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Kai hesitated a bit. “I can write you the severance check,” he offered. “A deal’s a deal.”
“I can’t take it,” Jun managed, swallowing the lump in her throat. I will not cry. I will keep it together. What is wrong with me? “I’ll just...go get Po.” Jun walked away from Kai stiffly and headed out the back door and past the pool. She didn’t care whether Kai followed her or not. She just needed to get her son and get out of there. The salty breeze off the sparkling Pacific Ocean ran through her hair as she jogged down the wooden steps built over the black lava rocks dotting the beach. Tourists lay on the sand of the narrow beach with towels and umbrellas, and she wandered through them. All beaches in Hawaii were public land, so even houses built near them had to share. The scent of coconut sunscreen filled her nose as she strode past.
She saw Kaimana and Po about a hundred feet away, walking surprisingly near the water line. Jun couldn’t believe Po was all right with being so close to the water. She hurriedly made her way toward them, anxiety knotting her stomach. After last night’s nightmare, she didn’t think it was a good idea for Po to be that close to the tide. Unlike the day-care and preschool teachers, she didn’t think throwing him into the water was any way to help him overcome fear.
“Jun!” Kai called from behind her. “Jun, wait.” She turned but didn’t slow her steps. The last thing she wanted to do was get in a prolonged conversation with Kai about how she ought to take a severance check or other such nonsense. She just wanted to get home. Jun glanced back at Po and saw, miracle of miracles, that Kaimana had somehow gotten the boy to wade into the surf up to his ankles. She froze, amazed. Po wouldn’t even take a bath, much less step into the ocean. Kaimana was showing him a small crab, about the size of a silver dollar, that had darted back into the surf and then out of it again, looking for lunch. Jun realized that Po was so distracted by chasing the crab that he’d stepped into the water without thinking about it. Kaimana held his sandals in her hand, and she also kept her hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“Po!” Jun called, holding up her hand. Her boy beamed up at her and waved back, his jet-black hair ruffled by the wind. Kaimana, up to her knees in the surf, glanced up, too, turning her back for a second to the ocean. It was Jun who saw the big blue rolling horizon behind them, twice as high as the others.
“Look out!” she shouted, but too late, as the wave came crashing into Kaimana’s side, drenching her, then knocking Po straight off his feet. Next thing she knew, Po was flailing and screaming hysterically. Her heart raced as she tore down the beach to him.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
KAI RAN AFTER JUN. It had all happened so fast; one second the boy was standing with his auntie in the surf, and the next he was flat on his butt, head dunked down in only about two feet of water, his mother bolting to him in a panic. At first he thought she was overreacting. After all, Po just needed to find his feet again and stand up, and he’d be fine. There was no chance of drowning, and his auntie was already bending to help him to his feet. But then Po screamed in terror, a primal kind of shout. Even when he managed to regain his footing, he didn’t stop. He kept screaming.
That was when Kai realized something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
Kaimana was holding him upright, but the boy was thrashing, fighting back, kicking and shrieking, as if the very touch of water on his skin brought him pain. Jun was there, too, running out into the surf with her cross-trainers still on, not caring if they got wet. She snatched up Po in her arms, but he fought her, too, flailing as she tried to get him to the dry sand. She struggled with the thrashing boy as she walked, and then he bit her, hard, on the arm. Jun cried out in pain and, stunned, dropped Po to the sand. He took off running, but Kai intercepted him. He was in front of Po in seconds, arms on the preschooler’s shoulders.
“Po! Po, you’re all right. Stop.” The boy’s eyes were wild with fear. Kai recognized the panic. He knelt down.
“Po. Look at me. Calm down. Deep breaths. It’s Kai, okay? Remember me? I’m here, Po. No need to be scared. You’re not going to drown. You’re fine. You’re fine.” Distantly, Kai remembered it was close to what he’d told him after the second wave hit, when they were floating in dangerous debris in the street. “I’m not leaving you, okay? You’re fine.”
