Chapter 7
Even at our second appointment Gabe didn’t look any more like a physiotherapist. He was wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and Vans.
Once again, he had a pair of shades on his head and smelled of wintergreen gum.
I didn’t doubt for a second that he took his job seriously.
Because Kay had chosen him. He exuded something heartfelt and reliable too.
“You look a bit done,” he said as I lay down on my back.
“And your ankle played along?” Gabe asked, placing my heel in his left hand and rolling his right thumb carefully over my scar.
I nodded.
“Great.” He began to stretch and make circles with my foot. “Any other problems show up?”
“Nope.”
With both hands he kneaded my right calf and thigh. A deep, almost painful pressure that I had come to love over the years. A kind of feel-good pain.
When he began to bend my knee and fixed my lower leg beneath his arm, my eyes drifted back to his tattoo.
“Does it mean anything?”
He didn’t answer right away, and for a moment I feared having gone too far.
“It’s a Polynesian tattoo. The triangle represents a shark’s tooth. For my family’s aumakua. It’s a kind of guardian spirit.”
“Your family’s guardian spirit is a shark?”
“Yes,” he said.
Gabe had increased the bend toward my upper thigh and for a second I couldn’t breathe.
“Have you ever seen one? A shark, I mean.”
He nodded. “A hammerhead. I was out surfing with my daughter. But that was a long time ago.”
“You’ve got a daughter?” I asked in surprise.
Kay had only mentioned a dead son.
“A stepdaughter. Millie. She’s a few years older than you. Lives with Julie in San Diego.”
I didn’t miss the fact that his voice had changed. Had grown sadder with every word.
“That shouldn’t stop you from going into the water though.
Considerably more people lose their lives here due to falling coconuts than shark attacks.
” He looked up. “No joke. Last year one nabbed a jogger on Sunset Beach.” Gabe took hold of my other leg.
“So, stay by the water.” He winked. “You’ll get a better view of the surfers that way too. ”
“Oh, the surfers!” I gasped a little too theatrically.
Gabe raised his eyebrows. Until that moment I’d been able to more or less successfully forget the unpleasant run-in with Vince Greenfield—or rather, both run-ins.
“Yesterday I happened to meet Kay’s neighbor.”
“Vince?”
“You know him?” I was so surprised that I moved to sit up, but Gabe gently indicated that we weren’t done yet.
“Since he was little. He was here every year on vacation with his folks. And his sister.”
“Laurie,” we both said simultaneously.
“They always used to stay at Old Jim’s. Jim Kamakahi.
” A tinge of nostalgia had crept into his voice.
“A legend among surfers around here. Won the Pipeline Masters multiple times.” I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was about to change the subject.
“Anyway, Jim had a little bed-and-breakfast by Sunset Beach. The Ohana. That’s where the Greenfields went every year. ”
“Ohana,” I mumbled reflectively, the name sounded vaguely familiar somehow.
“It’s Hawaiian for ‘family.’ You’ll run into it pretty often here on the island.” A knowing smile appeared on his lips. “They were really nice people.”
I needed a second to realize he was referring to Vince’s parents again.
“Our boys used to go surfing together pretty often. I even think Jim was the one who taught Vince. He was totally gaga for the Greenfield kids. He didn’t have any of his own that could inherit the house, you see.”
“He left the house to Laurie and Vince?” Things began to click. “That means”—I knitted my brow—“that Ohana is…”
“The house next to Kay’s.”
He shook my left knee and pressed it in the direction of my upper body.
“So, it was something like a hostel in the past already?”
He nodded. “At least until Jim gave it up.”
“Because of his age?”
“Yeah. He was already well over eighty and no longer all that fit.” He tilted his head. “The Greenfields’ death hit him pretty hard too.”
“Death?”
He nodded again. “Both parents died in a boating accident down in the Keys. Storm.”
I swallowed hard. “That’s terrible.”
“Yeah,” he whispered, and his eyes grew distant. “After that, I didn’t see Vince or Laurie anymore. Until Vince showed up a few months ago.”
I let all the information settle in my mind.
“Is Kay aware of the fact that you know each other?”
“Of course.”
“And…how do you feel about the thing with the hostel?”
“I’m not getting involved. Which is what I’d recommend to you as well.”
“Oh, I had no intention… I mean, I hardly know him. I just happened to end up between the two fronts, so to speak.”
He paused. “What happened?”
“I collapsed on the beach, and he…”
“You collapsed?”
“Yeah, but it was just jet lag,” I added quickly. “And I didn’t have any water. It was just stupid of me.”
“Does Kay know that?”
“I told her earlier today. After Vince showed up and threw out some crazy theories.”
“Crazy theories?”
“Oh, I don’t know. He seems to think that I collapsed in front of his house on purpose. On Kay’s orders. Or something.” I rolled my eyes as Gabe scrutinized me.
“You went jogging and collapsed in front of Vince’s house and now he thinks that Kay’s responsible somehow?” Coming out of his mouth, it sounded as absurd as it was.
“That’s the abbreviated version, but…yeah.”
“That’s not like him at all. Vince is actually a pretty solid guy. And nothing makes him lose his cool all that quickly either.” Gabe sighed. “The last few months must have left their mark.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the news that he was planning on reopening the Ohana didn’t just bring Kay onto the scene. There was pushback from the whole community. Complaints with the city council. Supposedly someone even turned to the governor.”
“Isn’t that a bit much?”
With a meaningful look, he replied, “If you went jogging along the beach, I’m sure you caught a glimpse of all the houses there. All owned by rich mainland folks.”
I understood what he meant. Where there was money, there was influence.
“So, you’re not of the same opinion as Kay?”
He smiled weakly. “I told you. I’m staying out of it.”
“You can stay out of it and have an opinion at the same time,” I countered in a teasing tone. “I won’t tell Kay.”
He looked amused. “I’m not afraid of Kay.
” A few seconds went by. “I understand that she’s worried about the future.
The Ohana will attract a lot of people. And, yeah, they’ll probably have an impact on the area.
” He shrugged. “But the beach belongs to everybody, and it shouldn’t be the privilege of the rich to be able to live there. ”
Ohana. I liked the sound and liked the meaning even more. My parents were my everything. My safe harbor. They supported and encouraged me, and I knew that I could always count on them. How awful it must have been for Laurie and Vince to lose that safety net when still so young…