Chapter 6 Anne
Anne
When the last guests finally filed out, Anne breathed a sigh of relief.
Pete and Mia were playing outside, and Claire was lounging on the lanai with a library book. There were piles and piles of dishes to get through, but at least the house was quiet.
Anne hummed an old song as she cleared the massive, solid table that her dad had made for the family when she was just a kid. Living in her childhood home, cleaning the rooms he’d built, eating at the table that he had made… it all helped her to feel connected to him even after he was gone.
“Hey Annie!” Oakley strode through the front door, and she looked up in surprise.
“Hi!” She glanced at the kitchen clock as she set a stack of dishes in the sink. “You’re early.”
“A bit.” Her sister was practically vibrating with energy. “You almost ready?”
Anne bit her lip. “Not really.”
“Oh.” Oakley deflated as she took in the pots and pans that were piled along the kitchen counter.
“Breakfast ran longer than usual, and they all checked out at the very last minute. I still need to clean two bedrooms and one bathroom before more guests check in this afternoon.”
“Right.”
“If you want to take the kids to the beach, I’ll meet you there as soon as I’m done.”
“Nah.” Oakley unbuttoned her white linen shirt, revealing the expensive athletic clothes that she always wore. “I’ll give you a hand.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“The girls brought carrot greens for Mrs. Kim’s rabbits, so they’re already across the street. We’re in no rush. I came to hang out with you.”
Thanks, Anne signed. “I wash, you dry?”
“Deal.” Oakley shrugged off her long-sleeve shirt and joined her in the kitchen.
Looking at her sister’s lean arms and unlined face, Anne’s nose scrunched up in an involuntary expression of dismay.
“Now what?” Oakley demanded.
“Sorry.” Anne let out a one-note laugh as she reached for the dish soap. “I was just wondering if I’m the only Aloha sister who actually looks my age.”
“You’re beautiful,” Oakley said immediately. She didn’t even try to tell her that she looked young.
Anne sighed. Oh well. She had a twenty-seven-year-old daughter. How young was she supposed to look?
“I mean it,” Oakley pressed. “You’re so pretty, Anne.”
“To you, sure.”
“And to Noah,” she teased.
Anne bumped Oakley with one amply padded hip. “It’s not easy being surrounded by such age-defying sisters. Laurie and Akemi both look ten years younger than they are. Halia just turned fifty, but she could be the same age as you and me. And you’re a freaking goddess. What gives?”
“I’ve had some help,” Oakley said wryly. “The others… good genes, I guess.”
“I suppose there’s a price to pay for growing up in Hawaii as a redhead. No wonder Claire’s so annoyed with me.”
“I thought that was getting better. You and Claire. Isn’t it?”
“It’s touch and go, especially now that all of her friends are shopping for their first week of high school and she’s stranded out here in the middle of the Pacific.”
“A hard lot indeed,” Oakley looked pointedly out through the kitchen windows at their ocean view. “However will she cope?”
“You know that growing up haole in Hawaii isn’t always easy.”
Oakley snatched a soapy plate from her hands. “Don’t use that word.”
“Growing up… melanin deficient?”
Her sister snorted a laugh.
“What word should I use?”
“Kama‘āina,” Oakley said immediately.
“That might be true for you and me. We were born here, and you’ve lived here most of your life. But even as locals, we got bullied.”
“Not after Noah punched Kevin Lau in the nose we didn’t.”
Anne chuckled. “Yeah, well, my kids don’t have a Noah. And they’re not at easy ages. They’re going to get clobbered if I send them to school in Pahoa.”
“They won’t,” Oakley argued. “Kids these days are soft. It’s not like when we were growing up.”
“Hm.” Anne wasn’t so sure. Her sister lived in a bubble up in Waimea. “I still think they’d have a rough time in public school. They weren’t exactly thriving in California. And I can’t afford private.”
“If you don’t want to send them to school, then don’t.”
“That simple, huh?”
“It’s easy to homeschool here. Legally, I mean. And there’s tons of online programs these days, if you don’t want to teach them yourself.”
Anne hummed again, more thoughtful than dismissive this time. “I’ll look into it.”
With Oakley’s help, Anne got through her work for the day in a third of the time that it usually took to do it all on her own. They drove south to their favorite black sand beach, because neither of them had been down that way in ages.
Oakley’s long, lean legs drew looks from everyone as she strode down the beach. Walking beside her sister, wearing a long cotton dress and a lightweight shirt to cover her arms, Anne felt invisible.
She should probably feel relieved that strange men didn’t stare at her anymore. It was certainly safer to be invisible. And she should be confident in who she was, regardless of whether or not strangers thought that she was good looking.
But despite all of those shoulds, Anne wasn’t entirely comfortable with her descent into obscurity. Being well and truly middle aged took some getting used to… and it didn’t help that her almost-twin was still turning heads.
Maybe Oakley was right, she thought wryly. Maybe she just needed Pilates.
They rushed back to the house that afternoon so that Anne was there to greet the next group of guests.
Once all the kids were fed, Oakley opted to allow a sleepover in grandma’s room rather than driving back in the dark.
The kids all crowded onto Grandma’s bed with bowls of popcorn and settled in for a movie night.
Anne went down to the kitchen to do some prep work for breakfast the next day.
“You should stay over more often,” she said when Oakley joined her downstairs. “The kids love it. Mom does too.”
Oakley nodded, but the corners of her mouth twitched downward.
