I'm Kona Love You Forever (Islands of Aloha Mystery Series Book 6) (21 page)

“Hi Pali,” said Lili. “Can you talk?”

Obviously not well
, I thought. I’d stayed mute when I’d been proposed to by the sweetest man on Earth. So, no, I’d say my talking abilities were extremely limited.

“
What’s up?” I said.

“David’s dad kicked him out
of the house.”

I wanted to tell her I was starring in my own personal drama and wasn’t available for a bit part in hers, but years of catering to the whims of self-absorbed brides kicked in.

“Why?” I said.

“Who knows? But the thing is,
he’s probably gonna have to go stay at Shayna’s.” She said it as if he’d been sentenced to ten years of hard labor.

“That s
ounds like a plan.”

“It
won’t work. Shayna has total attitude about David. She’s bossy and mean and, well, it’s just not good.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I knew you could help.”

I took one of my go-to cleansing breaths. I tried to not blow it out into the phone because she’d probably take it as an affront, but from where I was sitting I’d already gone above and beyond. If David had to kiss up to Shayna for a couple of days until the funeral, what was the big deal?

I measured my tone. “Look, Lili. Do you know how soon they’ll be having the funeral?”

“David says
it’s gonna be next week sometime. They’re doing an autopsy on his mom and they can’t bury her until it’s done.”

“Are you going to the park blessing on Saturday?”

“I think so. David said his mom would want him to go.”

“I’m
headed back to Maui today, but—”

“No, you can’t go! I need you here. Please. You have to find David someplace to stay besides Shayna’s.
And I really want you to go to the blessing with me.”

There was no use in arguing with her on the phone.

“Are you at Loke’s?”

“Ye
ah. She and Ray have been real nice to me. Maybe you could see if they’d let David stay in one of the other cottages.”

“I’
m coming down there. I’m almost an hour away, but I’ll get there as fast as I can.”

I hung up and got back on the road. I
f there was a law against DWA (driving while avoiding) I’d have been guilty-as-charged. Anyone else in my position would’ve sucked it up and gone back to Maui to repair the damage with Hatch. But I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know why I’d freaked out when he’d asked me to marry him. Had the audience spooked me? Was it I enjoyed my single life and didn’t want to give it up? Was it I couldn’t imagine Hatch at my side when I got my Medicare card in the mail thirty years from now? 

Whatever it was, I was more than happy to
avoid thinking about it for another day.

***

I arrived at the coffee farm at about one o’clock. Loke was in the gift shop. I asked her if Lili was out in her cottage and Loke laughed.

“No, she’s out
leading a tour. She’s our new resident expert. She can spout more coffee facts after two days than I knew after two years. And she’s great with the visitors. Our after-tour sales are up almost fifty percent.”

Lili
, a people person? And a saleswoman? That I’d have to see.

But instead of playing the skeptic, I changed the subject.
“Have you heard about David getting thrown out of his dad’s house?”

Loke nodded.
“Poor kid. As if he doesn’t have enough on his plate already.”

“Lili was hoping he might be able to stay here.”

“I know, she mentioned it. I wish we could oblige, but we’ve only got the three cottages and the other two are booked solid. We’ve got a bunch of coffee buyers coming in from the mainland.”

“
Well, I guess he’ll have to stay at his sister’s,” I said.

“Is it really as bad as Lili claims?”

“She’s a bad housekeeper and her daughter’s pretty scary, but he’ll be fine. Lili’s a tad spoiled.”

Loke
chuckled. “I suppose she is. Still, I’m having a good time keeping the spoiling thing going.”

“
So, you’re enjoying her being here with you?”

“
Yes, and Ray’s having fun with it too. He’s still sad we weren’t able to have any more. But he’s been so good about it. He’s my rock. Always has been.”

I flashed on how Hatch had been my rock through the past couple of rough years
. The image made me crack my neck to relieve the pressure.

“Are you okay?” she said. “I don’t normally comment, but you look tired.”

“I am. Hard night last night.”

“Anything you want to talk about? I mean, after all, you’ve certainly helped me with my emotional baggage.”

“
Mahalo
, but it’s nothing.” I shot her a quick smile and once again changed the subject. “Are you still planning on going to the park blessing on Saturday?”

“Yes.
Ray and I have asked the couple next door to mind the farm while we’re gone. We gave a substantial donation to fix up the play area and we’d love to see the
keiki
try it out for the first time.”

“Lili
’s asked me to stick around for it,” I said.

“Really?
That’s not necessary. She’s more than welcome to come with us if you need to get back to Maui.”

“That’s kind of you. But
I don’t mind staying. I don’t have anything I need to get back to right away.”

“Maybe she’s hoping you’ll
find out something about her birth parents,” Loke said. “She told me she and David have postponed their wedding, but I can understand why she’s still curious about her biological parents.”

“Ye
ah, I’d like to know what happened there myself.” I stared out at the vivid green trees enveloping the hillside like a lumpy comforter. “I was raised
hanai
and found out about my biological father just last summer. It’s a strange thing, not knowing who you came from. For the longest time I felt like a fallen tree in the forest. I was the same as everyone around me but I had no roots.”

Loke leaned in and gave me a hug. “So, you’
re going to stay and help Lili?”

“I’ll do what I can.”

I waited for Lili to finish the tour she was conducting and asked if I could speak to her in private.

