“Most kids would be thrilled to come to Hawaii.”
She rolled her eyes. “You sound just like my mom. People come here onvacation. They don’t leave their whole life behind to move to moldy old Pualena.”
“Tell us how you really feel,” Oakley teased.
“That pretty much covers it.”
“Have you seen the rabbit kits across the street?” Pete asked Harper. She gasped and looked at Oakley.
“Mom, can we?”
“Sure, that’s fine.”
“They were just over there an hour ago,” Anne worried.
“It’s fine. Auntie Kim loves the company.” She looked around. “Where’s Mia?”
“They went home.”
“Already?” Oakley’s arms flew out in frustration. “I can’t believe we missed them!”
Anne gave her a worried frown. “Laurie was in a hurry.”
It was only then that Oakley noticed how worn out her sister was. There were bluish circles beneath her eyes and new stress lines on her forehead. She looked exhausted.
“Do you want to go for a walk on the cliffs?” she asked. There was nothing like those endless ocean views and the misting explosions of water on rock to wake a body up. Even on this side of the house, there was a salty tang to the air.
“What about the kids?” Anne glanced across the street.
“They’ll be fine. Mom’s here, isn’t she?”
Anne gave her a loaded look, and Oakley just smiled.
“Come on. It’ll do you good. And our babies aren’t exactly babies anymore.”
“True that.” She sighed and started off through the yard.
Gravel crunched beneath the grass as they walked, and Oakley took a deep breath of the sea air. Her heart lifted as they came around the side of the house and the view in front of them opened up to include the wide blue Pacific.
Most of the houses had nothing at all between them and the ocean, but the Kalama place had an old wooden fence that their dad had built decades before to keep the younger kids away from the high cliffs. Oakley unlatched the gate and held it open for her sister.
“It’s been cloudy all day,” Anne remarked as they picked their way through the brush to the clear black rock of the cliffs. “It only just cleared up.”
“I bring the sunshine,” Oakley said lightly.
Anne huffed a laugh. “You always have.”
“How are you, really?”
She was quiet for a moment, looking out towards the water. Finally she said, “Mom hasn’t come out of her room since we got here. She didn’t even say hello to the kids.”
“I’ve been trying to get her to see a therapist. I think you can more or less predict how those conversations have gone.”
“Is it even a conversation when she doesn’t reply?”
“Exactly.” Oakley stopped at a high point on the rocks and stuck her hands in her pockets. A wave met the cliffs with a thunderous crash, shaking the ground beneath their feet. “I miss him like crazy.”
“Dad?” Anne asked.
