Echoes (25 page)

“This is beautiful,” Lauren said, unable to contain her enthusiasm any longer as the van stopped and the driver helped her out. A bellhop appeared at her side and offered to take her bag. “Sure. Thanks.” She followed the others into the elegant lobby to register. A gigantic bouquet of bird of paradise, anthurium, and wild ginger greeted them. “Have all of you been here before?”

“We have,” Jessica said, casting a smile at Kyle.

“Not us,” said Teri. “I’ve never been on this island. Have you, Gordo?”

“Only in my dreams,” he answered. “And only with you.” He gave his wife a kiss.

Lauren wondered if she would be able to stand an entire week around these honeymooning mushpots. Certainly the options for activities on such an island would be limitless. She
could rent a jeep and explore if all they wanted to do was lounge around. It would give her a chance to think through how she was going to explain everything to KC.

It took only a few minutes to register, and then they followed Kyle down the hallway, past an intriguing game room and gift shop, out some double doors, and down the long veranda to an adjacent building. All along the breezeway were wicker chairs with footstools that silently invited guests to stop and sit for a while. In each chair was a patchwork pillow, each sewn with a different Hawaiian quilting design.

In the adjacent building, Kyle led them to a group of four suites and handed out room key cards.

“So what does everyone feel like doing?” Kyle asked.

“I’m hitting the pool,” Teri said.

“I’m with the lady in the swimsuit,” Gordon said.

“A swim sounds great,” Lauren agreed.

“Okay. Ten minutes then? The pool is out that way. We’ll see you guys there.”

Lauren slipped her key in and out of the door lock, letting the bellhop bring in her luggage. The large, airy bedroom was decorated in an inviting blue and ginger pattern and had a four-poster bed. A door led out to the front veranda. It was by far the nicest hotel room she had ever been in. “Thanks,” she said, tipping the young man in the white coat. As soon as he left, she flopped onto the bed and drew in a deep breath of her wonderful surroundings. “This is where I want to come for my honeymoon.”

On the table was a carafe of fresh pineapple cider tucked in ice. She poured herself a glass and read the note from the hotel’s general manager. He invited her to savor her Koele moment and stated that he hoped her stay would be “an unforgettable moment of Old Lana’i hospitality.” She had no doubt
her stay would be unforgettable as she downed the refreshing beverage. Within minutes she was in her bathing suit and on her way to the pool.

Gordon and Teri were already there, snuggle-swimming in the shallow end. A pool attendant greeted Lauren and offered to lay out a towel for her. He spread two fluffy white towels on the lounge next to Teri’s and asked if Lauren would like something to drink.

“No, thanks. I’m fine.” She stretched out and surrendered to the intense sun pouring over her skin, soothing her every pore. The attendant returned a few minutes later to lay out towels for Jessica.

“Come on in!” Gordon called. “The water’s wet.”

“I like to get hot first,” Jessica said. “What a perfect day!”

“I know,” Lauren murmured back. She cracked one eye open and noticed Jessica was alone. “Where’s Kyle?”

“He went to check on a tee time.”

“Do they serve tea here?”

“Yes, at four. In the music room. But actually, Kyle went to check on a tee time for golf.”

“Oh,” Lauren said.

Before she had a chance to be embarrassed about her fumble, Gordon lifted himself to the edge of the pool and said, “Did you say tea, Jess? I haven’t gone to tea in a long time.”

“I’ll go with you,” Jessica said. “You want to come, Lauren?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll stay here and bake,” Teri said, getting out of the pool and patting her face dry with the thick towel.

“Tea time is one of the fine things in life Teri hasn’t gotten used to yet,” Gordon said. “We made a deal. I’ll eat her tamales if she’ll have tea and cakes with me once a week.”

“And tell them how many times we’ve had tea in the past
week,” Teri said, wadding up her towel and tossing it at Gordon.

“Only twice.”

“Right. So I’m a week ahead. Feel free to go without me.”

