Chapter Four
“I still say, we should have just rented a car.” Doug followed Amy and Emily aboard the mega–tour bus for the around-the-island day trip.
“The concierge said, if I wanted to visit and enjoy the day, that this would be the best way. No hassles with maps or parking, and plenty of time to talk and have fun.” Amy knew that, as a take-charge sort of guy, Doug would have insisted on doing the driving, and his attention would have been on the road.
She was just selfish enough to only want to share him with Emily for the day.
Despite the early hour, Doug and Amy and Emily were the last to be picked up due to their hotel’s location. Most of the seats on the bus were already taken. Doug stopped near the back at a row of empty seats. “You two sit on that side. I’ll sit over here.”
Amy nodded and waited for Emily to slide over to the window.
“Nonsense.” Emily plopped instead into the seat across the way. “You guys have waited months for this day. You should sit together.”
Standing in the aisle, Doug shifted his gaze from one side to the other.
This was the first time Amy had seen anything that even closely resembled indecision in her brother’s eyes.
He seemed torn, as though choosing who to sit by was a matter of life and death.
Finally, winking at Emily, he swung around and into the seat beside Amy.
Deep in her gut, she already knew today would be one of the best days of her life.
Across the aisle, Emily had her iPad open to the map page for the tour, reading off about the first stop.
As far as Amy was concerned, they could tour the city dump.
She didn’t care; she was just so happy to be here with them.
According to the tour schedule, they should have been on their way already, but a few chatter-filled minutes later, another handful of people from their hotel boarded the bus.
Recognizing the pretty brunette from the lobby yesterday, Amy wondered if Mr. Towel would be joining them.
Next to board was a tall handsome man, his hands clasped with the pretty brunette.
Mrs. Towel appeared, followed by a striking redhead, and lastly, yesterday’s hero, Mr. Towel himself.
The group of five had to split up, the redhead taking a seat beside Emily, the other two couples filling the remainder of spots at the rear of the bus.
Amy had to admit Towel Guy looked as good in shorts and a polo shirt as he did in a hotel towel.
“Earth to Amy.” Doug waved a hand in front of her.
“Oh.” She turned her attention back to her brother. “My mind wandered.”
“Wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain accommodations-challenged tourist?”
It took Amy a few seconds to realize her brother meant the guy locked out of his room. Rather than respond, she settled for rolling her eyes and wasn’t sure if that made her the sulky teenager or him the clueless male, but either way they both laughed.
Doug glanced a moment at his fiancée chatting away with the redhead. The words ceremony, ushers, and minister drifted across the aisle, and Doug leaned into Amy and whispered, “She’s probably having more fun sharing wedding plans with her seatmate than talking to me.”
Amy snickered. He was probably right. Most women loved talking about weddings, and most men would rather have a tooth pulled. “Mom and Dad want to know when they get to meet you,” Amy said. “And I think my brother, Brandon, is a bit intimidated.”
“Intimidated?”
“He says he’s happy you reached out to me, and I know he is, but Brandon is a twenty-year-old college kid. My suspicion is the idea of a big bad navy bomb expert has him feeling a little insecure.”
“He’s a smart kid who wants to be a doctor.” Doug shook his head and swallowed a humorless chuckle. “You did tell him the big bad navy guy is just a scuba instructor?”
Amy rolled her eyes again. Doug didn’t see himself the way the world did.
He was a bona fide hero who’d fought terrorists and would have kept on doing so if he hadn’t lost his vision in one eye during an explosion.
All he saw was a grown-up foster kid from a crappy family with a career-ending injury.
At least he did consider himself damn lucky to have a woman like Emily in love with him.
Amy didn’t want to think of where he’d be if not for Emily.
Certainly not on a bus tour to the North Shore of Oahu with his long-lost little sister.
The driver picked up the mic and turned on the overhead speakers, making further conversation difficult.
Amy listened as the guy explained the history of their next destination, where the restrooms were, and how long before the bus would leave.
She had grown up taking family vacations to places like Disney and the Grand Canyon, but they’d never come to Hawaii.
Along with finding her brother and walking the Great Wall of China, visiting the famous surfing mecca of Oahu’s North Shore was tops on her wish list.
At a full stop, the bus door opened, and the driver reminded them they had twenty minutes to roam about.
Emily and the redhead exited ahead of them and continued to talk about weddings while the rest of her friends descended.
Mr. Towel was the last to join them, and Amy chastised herself for even noticing. The guy was taken.
The pretty brunette with Towel Guy’s group turned, scanned the area, and, settling her gaze on the hilltop views, sucked in a deep breath. “Wow.”
“Yeah,” Mrs. Towel muttered. “Definitely not Oklahoma.”
“You got that straight,” Mr. Towel added, then, turning to face the group, he smiled at Amy. Slowly he shifted his attention to Doug and stuck out his hand. “We never got around to introductions yesterday. I’m Ray Varner and thank you again.”
Doug smiled and accepted the proffered hand. “Doug Hamilton. And, like I said, I know exactly how you felt.” He gestured toward her. “This is my sister, Amy.”
For a split second Amy noticed Mr. Towel’s—Ray’s—mouth fall open, then snap shut. Or at least she thought she had.
Extending his arm, Doug grabbed hold of Emily’s hand, tugging her to his side. “And this is my fiancée, Emily Everrett.”
“Amy,” Emily interrupted the introductions excitedly, pointing at the redhead. “Courtney is getting married at the hotel on Saturday too.”
“You are?”
Grinning like a Powerball winner, Courtney bobbed her head. “Yeah, my fiancé is in the navy. He’s due to arrive in port sometime today.” She spun about and gestured to her friends. “This is Lisa, my maid of honor and sister of the groom, and her husband, Matt.”
