AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This was the time panic usually welled up in him, but he’d practiced defusing the feeling during meditation. He’d concentrated on his breathing with Jun, and he did that again now, calming himself, emptying his mind of fear. It was easier when he was sitting cross-legged on a mat in his gym, and much, much harder with an angry wave welling up beneath him, hissing mad and doing everything it could to drag him under. But he didn’t go into the drink. He stayed steady, arms out, and, miraculously, his knee held.
Got to do this for Po. That little boy needs me to do this.
Thinking about Po, he found he didn’t have time to worry about his knee, about whether he was going to hurt it again, about whether the rubber band would snap. He just...surfed. The wave, which had seemed so scary and out of control, suddenly backed down, losing whatever monstrous momentum it had had when he’d first stood up on it. It felt a little bit like the old days. Throw whatever you have at me, ocean. I can handle it.
He carved his board into the wave as he whipped wet, cold hair off his forehead. The cloud cover and wind chilled him, but he didn’t care. He was doing it. He was surfing. He was standing up and making the ocean bend to his will. For the first time since the tsunami, his knee held. His chest burst with excitement, with dangerous hope. He felt the way he had when he saw Po wading into the ocean up to his knees. Maybe we’re going to be all right.
The wave drove him close to shore, cruising him almost to twenty feet from Po, Jun and Aunt Kaimana. Po was jumping up and down and cheering, and Jun was clapping, her eyes bright. Aunt Kaimana’s expression was carefully neutral. Maybe she didn’t want to encourage him too much.
“You did it!” Po shouted, still bouncing as Kai jogged through the shallow water to the shore.
“You helped me, little man,” Kai said. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Po hugged Kai, even though he was wet. Kai glanced up and saw Jun watching them, smiling, and Kai felt right then that there couldn’t be bigger joy in the world. Such a small accomplishment, if he stopped to really think about it, and yet it meant so much to Po and Jun. For the first time in a very long time, Kai felt proud. Then the skies above them opened up and the warm tropical rain beat down on their heads and they all ran for Kai’s house, the rain plunking wetly on the sand as they went.
* * *
LATER THAT EVENING, the rain still beat hard on the roof, and water rushed into the drainage ditches down the small street leading to Kai’s house. This was a torrential downpour and no small tropical storm, and it looked as though the clouds had moved in to settle there for the night. Jun, mostly soaking wet, had run to her ancient hatchback, hoping to pull it up to the front door so Po could get in, but with a quick turn of the ignition, she had found her engine was dead. She wasn’t sure if it was the battery or the alternator. The car was so old and banged up that most of the time, she was shocked when it did run. She wanted to get a new one, but she wouldn’t until she knew she could count on her extra income.
Kai had offered to help, but he couldn’t get her car running, either, and now both she and Po were in Kai’s Jeep, being chauffeured back to their apartment.
“You didn’t have to do this,” Jun said for the hundredth time as they moved slowly down the rain-slicked roads, the windshield wipers working hard.
“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to,” Kai said. “I can’t have you stranded. And you turned down my offer to stay. Auntie is happily tucked away in a guest bedroom for the night, but I have three more! You could’ve taken one.”
Jun felt goose bumps rise on her arms. The idea of spending a night under Kai’s roof... It made her think things she shouldn’t. She was already struggling with how much he’d helped Po that day. Her jealousy had subsided, and now all she felt was grateful and sorry for biting Kai’s head off. The combination might push her to the edge, she thought. Might make her say things—or, more likely, do things—she regretted. Even now, sitting so close to Kai in the front seat, she sensed every little movement he made. She was so aware of him: his lean legs in his cargo shorts; his muscled, tanned forearms as he gripped the steering wheel. Behind them, Po sat happily in his booster seat, his head lolling forward. The poor kid was tired. It was nearly seven thirty, practically his bedtime. The sky grew darker, and Jun couldn’t tell if it was the storm or the setting sun.