Lauren had forgotten what a no-frills woman Teri was. Pure, simple, and straightforward. She wished she could be that way more often. So much of her life was spent evaluating her words before speaking them and analyzing her every action. Lauren turned from conflict and fled; Teri hit it head-on.

I wish I’d faced KC head-on last Friday. I wish I’d walked right up to him, looked him in the eye, and said, “I’m Wren. Kiss me.”
Of course she would never really do that.

“We’re on for nine tomorrow morning,” Kyle said, joining the group and slipping off his shoes. “I hope you’re ready for the game of your life, Gordon, because when it comes to golf, I provide some pretty stiff competition.”

“Sorry to spoil your fun, but I don’t golf,” Gordon said.

Kyle looked shocked. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No. I’m what my loving wife here calls, ‘athletically challenged.’ ”

“Don’t look at me,” Jessica said to Kyle. “Do you like golf, Lauren?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried to play,” she said, thinking of how KC had told her his two sports were volleyball and golf. Ever since then she had wanted to give it a whirl.

“Great!” Kyle said, pulling off his shirt. “We’re on for tomorrow morning at nine.”

“Well, we’re going to tea now. Would you like to come with us?” Jessica asked Kyle.

He handed her a tube of sunscreen and sat on the edge of her lounger waiting for her to cover his back with the stuff. “That’s okay, Jess. You ladies go have yourselves a tea party, and
Gordo and I will hold down the fort here at poolside.”

“Gordon’s going with us,” Jessica said.

“What are you doing to me, buddy? You don’t golf, but you take the ladies to tea? You trying to score some points here?”

“We all gotta do what we do,” Gordon said with a wry grin. “I do tea; my wife doesn’t. She’ll keep you company.”

“Great,” Kyle said. “I just happen to have my portable backgammon game here. As I recall, you have yet to beat me at this game, Teri.”

“Think back, oh small-brained one,” Teri teased. “It just so happens that on our first missions trip to Mexico I took you on twice, whipping you both times.”

“I demand a rematch,” Kyle said, setting up the board on the table next to Teri’s cabana.

“We’re going, dear,” Jessica said, playfully kissing her hubby on the neck. “Play fair.”

“I always do.”

Gordon offered one arm to Lauren and the other to Jessica. “Ta-ta,” he called over his shoulder. “We civilized folk will leave you to your competition.”

“I think Kyle’s idea of a dream vacation is one competitive event after another with lots of food delivered between matches,” Jessica said quietly as they walked away. She didn’t sound mean about it. Lauren observed that these two loving couples had their own areas of interest which they obviously pursued without offending their mate. She wanted a relationship like that.

“We should wear something kind of nice,” Jessica suggested. “I can be ready in fifteen minutes.”

“Let’s meet in the lobby, then,” Gordon suggested.

It took Lauren closer to twenty minutes to change clothes. Gordon and Jessica were waiting for her. As the threesome entered the music room, sweet chords from a harp rolled past
them. The music floated around the small tables and chairs upholstered with mint-colored fabric and made of rich koa wood. The small round tables were grouped in fours for close conversations for the dozen or so hotel guests who were already there. On the walls hung a variety of antique instruments, including lutes, mandolins, and many Lauren didn’t recognize. In the center of the room, hanging from the ceiling, which was painted with pineapples and palm fronds, hung an exquisite light fixture with bunches of glass fruit hanging from its many elegant arms. Lauren spotted an amber pear, light purple grapes, and red apples.

To the side of the room, a long tea cart and buffet were set with three-tiered trays, layered with delicate triangle cucumber sandwiches, ladyfingers, petit fours, and an assortment of cakes and breads.

Lauren went first in line and filled her individual silver teapot with steaming water. She glanced through the packets of tea in the basket and then asked the attendant, “Do you happen to have any Irish Breakfast tea?”

“I’ll check in the kitchen,” she said and noiselessly slipped out. Lauren went ahead and selected her goodies, placing them on a china plate. She wove her way between the tables to an empty one in the corner and sat down, waiting for Jessica and Gordon. The attendant entered and with a white gloved hand offered Lauren two Irish Breakfast tea bags on a glass plate.