Lisa wiggled her fingers in a friendly wave. Matt extended his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Doug shook the guy’s hand, and Amy and Emily opted for a smile and a nod.
“And this,” Courtney continued, “is my bridesmaid, Tish, and Ray, her brother—”
Brother? Amy was pretty sure this time her mouth had fallen open.
A strong hand shot out in front of her. Mr. Towel took a step closer and flashed her a heart-stopping smile. “Ray Varner. Very nice to meet you.”
When he’d heard the word sister, Ray was sure his jaw must have dropped.
He’d glanced at the brunette Doug had introduced as his fiancée, just to make sure he hadn’t gotten confused in the multiple introductions, and saw her hand tucked neatly into Doug’s.
Yep, Emily was the fiancée. And the attractive blonde he’d been noticing since he’d arrived was … not.
Though Tish’s friends and the other wedding people chattered around him, their words garbled into gibberish, and even their faces blurred like a movie fadeout. When he gazed into Amy’s blue-green eyes, he saw the Pacific Ocean reflected in them.
He still wasn’t sure if she was unattached. But, from the way her gaze was now fixed on his, he guessed this all-day tour, which he’d at first thought would be interminably long, just might not be long enough.
Feeling like he’d been frozen in place for minutes instead of seconds, he broke his stare. “First time in Hawaii?” he asked awkwardly. Blast, he sounded like a teenager on a blind date.
“Yes. One of the things on my bucket list is the surfers’ paradise at the North Shore that we’ll be seeing today.”
“You surf?”
“No. Do you?”
Ray shook his head. “I’m from Oklahoma. This is the first time I’ve ever even seen the ocean.” Why had he confessed to that? Now she’d probably figured him for a real country bumpkin.
“I’m originally from Sacramento.” She looked dreamily over the water. “Even though I know it’s the same Pacific I see every day, it looks different somehow.”
“Where do you live now?”
“San Francisco.”
“You like it?”
“Love it.”
“Ray!” Tish called him to the edge of the cliff. “Let’s take a selfie of us here.”
Reluctantly he moved to where his sister stood. The wind howled through his hair and threatened to push him over. Digging his sandals into the ground, holding Tish to his side, he tried several poses but couldn’t quite get the shot to contain both their heads and the scenery.
“I can take a photo of the two of you,” Amy offered.
Ray posed with his arm around his sister, smiling for the camera and Facebook. “What’s this place called anyway?”
“Pali Lookout. One of the best views on the island,” Amy answered, handing back his phone.
“Pali means cliff in Hawaiian.” Holding her hair away from her face with both hands, she walked straight to the wall near the thousand-foot drop.
“Wow,” she repeated the unoriginal but irrefutable sentiment everyone else had used to describe the view.
Ray peered over the edge. “Looks like a great place to send an enemy to instant death.”
Amy smiled. “Actually this was a battlefield.” She swept her arm across the panoramic scene, like a teacher instructing her students.
“King Kamehameha defeated the last of his enemies here and united all of Oahu under his rule. Hundreds of soldiers died in the battle, many of them by being forced off the edge of that cliff.”
The woman was smart as well as beautiful. “How did you know that?”
Amy grinned. “I just read it on the historical marker.”
He strolled over to see for himself. The Battle of Nu’uanu Pali. “Kamehameha.” Ray scratched his chin. “Isn’t he the dude on the statue in front of Hawaii Five-0 headquarters?”
Amy giggled, a sweet light laugh. “I love that show too.” She came to stand beside him. “I read that the building you see on the show is an actual government building in downtown Honolulu.”
Smart and beautiful and she liked one of his favorite TV shows. If she also watched The Amazing Race, he could fall for this woman.
“It’s been almost twenty minutes,” Tish said. “I’m getting back on the bus.”
Ray nodded but didn’t move from his spot. He was in no hurry to leave this place. And neither, apparently, was Amy.
“You like history?” she asked.
“I majored in it.”
“But do you like it?”
He grinned. “Yes. But I wish I’d had the sense to major in something more practical.” He’d considered his college studies irrelevant, since he’d always planned a career in professional football. But he’d blown out his knee in his senior year and hadn’t had a Plan B.
“More practical how?”
“Something to prepare for a career, like journalism or engineering. Or business.” He kicked a pebble under his feet. “What did you major in?”
“Business.”
“So you’re a person who plans ahead.” He should have guessed that already by the intense way she’d been multitasking her phone and tablet on the terrace yesterday. “I bet your closet is organized by season and color-coded.”
A faint blush tinged her already rosy cheeks. “Guilty.”
“We’re missing two passengers.” The bus driver stood in front of the vehicle and glared at them. “I need to keep to the schedule.”
“Sorry.” Ray walked briskly beside Amy back to the bus.
She giggled again, close to his ear. “He looks like the type to make us write ‘I will not be late again’ one hundred times.”
Despite the driver’s reproach, Ray wasn’t sorry they’d lingered. He felt comfortable with Amy. She was easy to be with. Easy to talk to. As if they’d known each other a long time.
But, once on board, Amy scooted into the seat next to her brother, and Ray had no choice but to once again sit next to Tish. He leaned back in his seat and contentedly watched the scenery roll by. Nothing here reminded him of Oklahoma, and he was loving it.
He might have to make a bucket list of his own.
Since graduating college, he hadn’t planned much more than one day at a time and had never been particularly interested in travel.
But the quiet roar of this peaceful ocean enticed him to visit other places on the planet.
Like the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco’s cable cars …
Stop it. You just met the woman. You don’t even know if Amy has a boyfriend back home.
For a brief selfish moment, he wasn’t sure he cared.