Chapter 6
CHAPTER
SIX
KOA
“Koa, you need anything?” Harlan called up the ladder.
Koa wasn’t sure how he’d ended up on his friend’s roof and how his friend was still sitting in the same beach chair watching the Dodgers game in his carport as he’d been when Koa arrived to lend him a hand, but it wasn’t surprising. This happened at an alarming rate in Koa’s life.
“Nah, I’m almost done,” Koa said as he finished replacing the shingle and then climbed back down the ladder. “You’re going to have to get the whole thing replaced in a couple years.”
Harlan nodded. “I know. But I’m putting it off as long as I can.”
Koa understood. His own roof was in the same predicament. He didn’t know many on the island who had an extra ten to twenty grand just laying around. And he definitely didn’t know any firefighters who did.
“Well, that should keep it good for now,” Koa handed Harlan back the hammer he’d borrowed.
“Thanks, man,” Harlan said as he took the hammer and placed it beside him. “Can I offer you a cold one?”
Koa smiled when he saw the cooler Harlan opened was full of soda as well as beer. Koa knew his friend made sure to have them on hand when Koa came around. He really did have the best community.
“Koa!” Harlan’s wife Naomi called out before opening her screen door. “Don’t let him get away with just paying you in soda. Next time get your own sorry okole up that ladder, Harlan,” Naomi demanded.
“But Koa is so much better at it,” Harlan replied with a whine.
Naomi narrowed her eyes at her husband. “Koa, ignore his call next time.”
Koa laughed. Naomi and Harlan’s arguments were harmless. He knew it was hard to be married to a firefighter but some of the best marriages he’d witnessed were between his coworkers and their significant others. Once upon a time, Koa had hoped to find the same. But now….
Koa’s phone rang.
“Pay the man,” Naomi directed Harlan.
“You know Koa won’t take any money,” Harlan shot back, his eyes on the TV screen since the game had come back on.
“You are useless,” Naomi said to Harlan before turning to Koa. “Go ahead and answer that. I’ll be right back out.”
Koa did as he was told and answered his phone in the carport. “Hi, Tutu.”
“Hi, Koa,” his Tutu’s voice was grainy from years of use, but Koa loved it more than any other sound. Without Tutu, Koa had no idea where he’d be. “When you stay coming home?”
Koa glanced from the screen door Naomi had just entered to his truck parked on the street. “I should be on my way soon. You need something?”
“Nah, I’m good. I just need for talk to you,” Tutu replied.
A lump formed in Koa’s throat. That wasn’t good.
“You sure you don’t want to talk about it now?” Koa asked, hoping to get the conversation over with. If Tutu just wanted to scold him about something like the way he’d left his socks or that he was working too much, she could do it over the phone. But if she insisted on waiting until he was home…
“Here,” Naomi said as she came out of the house with a tray wrapped in tinfoil and handed it to Koa.
“Is that guava cake?” Harlan’s attention no longer on the game but on the tray balanced on Koa’s hand.
“Yes, it’s the guava cake. As the one doing the man-of-the-house work around here, I think Koa deserves it,” Naomi replied sassily.
“I don’t need all of this,” Koa said as he covered the mouthpiece of the phone in his other hand, waiting for Tutu to reply.
“Yeah, he doesn’t need all of it, Naomi.”
“Yes, he does.” Naomi’s glare could have leveled a city, so Koa backed up and decided if Naomi wanted him to have the whole cake, he was taking the whole cake.
“Sorry, man,” Koa muttered as he walked out of the carport.
“Naomi, you left me a piece, yeah?” Harlan asked.
“Did you fix any part of that roof?” Naomi asked.
Koa got in his truck.
“You with Harlan guys?” Tutu asked, obviously having listened to the conversation instead of replying to Koa’s question.
“Yeah. Harlan needed help with his roof.”
“You tell that boy for fix his own roof,” Tutu muttered.
Koa bit back his laugh. He knew Tutu thought some of his friends and coworkers took advantage of his helpful nature, but what Tutu didn’t know was how much these guys were there for him. His way of helping was more obvious but they did their part.
“So can you tell me what we need to talk about now?” Koa asked once more.
“You on your way home, yeah? Just wait,” Tutu said before hanging up the phone.
Great.
Koa sighed, his mind going to all the things Tutu might have to talk to him about, but it always came back to one thing. Money.
