“You guys are hilarious,” Kekoa said as the sun shimmered on the drops of water clinging to their skin. “I love it though. It feels way better than sitting around brooding and complaining about things.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
“Sometimes I get too wound up and in my head,” Kekoa admitted. “Being able to cut loose and laugh with you guys is going to be the best kind of decompressing, and so are places like this. Thank you for bringing me here today. I got bad news this morning that I was pissed off about when I left the motel. Until a moment ago, I’d already forgotten about it; that’s what being with you guys does for me, and it’s only been two days.
My blood ran cold when they mentioned bad news, instantly thinking it was going to send him off the island and far away from us.
“So, what was it, the, um, bad news? What happened?” Nyx asked.
“I got fired,” they explained. “Well, technically, I was laid off under the guise of the company experiencing a slowdown in work orders, which is bullshit, because I was literally just hired three weeks ago because of the uptick in project requests and a lack of hands to fulfill them all. I know it has to do with the incident at the bar. That wasn’t the first time Nuno got a little too friendly. I should have reported him, but shit like that never works out for me; it always gets twisted back around like I was the cause of it.”
“Reported him?” I asked, “For what?”
“Just being inappropriate and condescending, as well as a gross fucking pig. He never laid a hand on me at the jobsite, or I’d have broken it off and bitch-slapped him with it, but I’ve wanted to knock the leer off his face a few times when he was eyeing me, and he literally harasses everyone with his constant micromanaging and steady stream of just wrong-ass directions. Now that I did report him for, since doing what he told me to do would have made it so that the measurements would have been off in the next phase of the project.”
“Yeah, he’s a major prick,” Nyx replied. “Has been ever since he landed on the island. From what I’ve heard, he came on as a temp and somehow managed to work his way up to a lead foreman position, which has convinced him that it equates to being head foreman with the right to go from jobsite to jobsite issuing orders and getting in the way of people’s work. I know people on several of the work crews, and they all wonder the same thing: why the hell management keeps the guy around. One even suggested he’s got some kind of dirt on a higher-up that he’s holding over their heads. It’s fucked up and doesn’t make a good work environment for anyone.”
“At least I don’t have to deal with him anymore,” Kekoa said. “But that does change my post-holiday plans from after-work beach bum to filling out job applications while sprawled beneath a coconut tree.”
“You never told us exactly what you do,” I pointed out.
“Because there’s no way to describe my job description in one or two words,” I explained. “When I told you jack of all trades, I was dead-ass serious. There isn’t much I don’t do: roofing, cleaning out gutters, building patios and decks, laying concrete and brick, installing cabinets, tilework, laying flooring and carpet, the whole nine yards. If it involves any sort of remodeling or home repair, I can do it.
“Hmmm, well-versed is a good thing,” Nyx said. “Sounds like you’re pretty handsy to have around.”
“Shouldn’t that be handy?” I asked.
“I said what I said,” Nyx replied.
Kekoa laughed as they leaned against my shoulder. “Whether with tentacles or fingers, I always aim to please,” they said before letting out a contented sigh. “Honestly though, the more I think about it, the less upset I am about being laid off. Maybe it’s time I finally just figure out one thing to focus on and make a go of it.”
“Or you could get some business cards printed out and pass them around,” I suggested. “There’s always someone in the village who’s looking for a handyman, and they usually prefer to hire people they know. After tonight, you’ll know most of them.”
“Just had to remind me of that, didn’t you? They said.
“Yup.”
And with that I found myself knocked backward into the surf again, water going up my nose when I started laughing. At least I couldn’t drown. My mates helped me up again, my ears so plugged that their laughter was muffled. To say that it had beena great day was an understatement. I just hoped we all survived the after-party.
Chapter 6
Nyx
At night, the light-wrapped coconut trees lining our village streets looked like spurting cocks, which immediately drew snickers from Kekoa.
“Yeah, I know,” Lani muttered. “The guys who dreamed up the lighting plan this year didn’t consider what that particular application was going to look like. Pretty damned funny and completely inappropriate probably hadn’t been what they were going for, but it sure as hell was what we wound up with. Some of the elders have been upset about them ever since the lights went up, but a few have shown that they’re still cheeky and easily amused by their neighbors’ discomfort. At the market, the cackling that follows the description of those trees has become as commonplace as the coconut-infused treats that are always for sale.”
The fact that they’d hung teardrop-shaped ornaments from the ends of each palm frond only added to the image ofejaculation they conveyed. Row after row of brightly lit-up, orgasming palm trees guided us to the site of the fiesta. In the large horseshoe-shaped field that bordered the park at the end of the block, there were rows of tables and fairy lights set up, with a crowd of people milling around eating, chatting, and catching up with one another. The playground equipment was full of laughing children, several of them my nieces and nephews, while a soccer game had broken out among the adults and teens.
We were slightly messy with sand still clinging to our clothes in spots when we arrived, Lani’s shirt inside out, no doubt because he’d been too busy making out with Kekoa while they were getting dressed to focus on how he pulled it on.
A cheer went up the moment my brother, Deven, spotted us. I hoped Kekoa braced to be swarmed because the tidal wave of bodies heading towards us was thick and formidable. Introductions were chaos; no way would they remember all the names and faces, but each time I glanced over at them, there was a big smile on their face and a death grip on my hand that threatened to grind my bones to dust if I even thought about stepping away.
Eventually, we found ourselves seated near the center of a long row of picnic tables covered in colorful cloth and an assortment of food. I hoped Kekoa had worked up a hell of an appetite this evening, because every cook present was plying them with food, trying to get them to try their dishes. They already had two plates laden with samples when my Aunty Ina approached, carrying a dish to present them with the first spoonful.
They didn’t hesitate; they didn’t even ask her what it was or what was in it; they just shoved the spoonful in their mouth, eyes going wide when it hit their taste buds.
“Whoa, creamy and spicy, that’s an amazing combination,” they praised. “Lemony too, oh yummmm.”