“What?” Anne pressed.
“It’s just difficult. Logistically. With my work schedule and all of their activities and the drive. They go back to school soon, and it’s going to be tough to get down here at all.”
“Something’s gotta give. You do too much.”
“I can handle it.”
“But what about family time? They’re only little once.”
“Right, and I’m going to pack as many good things into their childhood as I can.” The cheer that Oakley forced into her voice sounded brittle.
“They need downtime too. So do you.”
Oakley tossed her yellow hair impatiently. Still damp from the beach and then the shower, it wasn’t up in her usual ponytail. Between that and her crumpled linen shirt, she looked less polished than usual. Softer.
But when she spoke again, there was nothing soft in her voice.
“I’ll run to town for some Thai food while you do that.” She gestured vaguely at the pineapple that Anne was slicing. “Any requests?”
“All the usual stuff,” Anne said with a shrug. If Oakley didn’t want to have a real conversation, she wouldn’t push. She wanted to, but she knew her sister well enough to let it go for now.
Pete came down a few minutes later with Rikki on his shoulder. The mongoose pup was getting big; sooner or later, they would have to figure out their long-term plans for the animal he’d rescued.
Anne sighed and set that problem aside for another day.
“Hi.” Pete climbed onto a stool at the kitchen island.
“Hey. Why aren’t you watching a movie with your cousins?”
“I’ve seen that one before. Anyway, Grandma won’t let Rikki on her bed.” He looked very solemn, so Anne swallowed the laugh that rose in her throat.
Pete opened a bag of cat treats and offered one to Rikki. He sat there quietly for a time while Anne worked, and then his face brightened with an idea.
“Hey Mom, would you help me send a picture of Rikki to dad?”
Anne smiled at him, but it felt unconvincing, even to her. It had been a long time since her ex-husband responded to any of their son’s messages. Maybe Pete thought that a mongoose on his shoulder would do the trick.
“Sure, buddy.” She rinsed her hands and snapped a picture with her phone, then sent it to Colin.
“Let me see!”
Anne handed her phone over, and he grinned at the picture. Then he scrolled through the long string of messages he had sent with no response save the occasional thumbs-up reaction, and his smile faded away.
“Why doesn’t he ever reply?” Pete asked in a small voice.
“I don’t know, sweetheart.” Anne fished around for an explanation. “He gets distracted easily. Maybe he just forgets.”
Pete sighed. “Okay. I’m gonna go watch the movie. Can you take care of Rikki for a while?”
“I have a lot of work to do in the kitchen. Why don’t you let him out for some exercise?”
“But what if he runs away?” Pete exclaimed.
“Sweetheart, he was born in the wild. He might decide to go back to the wild someday.”
“But he’s just little!”
“Right, and he’ll probably stay right in the backyard where he knows he always has food and water. But if he wants to explore a bit, that’s fine too.”
“But I love him.” Pete pulled the mongoose down from his shoulder to hold him in both arms.
“Sometimes, the most loving thing that you can do is let go. And if he stays close, then you know that living here is his choice.”
Pete let out a long, dramatic sigh.
“Okay,” he said after a while. He opened a fresh can of kitten food, plopped it into Rikki’s bowl outside, and then trudged upstairs to join his cousins.
“Wash your hands!” Anne called after him.
“Oh-kay!” he shouted back, putting a grouchy emphasis on the second syllable. Anne just shook her head.
“You should probably stick around a while,” she told Rikki through the screen.
“Who, me?” Noah’s asked. Anne looked up and found him watching her through the screen door. He was on the property so often that it didn’t even startle her anymore.
“I was speaking to the mongoose,” she said calmly.
“Figures,” he volleyed cheerfully.
“What are you doing here?” Her voice had lost the bite that used to drive that question. Noah heard the change, and he smiled as he let himself into the kitchen.
“I gave Zoe a ride home from work.” He tilted his head and looked at her. “Are you okay?”
“Long day,” she said, looking back down at the food that covered the counter. She was about to start slicing and dicing mangos for salsa.
Noah stepped closer and put a gentle hand between her shoulders. Anne was still for a moment, feeling his hand on her back. Just standing next to him brought her wholly into her body in a way that rarely happened anymore.
Slowly, she turned toward him.
Noah was tall, but so was she. Her face rested easily between his neck and shoulder. She breathed in the warm smell of good soil and growing things.
His arms embraced her, surrounding her without holding her too tight.
More than anyplace else – more than the home she’d made in San Diego or the house she grew up in or even in her long conversations with Oakley – she felt a profound sense of home in his arms.
She felt plain and overlooked everywhere but with him.
With Noah, she felt seen. Valued. Loved.
Not loved for what she gave as a mother or for the place she held in her family. Loved for who she was. Mind, body, and soul.
“How about Thursday?” he asked softly.
“Hm?” She felt dreamy, like his voice had brought her out of a trance.
“For our date,” he clarified, stepping back to see her face.
“Thursday.” She nodded. “Okay.”
His grin was as warm as the summer sun, and he didn’t say a thing. Maybe he didn’t want to jinx the moment or upset this fragile new something that was growing between them. He just kissed her hairline and then left through the back door.
Rikki slipped back in just before the door swung closed, and Anne looked down at the mongoose as she worked to process what had just happened.
“Thursday,” she said again, feeling dazed.
Rikki chirped at her and ran upstairs in search of Pete.