“Too late,” she said, heading toward the quad where he and the other basketball players would sit during lunchtime.
I trailed behind her, trying to convince her to stop, but she marched forward, her backpack bobbing up and down behind her.
“There he is. Alex!” she yelled as she approached him.
Alex whipped his head around at the sound of his name, shrugging at the two guys he was talking to as Beth approached. I couldn’t see her face, but I knew the expression that was fixed upon it. It was her scowl. And that combination of knotted eyebrows and pursed lips could scare the shit out of anyone. She dropped her backpack and barreled toward him, calling him an asshole. I stopped short as a small crowd gathered, wishing I could disappear into the grass when she asked him how he could do this to me. Then Alex’s eyes found mine, and for a moment I thought he was going to come to me, explain it had all been a misunderstanding.
But he smirked and looked away. “I was done with her.” He laughed and high-fived his buddies.
And that’s when Beth slapped him across the face. He winced, drawing his hand to his cheek. His entire face turned bright red. “What the hell?” he yelled. “You’re crazy!”
He wasn’t laughing anymore.
Beth strode back to where I was standing. “Come on. We’re going to Carl’s Jr. for fried zucchini and a huge Dr Pepper. My treat,” she said.
And I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of my favorite meal, that my sister was so badass, that someone cared about me that much.
I think I’ve taken for granted how often she’s done that for me over the years, protecting me, even when I didn’t think I needed it.
I know that’s why she’s come to Maui.
“Are you okay that she’s here?” Nick asks as we see a sign for Hana Airport. “That she just showed up?”
“Of course,” I say. “Why?”
“Well, she got on a flight and came six hours without even asking you. What if you hadn’t wanted her to come?”
“I would always want my sister with me.” I frown at him, deciding not to admit that I had, in fact, told her not to come. Wondering if he’s the one who’s put off by her arrival. “Are you not okay that she’s here?”
“I’m fine with it! I mean, the timing is just a little crazy. After everything that just happened.” He looks at me, and I know what he’s not saying. The kiss. “And we’re still wet.” He pulls at his T-shirt, which is clinging to his chest. “But if you’re all right, so am I.”
“We’ll dry. We’ll be fine,” I say, even though I feel certain about only the first statement. “And anyway, if there’s one thing you need to know about Beth, it’s that she does what she wants, when she wants. That’s just who she is. And you know what? Most of the time, she knows what I need more than I do.”
“She sounds like a good sister.”
“She is.”
“Well, I’m intrigued. Tell me more about her,” Nick says, and I realize he was just looking out for me when he was asking about Beth. We’d been living in our little bubble for days, without seeing anyone from our real lives, so I’m sure it was a shock for him that she’s here.
As we weave our way down the wet Hana Highway, both of us looking away as we pass the stone bench where we’d kissed earlier, I share my favorite Beth stories. He laughs when I tell him about her twitchy-eye tell, and he nods in approval when I mention the slap heard round the world, as we’d come to call it.
We fall into a comfortable silence as he slowly drives the narrow road. A car whips around a corner and blares its horn at us, and I think of James and Dylan’s accident—the last seconds before their worlds went dark. Had James been trying to avoid an oncoming car and swerved too hard, losing control?
I don’t know the exact location of where they crashed. Nick does, but I asked him not to share it with me. Not until I’m ready. And after my panic this morning, I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready. I know from Officer Keoloha that they had been driving on the back side of the road to Hana, considered much more dangerous than the front part—in places, it’s as high as one thousand feet above sea level. It’s deemed so perilous that rental car companies advise against driving it.
It struck me as so odd when I heard that—James had never been a risk-taker. So I was shocked he’d chosen to venture into such uncharted territory. But then again, I was surprised to hear he’d had an affair. I’d wondered if Dylan had brought out a different side of him that had lain dormant while he lived his predictable life with me. Or maybe Nick was right. Maybe I hadn’t known my husband at all.
As we turn down the long road toward Hana Airport a few minutes later, I’m not sure what the plan is after we pick up Beth. The subject of returning to the hotel hasn’t come up again. We’re dancing around it like a bear we don’t want to poke. I glance at Nick’s profile and wonder if he still wants to leave the road to Hana before we make it to the back side. Because now that my sister is here, now that we’re pulling into the parking lot and I can see her standing in front of the tiny terminal that looks like a house, wearing a white blouse and tan capris, her hair pulled back into a messy knot, I realize I’m not ready to go home.
Just the sight of her is giving me strength, and I feel a pull toward James. I want to know where he took his last breath. To say good-bye. Maybe it’s Beth I’ve needed by my side all along. To hold my hand, to make sure I don’t get too close to the edge. To be there for me after I let James go once and for all. To protect me. I hope Nick will decide to stay longer, to say his own good-byes. To get the closure I know he needs as well.
Beth waves at me excitedly, and I unlock my seat belt and slide toward the door, the car not yet stopped. I can feel happy tears in the back of my eyes.
I grip the door handle and turn toward Nick, who’s laughing at me.
“What? We’re basically twins. We’re very, very close!”
Nick stops the Jeep, and I jump out, running to avoid the light rain, and hurl myself into my sister’s arms.
“That was quite a scene back there,” Beth says a few minutes later as we sit at the bar of the Hana Ranch Restaurant, a few miles from the airport. “The three other people who were on my flight were staring at us like we were reuniting after years! It’s been, what? Five days?” She laughs.
“I know. I bawled. But I think I needed to,” I say, and look over at Nick, who’s sipping from a mug of coffee. He seems unusually quiet, but then again, when Beth and I are together, it’s hard to get a word in. “Thanks for loaning me one of your shirts, by the way.” I say, pulling at the cotton fabric. “I was soaked to the bone,” I add.
Beth smiles. “That’s Hawaii weather for you.”
I glance at Nick, who’s wearing a T-shirt with a guy flashing a shaka sign that he got from a shop across the street from the restaurant.
“So how are you doing?” Beth looks across me toward Nick.
He takes a breath before responding. “Well, I’m finally dry. So there’s that.” He smiles and takes a sip of his coffee.
Beth doesn’t respond, waiting for his real answer.
“It’s been hard, harder than I thought it would be.”
“Nick’s being modest—he’s been the strong one. My rock. I’ve been the hot mess.”
“Did Jacks tell you I didn’t want her to come here to Maui?” Beth asks. Apparently ready to jump right in.
Nick looks at me again. “She didn’t,” he says slowly. “But I get it. Getting on a plane to Hawaii with a complete stranger after her husband had just died. Seemed crazy, I’m sure.”
“To put it mildly.” Beth offers a tight smile.
“Is that why you’re here? To make sure I’m not a serial killer?” Nick laughs.
“Maybe.” She smirks and takes a sip of her beer, eyeing him.
“I don’t blame you! You’ve got to look out for your sister. But for what it’s worth, I’m not.”