“Sure,” she said.
“By the way,
mahalo
for staying over. Loke and Ray are nice to me, but I feel kinda alone, you know? My mom and me used to do everything together. I know you’re not her, but having you here makes me feel better.”

“That’s good, because that’s what I want to talk to you about. I
f I’m going to stick around, I need to find a place to stay. I was down in Kailua-Kona at a fancy hotel but I can’t afford it.”

“Your boyfriend
’s gone?” she said.

That was an understatement.

“Yeah, he had to go back to Maui.”

“You could stay here with me. The bed’s kinda little, but we’re both
small. I think it’ll work. That is, if you want.”

“Loke
said you’d like me to keep looking into what happened with your birth certificate.”

“Yeah,
I would. I feel kinda like you owe me, you know? I was fine with the one I had, but then you said it wasn’t any good. For my whole life I’ve been that girl and now I’m not. It makes me feel, like, kinda creepy or somethin’.”

I knew exactly how it felt.

“I’ll do what I can, but not because I owe you. I’ll do it because you deserve to know. Sooner or later, the truth will come out. It always does.”

“Yeah.
I s’pose. But I’d like to get this figured out before David and I get married. Our kids will want to know about both sides of their family.”

“Right.
So, how about we make a deal? I’ll stay for three more days to track down your real birth certificate if you’ll agree to call your parents and tell them where you are. I know you’re mad at them, but they’re worried sick about you.”

“
Yeah, right.”

“
They are. Your dad came to my house. They’re not happy about you getting married so young, but they love you. Can you imagine what you’re putting them through? Not knowing if you’re okay? I’ll bet they jump every time the phone rings.”

She twisted her mouth to the side. “Okay. But let me use your phone. My dad’s got friends in the Maui Police Department. I wouldn’t put it past him to get them to track my phone.”

I agreed. I wasn’t about to point out that since I was staying with her if they tracked
my
phone they’d find her sharing the same bed.

CHAPTER 24

David grudgingly agreed to stay at Shayna’s. I pictured him stealthily slipping in and out of the messy house, sleeping on the smelly stained sofa and taking a wide arc around the ill-tempered dog guarding the chaos. 

On Friday morning Lili said, “
David hates it at his sister’s. She’s on him night and day about how he made their mom kill herself.”

“He sticks around there? Why doesn’t he
just leave during the day?”

“Well, first off, he doesn’t have a car. And second, where would he go?
When his dad kicked him out he called me a slimy skank. He even said David’s mom was totally against our getting married. He said maybe that’s why she killed herself.”

“But you
told me his mom had given her blessing,” I said.

“
Yeah, that’s what David told me before. But maybe his mom changed her mind or something. Anyway, I told David if he wanted to get un-engaged or whatever I’d understand, but that made him mad.”

“
Why would his father call you names?”

“Who knows? He’s a h
orrible person. I tried to tell David he’d be better off without his dad in his life, and that
really
made him mad. We’ve started fighting a lot. I think he’s sad about his mom dying and he’s taking it out on me.”

“
Does David seriously believe he might be responsible for his mom’s suicide?” I said.

“
Who knows? He still says he thinks it was because she lost her job. But I’m starting to worry maybe Shayna and Pono are right. Maybe she did it because of David. The worst part is, we’ll never know.”

“Well,
there’s not much I can do about that but I can still work on locating your birth certificate,” I said. “I’ve only got today, since tomorrow’s Saturday and the state offices will be closed for the weekend.”

“
And tomorrow is David’s mom’s park blessing,” Lili said.

“Oh, that’s what we’re calling it now, ‘David’s mom’s park’? I hope you guys won’t be
too disappointed if they don’t mention her at the blessing. You know, folks are skittish about talking about people who’ve killed themselves. It’s kind of a bad
kapu
thing.”

“I know.
But David’s pretty sure they’re gonna be nice about it. He thinks since she did it because she got laid off they sort of owe her.”

“What’s with this ‘owing’ thing? You think I owe you and now David thinks the Parks Department owes his mother. When will you realize
that thinking people ‘owe’ you is the wrong way to look at life? President Kennedy, from the 1960’s said, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country’.”

“
Seriously? The 1960s? That was, like, a million years ago.”

“
Maybe, but it’s still true,” I said. “You’re expecting me to do all the heavy lifting in figuring out this birth certificate mess. Why is it up to me? Why aren’t you doing anything?”

Her eyes grew shiny and she looked away. I figured she was about to cry, but I didn’t care. I’d had it with people
making demands. If Hatch wanted to talk about marriage, we should’ve discussed it in private. And if Lili wants to find her birth parents, then she needs to suck it up and be willing to confront the likes of Charlene Cooper.

“What do you want me to do?” she said.

“I want you to woman-up and take a drive with me.”

***

We arrived at Charlene’s goofy purple house at about noon. Charlene hadn’t struck me as a “lady who lunched,” but since she’d hinted she still practiced midwifery and who knows what else, I figured there was a chance she’d be out measuring bellies or scrutinizing
chi
or whatever it was she did.

I asked Lili to lead the way and told her I wanted her to do the talking. We got to the
front door and she saw the gong.

“Hey, that’s cool. Can I bong it?”

“Go ahead. I think that’s what it’s there for.”

She gripped the striker and let loose with a whack. The initial sound was not appreciably louder than when Hatch had st
ruck it, but the reverberation went on for what seemed like a ridiculously long time.