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Leilani positioned herself near the finish line and watched as the officials tied Noa’s small leg to one of Angel’s. The height difference was adorable.
“He’ll make a good father,” a voice said beside her.
Leilani turned to find Alyssa beside her, wearing a pretty red dress with a wide skirt falling to mid-calf. She looked like a model about to stride down a runway. She held two red plastic cups. Immediately, Leilani tensed, remembering how angry Alyssa had been the last time she’d seen her the day of Makai’s surgery.
“I want to apologize for my bad behavior the other day. As an olive branch, I brought you a Mai Tai. I hope you can find room in your heart to forgive me for all the hateful things I said.” She held out the cup.
Leilani hesitated a moment before she took the offering. “What hurts most is that you believe those things about me, or you wouldn’t have said them.”
“I was frightened, scared of losing Makai and so very wrong. You mean a lot to Makai. Makai means a lot to me. Therefore, you mean a lot to me by default.”
Leilani’s lips tightened. “I don’t want to be a default to anyone.”
“I’m not very good at this,” Alyssa said, shaking her head. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry, and I want us to be friends. If not now, eventually. I’ll prove to you that I can be nice and not yell at you unprovoked.” She gave a tremulous smile and held up her cup. “To second chances?”
One of Leilani’s faults was that she couldn’t stay mad long. It wasn’t in her nature. Though she wasn’t ready to accept Alyssa’s apology, she raised her cup for her cousin. He’d want her to get along with his future bride. Leilani wanted Makai to be happy. “To second chances,” she touched the rim of her cup to Alyssa’s and then downed half the drink, enjoying the icy coolness sliding down her throat.
The race had yet to begin. One official struggled to tie the knot around a little boy’s leg and his mother’s. The child appeared to be a moving target, holding everyone else up.
Leilani drank more of her fruity drink, finishing it. Still, the race hadn’t started.
She’d been standing for what felt like hours and would like to have found a seat. The temperature seemed to be getting hotter, not cooler, with the sun setting on the horizon.
“Is it hot out here, or is it me?” Leilani fanned herself with her empty hand.
“It is a little warmer than usual,” Alyssa said. “Your face a little flushed. Are you feeling all right?”
Leilani looked toward Angel and Noa at the starting line, and her vision blurred. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m not feeling well.”
“You need to sit down.” Alyssa hooked her arm. “Let me help you.” Instead of guiding her over to the picnic tables in the pavilion, Alyssa led her to the parking lot.
“There are seats in the pavilion,” Leilani said, feeling too woozy to get anywhere on her own.
“You need a seat with air conditioning. Come sit in my car. I’ll crank up the AC. You’ll feel better in no time.”
“I need to watch the race,” Leilani said. Her words slurred along with her vision. At this point, she just wanted to lay on the ground until the world stopped spinning. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing a little air-conditioning won’t fix,” Alyssa said and slipped her arm around Leilani, supporting more of her weight as Leilani’s legs were too wobbly to hold her up.
When they reached Alyssa’s Jeep, she opened the door and helped Leilani into the passenger seat. “See? Better already.”
Leilani wasn’t so sure about that. She struggled to locate the lever on the seat of the seat that would allow her to recline. When her fingers grasped it, she could barely make it turn. When it did, she fell backward.
Alyssa climbed into the driver’s seat, started the engine and turned the air conditioner up to full blast. “That’s right. Take a nap. You’ll feel better. In a few minutes, it’ll all be over.”
“What will be over?” Leilani said, though her words didn’t sound right. She closed her eyes to keep the world from whirling around her.
She must have passed out because when she opened her eyes, Alyssa was standing beside her in the door of the Jeep, reaching beneath Leilani’s arms. “Come on, Leilani, I have a surprise for you.”
Leilani could barely lift her head. She didn’t want a surprise. She wanted to go home to bed with Angel.
“Where’s Angel?” she whispered.
“He’s waiting for you at the boat. That’s the surprise. He wanted to have a quiet dinner on the Windsong II with you. I think he’s going to propose. Come on. You don’t want to miss it.”
“Can’t move.”
“You have to. He’s waiting.” Alyssa’s jaw set as she lifted Leilani from her seat and dragged her from the Jeep.
