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“Faith!”
Though drenched in rain, her hair plastered to her cheeks, there was nothing and no one more beautiful in the world. She froze and stared at me, the hint of a smile touching her lips and then fading again.
“Asher…”
I wanted to grab her, hold her, beg for her forgiveness…
“I need your help,” I said. “Kal is missing. I think he went back to his house. In Hanalei.” My chest ached. “He wanted to go home.”
Faith’s hand flew to her heart. “Oh, God. Okay. What do you need?”
“There’s a footpath from here to there, through the Princeville golf course. He probably took that. He knows the way. I’m going to take it and see if I can catch up with him. I need you to drive ahead to the house. You can’t let him go in. It’s too dangerous.”
Confusion flashed over her face, but she didn’t waste time with questions. “Okay. I’ll call you when I have him.”
When. Not if.
The terror that I’d failed and was going to lose Kal too relaxed its grip on me for a short second, only to come rushing back because I was putting Faith in danger.
“Faith.Be careful.”
Faith flashed me the smallest, arch smile. “You too, firefighter,” she said pointedly. “You too.”
Then she dove into her car, and I began to run.
I drove as fast as I dared to Morgan and Nalani’s house. The rain began to let up, coming down in fat drops instead of buckets. I turned onto their drive and my heart sank to see yellow caution tape barricading the front door and lanai. Wood planks were nailed over the windows.
“God, what else can this family go through?”
My headlights splashed yellow light over the front of the house as I pulled in, and I caught a glimpse of a blue shirt. Kal was climbing under the front porch. His favorite hiding spot. Relief flooded me, but the boarded-up house screamed danger.
I left the headlights on and shot Asher a fast text.
He’s here. Under porch.
Then I climbed out of the car and picked my way over the squelching earth that sucked at my shoes.
“I hate mud,” I muttered and smirked at the irony. “This is how you and I met, Kauai. Are you testing me? Again?”
I crouched on my hands and knees and peered under the wooden slats to the dark alcove. I just barely made out the outline of the little boy.
“Kal?”
“Hi, Faith,” he said dully. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s a really long story. Why don’t you come out and I’ll tell you all about it?”
“No.”
“I heard it’s not exactly safe under there. Come on out and—”
“No.”
I blew a sigh and brushed rain-matted hair from my face. “Okay, can I sit with you? But just for a minute.”
“I guess.”
“Awesome.”
