Heat Wave

“What was that about?” I whisper before I down the noni shot, full-on shuddering at the taste. It’s like bad, stinky cheese mixed with rancid fruit.

“I'll explain later,” she says, looking furtively over her shoulder at the barista. “It's not a big deal.” She frowns as I put the empty shot glass back on the counter. “Why do you torture yourself with that stuff?”

“Look, I've been living off beef jerky and granola bars for the last twenty-four hours, my body needs this.” Thankfully my drink is ready next and gets the horrid taste out of my mouth.

Once Kate gets hers, we hurry back to her car, nearly tripping over a hen and her chicks as they dawdle down the sidewalk. Last month I would have been taking pictures of the sight, now the chickens are as natural as crows and pigeons back home.

“Okay spill the beans,” I tell her when we’re in the car, continuing on up the highway toward the north shore.

She rolls her eyes and turns down the volume on the radio that was blaring some new Rhianna song. “It's a long story.”

“It better be a long story,” I tell her, “because there has to be a reason why that girl hates you. I mean, she's always been kinda bitchy with me but not like that. She looked like she wanted to murder you.”

Kate reaches into a compartment between the seats and slicks on some lip balm, rubbing her lips together. I'm not even sure if she's heard me or not.

Then she lowers her sunglasses down over her eyes and sighs. “This is a judgment free zone.”

“Of course.”

“I'm not asking, I'm telling you,” she says. “All right. That girl, Ana, used to be one of the regulars at the restaurant and the bar. She lived somewhere in Hanalei and obviously had a giant crush on Charlie. She was there pretty much all the time. And Charlie being Charlie, well they start fucking around. Charlie never committed to her but that didn't seem to matter because she was head over heels and all that bullshit. Meanwhile, I started dating this guy call Honu. Honestly I don't even know what his real name is. He was a surfer and a good time and it wasn't anything serious. But it turns out Honu was her ex-boyfriend and even though she had a thing with Charlie, she wasn't too happy about that.”

“Ah, I see,” I say, sucking back on the drink and letting the sugary, caffeinated goodness pump some life back into my veins.

“Well that's not all,” she goes on, quieter now. “See . . . before Charlie started up with Ana, well, he and I were kind of a—” she clears her throat, “an item.”

“I knew it!” I exclaim, nearly jumping in my seat. “I could tell, I could so tell.”

She cocks her head toward me and peers over her sunglasses. “You don't have to act so smug about it.”

I grin back at her and shrug. “Hey, I've worked in the hospitality business forever, you learn to pick up on those things.” I'm tempted to start talking about what happened with me and Erik since we're in the mode of sharing with each other, but I decide to hold back for now. This is Kate's story and I've had a hell of a time getting her to open up about anything.

“Anyway,” she says with a wave of her hand, “I'm not proud of it but it happened. What can I say . . . I had just started working here and I was lonely and Charlie, was . . . “

“Charlie.”

“Exactly. Charlie was Charlie. And we broke it off because shit was getting complicated at work and yeah it kind of bugged me at the time but I try really hard to not let anything bother me. So we just moved on and stayed friends. Then he started seeing Ana and I started seeing Honu.”

“And things got complicated.”

“Well, yes.” She clears her throat again. “Eventually Charlie stopped fucking around with Ana. And eventually I stopped sleeping with Honu. And then I guess we started up with each other again.”

I nearly spit out my drink. “Again? You and Charlie.”

“Judgment free zone,” she reminds me gravely.

“I know but . . . okay, I didn't see that one coming. No wonder she doesn't like you.”

“That girl doesn't like anyone that might be a threat to her Charlie, but yeah. That's the reason why. I can't really blame her but I'm also not going to stop getting one of my favorite coffee drinks either. If she wants it out with me, she can say it to my face. Though I'm sure that would probably end up with the cops getting called.”

I stare at her openly.

She gives another shrug. “Girls on this island like to fight.”

“That can't help Charlie's ego at all,” I muse.

Kate giggles. “No, it doesn't.”

“So are you guys still . . . “

She shakes her head emphatically. “No. No, the last time we were together was last Christmas. Almost a year. Charlie may have gone back to her, I don't know and I really don't care.”

“So no residual feelings at all?”

“No.” But somehow I don't believe her. She knows this too because she turns to look at me, her mouth pursed. “I mean it. Charlie and I are done. No hard feelings between us, we're better as friends.”

“Sure, sure,” I tease.