“Will madam be staying with us long?”

“Just until the end of the week,” Lauren said, not accustomed to such service.

“I’ll make sure we have your choice of tea each day this week.”

Just then a loud clatter broke the subdued sounds of tea time. Lauren watched as Gordon, who apparently had collided
with the tea cart, stumbled to catch his balance. With a thunderous crash and a gangly swoop of Gordon’s arms, the tea cart toppled over.

Everything spilled but a flying slice of sponge cake which Gordon somehow managed to catch with his saucer. The room fell silent with all eyes on a red-faced Jessica and Gordon. He held up the undamaged slice of cake as if it were a trophy.

“Light as a feather, these!” he said.

D
on’t tell me. I don’t want to know,” Teri said, pretending to stop up her ears at the dinner table that evening. They dined in formal attire, which was required at the hotel restaurant.

“Let’s just say I won’t be taking tea tomorrow. Or ever again in this fine establishment. Although, I must say, I’ve done worse,” Gordon said, the candlelight reflecting in his dancing eyes.

“I know,” Teri groaned, turning her head to look at her husband. Lauren watched as intense, pure love shot from the eyes of her old college roommate and connected with Gordon’s gaze. The love between them was electric. It amazed Lauren. She had never seen this in Teri before.

“Did you tell them about your first baptism?” Teri asked, her eyes still glued on Gordon.

“You mean when I tripped and took you into the surf with me?”

“We definitely want to hear about that,” Lauren said.

“No, I mean when you baptized Kai and Jena.”

“Oh, that one,” he said, closing his eyes and lowering his head, shaking it slightly.

“I wasn’t there,” Teri said, facing the others, “but Gordon and another pastor on Maui baptized and married this couple on the same day. Gordo was about to baptize Kai, and he said, ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, drink ye all of it.’ ”

“You didn’t!” Jessica said.

“Got my sacraments a bit jumbled. Turned out all right. They’re still married, at least.”

“Here’s to married life,” Teri said, spontaneously lifting her glass in a toast.

“Here, here!” They all agreed. Lauren lifted her glass of mineral water and joined the toast, even though she felt out of place doing so.

“And here’s to Lauren’s future husband,” Kyle added. “Whoever and wherever he may be.”

“Amen!” said Teri.

The glasses clinked once again. “You can’t say we didn’t try to fix you up with Kenton,” Teri said. Then with a wink to Jessica she added, “He and Kyle are nothing alike. Kenton’s the good looking one.”

“I’ve had the unique pleasure of making Kenton’s acquaintance, thank you,” Lauren said.

“She called him arrogant and rude and hung up on him,” Kyle said.

“When was all this?”

“The other night at the house.”

Gordon reached over and gave Lauren’s arm a compassionate squeeze. “Teri did worse than that to me. She slammed the door in my face, and all I was doing was bringing her a pizza.”

“I did not slam the door! And you didn’t bring me that
pizza; I paid for it. You just happened to be the delivery boy.”

Lauren started to laugh. “You married the pizza man!”

No one else caught the humor of the situation. The server cleared their salad plates as Lauren explained. “It’s sort of a joke Hawthorne and I have that if God has someone out there for me, he’ll have to bring that someone to my door. That pretty much limits it to a pizza man.”

“Who’s Hawthorne?” Teri said, still not catching anything funny about Lauren’s story.

“My kitten.”

“Oh, you have a kitten! Did you hear that, honey?” Teri said, turning to Gordon and taking his hand. “A little kitten. That’s what we need.”

Gordon turned stone-faced. “Next subject, please, if you don’t mind.”

Lauren felt like coming to Gordon’s aid in discouraging Teri by describing the way Hawthorne had turned into a big, fat, lazy blob-cat. But she still loved him dearly, so she chose not to bash him.

Kyle changed the subject. “I almost forgot. I changed our golf game to the day after tomorrow so we could have an earlier tee-off and play the Challenge at Manele course rather than the Experience at Koele. Is that okay with you?”