When Koa’s papa had passed when Koa was six, Tutu hadn’t missed a step. She took on more shifts as a bus driver to provide for them all, a big part of why she’d been physically absent during Koa’s childhood, while Koa’s mom did who knew what.
Tutu had continued caring for Koa when Koa’s older brothers had both left the island for college.
Eventually, Kahiau had come home and raised his family just down the street from Tutu, but with a wife and two kids, he had his own issues to deal with.
So when it came time for Tutu to retire and she refused to because she had no way to pay her mortgage if she did, Koa took over.
He wouldn’t let his grandma work herself into an early grave.
He pled with her to retire, and when she finally did, he started paying the mortgage and every bill his tutu had.
It was the least he could do after she’d raised him and everyone he loved.
But as time went on, the financial load continued to get heavier.
They’d had to take out a second mortgage a few years back for his mom’s medical expenses, and things kept piling up.
When Koa saw that his firefighting paycheck would only go so far, he took on a second job as a lifeguard—the same thing many of his coworkers had to do as well.
But on Maui, expenses always went up, and, therefore, so did Koa’s hours.
He was now working his two to three twenty-four-hour shifts at the firehouse each week and then was lifeguarding every day he wasn’t there.
His captain didn’t love it, Tutu didn’t love it, heck, Koa didn’t love it, but he saw no other way.
He pulled into the well-worn driveway of the place he’d called home for as long as he could remember.
He tried to ignore his own weakening roof and cracked gravel driveway.
His yard was perfect—Koa never missed mowing or trimming his trees—and the paint on the front porch was no longer chipping after Koa sanded and painted the weekend before.
But those big money fixes? Koa sighed once more.
“Hi, Tutu,” Koa said as he came in the front door and then leaned over the back of Tutu’s favorite lounging chair to give her a kiss on the head.
“I left some hamburger steak in da microwave for you. You can add da mac and green salad from the fridge,” Tutu directed as she turned off the TV.
Oh, man. She was turning off her Kdrama. This just went from bad to really bad.
Koa set the cake Naomi had given him on the table and then took a seat on the couch closest to Tutu.
“I think we should talk before I eat my dinner,” Koa said patting his tutu’s knee. He didn’t like how frail she was beginning to feel. Koa had never known a more formidable woman than his tutu, but like with everyone else, time was catching up to her. And Koa hated it. A world without Tutu?
So even as he didn’t look forward to whatever was coming next, at least his tutu was here, telling him about it.
“I got da new property tax bill,” Tutu said, her gnarled hand patting Koa’s that still sat on her knee.
“How bad?” Koa asked.
“It went up more than we thought it would,” Tutu replied.
Koa hissed. They’d anticipated it going up by a lot thanks to a new bill that had passed on the island. But more than that?
Koa gently took his hand from her knee before rubbing it over his face, trying to take back his reaction. Worrying Tutu helped no one.
“This is one big house, Koa,” Tutu began.
Koa shook his head. Tutu had talked about taking in renters for years. It was just the two of them and there were four bedrooms. But Koa didn’t want his grandmother living with strangers.
“Koa, listen to me,” Tutu’s voice became stern.
Koa took in a deep breath as he turned to Tutu.
“You made ‘em work for one long time. You not failing, you taking da next step,” she explained kindly but firmly.
No matter how she framed it, Koa didn’t like it. It was still strangers living in their home.
“Da housing market is hard for plenty people. What if we could help someone?” Tutu asked.
Koa sat back. Tutu knew she’d played dirty. Koa understood what it was like to face not having a home. He never wanted anyone to feel that way. So for Tutu to take this approach? It had been calculated. And it was working.
“I’ll think about it,” Koa said gruffly.
“I don’t know what you have for think about. This still my house,” Tutu muttered causing Koa to smile.
Tutu might be aging but her fight was just getting stronger.
Koa stood to go to the microwave, warming up the dinner Tutu had left for him.
“Let’s sit on it. Maybe there will be another solution,” Koa said as he watched the turntable in the microwave rotate.
“Or we do what we need for do,” Tutu said as she turned her show back on.
“Tutu,” Koa said sternly but the woman ignored him.
Koa sighed and decided this was a fight for another day. He’d eat his dinner and then figure out how to make things right.
Because his tutu was counting on him.