Did you find a new tow partner yet?”
Kai thought about Bret and the furious look in his eyes when he’d stalked out of Kirk’s office. Kai deserved every last bit of that resentment, too.
“Not yet. Still looking,” Kai said. Might never find one. The thought of big-wave surfing was scary enough, but without Bret, could he really do it? The two had been so close they could almost read each other’s minds. Kai knew he’d never find that in another tower. But, he couldn’t blame Bret for quitting on him, either. If Kai had been in his shoes, he would’ve done the same.
“You’re too old for this extreme stuff,” Kaimana said again.
“If I’m old, what does that make you?” Kai teased, and his aunt just gave him a playful shove.
“Old enough to tell you what to do!”
“You got me there.” Kai knew she had a point about his age. He was thirty-three. The guys who were up and coming now topped at eighteen or nineteen. Too young to figure out they were in a crazy sport where people sometimes died.
“You need to stop this risky surfing, Kai. Focus on your other businesses. Stop trying to kill yourself.”
Kai thought about the tsunami, about how close he’d come to dying that day. Still, he wasn’t ready to walk away from the ocean. Surfing was all he’d ever wanted to do, and he’d been lucky enough to make a fortune doing it. Giving it up just wasn’t in him. It was too much an ingrained part of his identity to let go. Plus, the idea of figuring out something else to do terrified him.
“I’m not quitting,” he managed. “Surfing is my life.” Kai put his arms around his aunt’s shoulders and squeezed. He knew she loved him and wanted to keep him safe. “And I know it’s just because you want me to come work on your house every day.”
“Got me,” Aunt Kaimana said.
