18. Lani
Lani
Their clear blue winter was followed by a gray spring. Thick storm clouds hung over Pualena, drenching them in near-constant rain that ranged from a mist to a downpour.
When Lani went to pick her boxes of coloring books up from the post office, she draped each one in a raincoat to carry it out to her truck, where she stacked them in the cab instead of the flooded truckbed.
Her phone pinged about a dozen times as she drove. Despite her best efforts, she hadn’t succeeded in creating much breathing room for their family.
It was one thing to say that they needed more downtime; it was another thing to decide which activities and commitments needed to go. The girls loved soccer. Friends’ birthday parties felt irrefusable. Family was family, and there was always some gathering or another happening.
Carving out more time for rest meant refusing invitations to things that she genuinely wanted to be a part of, and she hadn’t quite figured out how to do that.
Lani loved her community with her whole heart, and she felt ungrateful for not appreciating a life that was basically one nonstop party full of family and aloha… but lately, she was just so tired.
When she got home, it was pouring so hard that she didn’t even try to take the boxes out of the truck; she just opened the nearest one, tucked a couple of coloring books under her raincoat, and ran for the house.
Just inside the door, she shed her coat and set the books down on a side table.
“You got them!” Tenn picked the coloring books up and started leafing through them.
“Do they look okay?”
“Same as the samples they sent. They’re brilliant.”
“Thanks.” She ducked into the circle of his arms and leaned into his chest, letting the warmth of him ease the chill of the day. He set the books back down and held her with both arms.
“You said there are stores that want to stock them?”
“Big Island Bookbuyers in Hilo agreed to stock a few and see how it goes. There are a couple of stores in Kona that are willing to take a few copies too, and I’m going to stop in at other stores while I’m driving around to see if anyone else is interested.”
Reluctantly, she left the circle of his arms and went to get the books she’d left in the living room.
Ever since she got the sample copies, she had been coloring in her spare time, from five-minute lulls at Haumona Shave Ice to quiet time with the girls to hours of zen after their bedtime when Tenn had crashed early too.
“I colored in the more advanced coloring book, and the girls colored the kid one.”
He opened up the intricate coloring book that she had spent months designing and weeks coloring with a vast array of colored pencils to make the detailed designs really pop.
“I thought that if I had samples of both, I might sell more.”
“This is gorgeous,” he said, looking at her illustration of a Hawaiian honeycreeper surrounded by native flowers. “People are going to love these.”
“I sure hope so. I’ve poured enough time into them.”
“I’ve got to get to work.” He handed the books back and kissed her soundly. “Good luck today.”
“Thanks.”
“Will you be home for dinner?”
“Probably not. We’ll stay Kona side for sunset and then drive home.”
“Okay.” He kissed her again. “See you tonight.”
Once he was gone, Lani went looking for the girls. They were in the backyard, playing with plastic dolls in the rain.
“It’s a monsoon!” Rory yelled, spinning her dolls in a circle. “We’re doomed!”
“Monsoons don’t do that!” Olivia said.
“Doooooooooomed!”
“Girls, come inside!” Lani called. “It’s time to get ready to go.”
“Go where?” Rory demanded.
“Kona beach day, remember?”
“Is it sunny in Kona?” she shouted, blinking rain from her eyes.
“It’s sunny in Kona,” Lani confirmed.
“Hooray!” She held her dolls over her head. “We’re saved!”
Lani wrapped each girl in a towel as they came through the door, then sent them to their room to change into bathing suits and dry clothes.
There was a knock on the door and Lani frowned, wondering who would be out knocking on doors in this rain. Her family stopped by without warning sometimes, but they would just open the door and let themselves in.
She opened the door, and her stomach dropped in surprise.
“Lorenzo?”
“Ciao.” His smile was nervous, and water dripped from his dark hair.
“What are you–”
“Babbo!” Rory shouted. She ran past Lani and slammed into her father, who laughed in delight.
