Whispers (11 page)

She was about to answer “yes” when Dan said, “Well, actually, I gave her spot away. We didn’t think you wanted to go, Teri.”

“Of course she wants to go,” Scott said. “Just tell the other guy you made a mistake, and the place isn’t available after all.”

“I suppose he’ll understand. He’s been on this hike before, so I thought he would be a good unofficial guide for us. But Gordo’s pretty easy-going; he’ll understand.”

“You gave my place to that Gordo guy?” Teri said.

“Yeah.” Dan pressed his fork into the steaming, unwrapped tamale and lifted the first bite to his mouth. He closed his eyes and savored the morsel. “Teri,” he said swallowing hard, “if you ever want to know how to make a million dollars, all you have to do is sell your tamales. There’s nothing like this on the whole island.”

Suddenly Scott stopped unwrapping his tamale and locked eyes with Dan. Dan’s fork halted midair, steam wafting up from his next bite.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Scott asked.

A smile edged up Dan’s five-o’clock-shadowed jaw. “We could make a million,” he said.

O
kay, wait,” Dan said, marking out some numbers on his paper and writing in a new figure. He turned the page so Scott could read it. “If we had the corn husks shipped directly over from the mainland in bulk, we would save a bunch. They’re not perishable so we could put them on the slow boat and pay the lowest rate.”

“Great idea,” Scott said. He drained the last sip of coffee in his cup and leaned back in the patio chair. “The key would be keeping the tamales frozen after they’re done.”

“We could put a freezer right here. Outside. I could build a shed of some sort to give it shade,” Dan said, getting up and marking off the side wall under the kitchen window with his feet.

“You guys will have to excuse me,” Anita said, suppressing a yawn. “I’m really wiped out. I’m going to bed. Tell me what you decided in the morning, Teri.”

“Okay, good night. Do you guys want some more coffee?”

“Sure,” they both said.

Teri followed Anita into the house and in a low voice said, “Annie, thanks for hanging in there. I know it’s late. Thanks for being so nice to Scott and everything.”

Anita yawned again and nodded her head. “I’ll talk to you in the morning, okay?”

“Sweet dreams,” Teri called out and then returned to the lanai with the coffee pot.

“The biggest question, I think,” said Scott, “is for Teri. Can you make this many tamales? Will you get sick of it?”

“I suppose I would eventually. But I love making them. It’s therapy for me. I could teach someone else easily enough.”

Dan wrapped his hands around his warm coffee mug. “I’m sure we would have no problem selling them. I think it’s an award-winning idea. But it’s really up to you. Do you want to start a home business like this?”

“Like I said earlier, I’ve never given it any thought. Let’s pray about it for awhile.”

“It would keep you in Maui,” Scott said, “and that would be an answer to my prayers.” He reached over and grasped Teri’s hand. She didn’t pull away but surrendered to his touch. They meshed their fingers together.

“It’s something to think about,” Dan said, standing up and stretching. “I’m going to bed, too. Don’t forget to ask for those hike days off, Scott. And remind me to call Gordo tomorrow and tell him the place isn’t available.”

As soon as Dan left, Scott used his strong grip on Teri’s hand to pull her closer to himself. “Hi, beautiful,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about you all day. Do you want to go down to the beach? I found some fireworks left over from the Fourth. I thought we could light up the night sky.”

Teri’s heart was pounding. Scott didn’t have to be a genius to know that the fireworks had begun exploding inside of her
the minute he had reached for her hand. “Sure. Let me grab a sweatshirt.”

“You don’t need to,” Scott said. “I’ll keep you warm.”

She didn’t doubt for a minute that he would. Still, it gave her an excuse to stall before they left. Grabbing a sweatshirt from the closet, Teri slipped into the bathroom, closed the door, and scrutinized her reflection in the mirror.

Okay, you big baby. What are you afraid of this time? Why are you turning into this frightened kitten simply because a wonderful man seems to be falling in love with you? Is that it? Are you falling in love with him, Teri? Have you even figured out what love is? Why are you questioning yourself or Scott? Why do you always have to analyze the romance out of everything? Stop it right now! You go to the beach and have a good time with this man. You allow yourself the freedom to fall in love, okay? Okay!

When Teri stepped out, Scott was on the phone. She cleared the dishes as he finished up his conversation saying, “Okay. Tomorrow night. Okay. Yeah. Good-bye.”

“Work?” Teri suggested.

“What? Oh, yeah. Work. You ready to go?”

“As soon as I put this salsa in the fridge.”

“Did you make this, too?” Scott asked, quickly dipping one more tortilla chip into the salsa before she poured it into a refrigerator container. “You know, we could manufacture this as well as the tortillas.”

“I think the price of red chilies is too high here,” Teri said.

“Maybe not if we can buy the produce direct from the growers up in Kula. I’ll ask the guys in the kitchen at work tomorrow to see what they think.”

They drove a short distance up the coast to a remote cove that they had to hike down to. Other cars were parked at the top, and since it was dark and so secluded, Teri couldn’t help but feel they were crashing in on a private party. Scott carried
a beach towel and a bag full of bottle rockets. They discretely made their way past several couples and found their own private corner of the beach.

Scott spread out the towel and offered Teri a seat. Then he lined up all his fireworks along the shore, securing them in the damp sand. One by one he lit them, and Teri oohed and aahed as the unguided missiles shot into the air. A loud shrill, a brief blast of bright light, and then a whimper came from each rocket as it met its watery grave, twenty or thirty feet out to sea.