“Buongiorno, stellina !” He scooped Rory up, and she threw her arms around his neck. Streams of water ran from her wet hair onto her dry cotton sundress.
Lorenzo squeezed her tight and then looked at Lani, who stepped back from the doorway.
“Come on in,” she said, her tone not exactly welcoming.
“It is so good to see you, figlia mia ,” he said, holding their daughter tight.
Rory gasped. “Now I can give you the bracelet I made you!”
“What is a bracelet?”
“I’ll show you!” She wiggled out of his arms and ran to her room.
“What are you doing here?” Lani asked.
He looked at her with concern. “I am visiting our daughter.”
“You can’t just show up without calling.”
“ Scusami , Lani, but I did call. You did not receive my messages?”
Lani went searching for her phone, which was still buried in the oversized tote bag that she used as a purse.
Sure enough, buried in two days’ worth of chatter and group texts, there were unread messages from Lorenzo saying that he was coming to visit followed by messages saying he had landed and then arrived in Pualena.
“Right. Sorry.” She ran a hand over her eyes, overwhelmed and tired. “I’ve been trying to spend less time on my phone, but I should have checked.”
“I am sorry for the late notice. I suddenly had some time free from work, and I missed her very much, so I found a last-minute ticket. I am here only for two weeks.”
“It’s okay. I get it.” She could hardly imagine spending two days away from her daughter, never mind months on end.
“Look, Babbo!” Rory ran out and presented him with the bracelet she had made. It was a mix of pink and orange plastic beads, and Lorenzo accepted it like it was the most precious item he had ever received. He immediately slipped it onto his wrist.
“Where are you staying?” Lani asked.
“I am again renting a room from the Kalama family.”
“Dawn and Kimo?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” She blinked in surprise. “I didn’t realize that you were renting from Dawn. When you were here before.” But then, she had never let him take Rory back to his place… a measure that had felt self-evident at the time but seemed overbearing in hindsight.
Dawn Kalama was a friend of the family, one of her many aunties growing up.
All of the Kalama sisters were older than Lani, but she knew them in the way that everyone in Pualena knew each other.
The oldest sister, Halia, ran the local women’s shelter that had given Nell and her children refuge when they needed it.
“Are they still in that big house down by the cliffs?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Nice. They fostered some of my classmates growing up, so I was in and out of that house a bit. Birthday parties and stuff.”
“It’s a beautiful home. I would like to bring Rory there for a visit, if you will let us. There are many things there for her to play with. They have granddaughters close to her age.”
“Can I go, Mama?” Rory grabbed her arm and clung to it, picking her feet up off the ground to hang on her.
“Sure, baby. That’s okay.”
“Yay!” She released Lani and launched herself at Lorenzo.
“I’m driving to Kona today.” A low anxiety simmered in Lani’s chest. She reminded herself that Lorenzo had earned her trust. “I can come by the Kalama place and pick Rory up around bedtime, if that’s okay? About an hour after sunset?”
He nodded. “Thank you.”
“Okay.” She steeled herself and forced a smile as she patted Rory’s shoulder. “Have fun today.”
“Bye, Mama! Bye, Livie!”
Lani turned to see Olivia standing behind them in the hallway looking sad and confused.
“Hey, sweetheart.” She moved towards Olivia as Lorenzo carried Rory out the door. “We had a surprise visitor. Rory’s going with her babbo for the day.”
“Does this mean that we’re not going to the beach?” she asked.
Lani knelt in front of her stepdaughter. “I still have to go to those stores in Kona. Do you want to come along, just you and me?”
She brightened. “Yeah!”
“We’ll get some burgers for lunch, and you can pick the beach. Sound good?”
Olivia surprised her with a hug, squeezing tight. The almost eight year old was much less demonstrative than Rory, in some ways still shy around Lani despite all of the time that they had spent together.
Lani missed her daughter already, but suddenly she was grateful to have a full day of quality time with Livie.
“Come on,” she said when Olivia finally stepped back. “Let’s go have a Kona beach day.”