“That’s it. Not a bad show, huh?” Scott said, joining her on the towel and wrapping his arm around her. “Are you cold?”

“No. It’s a beautiful night. Look at that moon.”

“I’d rather look at you,” Scott said softly in her ear. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” He kissed her neck.

Every impulse within Teri beckoned her to melt into his arms, to surrender to the intense kisses Scott was ready to give her. But in the back of her head like a fire alarm, something wailed,
Stop! Stop! Stop!

Just as his lips were about to press against hers, Teri heeded the unremitting alarm and pulled away. “Can’t we just sit here and snuggle for a bit?”

“Snuggle?”

“Yeah, you know, snuggle.”

Teri strained to see Scott’s expression in the shadows. She guessed he wasn’t too thrilled with the idea. “Then let’s walk for a while, okay?” She stood up and offered him her hand.

“You want to walk.”

“Come on! We can take off our shoes and play tag with the waves.”

Scott rose, good-naturedly asking, “This is the playful side of you, right?”

“It’s such a beautiful night. Let’s enjoy it. Doesn’t a leisurely
stroll barefoot on the beach sound romantic to you?” Teri slipped off her sandals and tossed them onto the blanket. Scott did the same.

“What you’re really saying is that you want to go in the water. I’m right, aren’t I?” He sounded playful as he took the stance of a football player about to rush his opponent.

“No!” Teri squealed, turning to run from him. She knew she was doomed; she couldn’t outrun Scott. Her bare feet scrambled through the loose sand, down toward the water where she could at least run faster on the wet, packed sand. She was almost to the water’s edge. She could hear Scott thundering right behind her, when she stepped on something sharp and immediately crumbled to the ground.

“Ow!” she cried, grabbing her foot. Scott reached her at that moment and, not aware of her injury, scooped her up and headed for the water.

“Scott,” she shrieked, “I’m hurt! My foot!”

He stopped and let her down. In the moonlight reflecting off the water Teri could see a long stick protruding from the ball of her foot. She started to cry as she lowered herself and pulled out the stick of one of Scott’s bottle rockets. She could feel the warm blood trickling down her foot.

“What happened?” Scott asked.

“The fireworks,” Teri said, trying to catch her breath and mask her tears. “They bit me.”

Scott gave a little chuckle at her joke as she handed him the stick. “Are you all right?”

“I think so.”

“I better pull the rest of the sticks out of the sand before I step on one. I’m sorry, Teri.”

“That’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

Scott left her for a few minutes, and in that short time the pain escalated in her foot to the point she wanted to scream.
Trying hard to control herself, Teri said, “I think part of it broke off inside. It really hurts, Scott.”

“Come on, then. Let’s get you taken care of.” He scooped her up again, this time carrying her back to the towel. “Do you want me to try to pull it out?” he said.

“There’s no light here. I think we should go home.” The pain was incredible. Teri didn’t want to suggest the emergency room, but she was afraid she was seriously injured.

“Do you think you can make it up the trail? I’m not sure I can carry you. It’s pretty steep.” Scott wrapped his arm around her waist, and she hobbled on one foot through the sand.

The trail seemed insurmountable. She had a sandal on her good foot, which only provided slippery traction on the fine red dirt and sand. More than once Scott caught her before she lost her footing completely. She bit her lip, tried to be brave, and let the silent tears course down her cheeks.

Once they made it to the car, Teri really cried. Scott turned on the dome light and tried to examine her foot. It was covered with blood and sand.

“I think we better try this at home. Does it feel better to keep it elevated?” He wrapped the beach towel around it and settled her foot on the dashboard.

“A little, I guess. I don’t know. It really hurts, Scott. It really, really hurts!” Teri let out a wave of tears.

“All right! I know!” he snapped and then repeated more calmly as he started the engine, “I know it hurts. It’s going to hurt. I’m taking you home. Don’t freak out on me.”

“I’m not,” Teri said in a small voice. She pulled her tears back inside and tried to control her quivering lips. Scott’s patience seemed to have almost reached its limit, and she didn’t want to make him angry by letting her feelings gush out.

At home, Scott helped her hobble to the front door and escorted her into the bathroom where he ran warm water in
the bathtub. “Put your foot in here,” he said, sounding more annoyed than compassionate. “Now let me see what you did.”

He pulled her foot up and examined the puncture. “A piece is still in there. Do you want me to pull it out? Where are some tweezers?”

“In that top drawer, I think,” Teri said. “How deep is it?” She tried to twist her foot around so she could see. It didn’t look good.

“Okay, now hold still,” Scott said, arming himself with the tweezers. He grabbed her foot in his strong hand and yanked at the lodged stick.

Teri let out an unbridled shriek, which immediately brought Dan and Anita into the bathroom.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Teri said, feeling numb. The tears started all over again. She felt angry at Scott for being so rough.

Scott explained to Dan and Anita what had happened. Dan suggested they take her to the twenty-four-hour clinic in Lahaina.

“I’ll drive her there,” Anita said, immediately stepping into her big sister role. “Let me throw some clothes on.”

“No, I’ll take her,” Dan said. “You go back to bed, Annie.”

“I can take her,” Scott offered.

“No, I’ll take her, Scott. You have to be at work earlier tomorrow than I do.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Scott said.

“I’m sure.”

The two men helped Teri out to Dan’s car. She felt ridiculous. Yet at the same time, she was in so much pain all she cared about was having the stupid thing out of her foot. Sliding into the front seat, Teri balanced her towel-wrapped foot on the dashboard.

Scott stepped back and let Dan take over.