The thought passes through my mind, an idea I hadn’t considered in the last hour. “How would that work? We aren’t married, and we couldn’t live in the barracks together?”
“I have money, Lizzie. We could get a little place off base.”
I must have stars floating above my head at the mere idea of playing house with Everett, but it’s only a matter of time before reality kicks in to remind me that at any moment I could receive orders to move anywhere within this country to train. The odds of ending up at Fort Benning are as unlikely as one of us not deploying within the next few months. For the moment, though, and for the sake of his sweet offer, I jump into his arms, lock my legs around his waist, and slap my hands against his cheeks. “That sounds like a dream come true.”
“Under one condition, though,” he says, pulling his head back to capture my full attention.
“What’s that?” I ask, feeling the muscles in my cheeks tighten against my smile.
“Pretend like this is an actual possibility until we find out it’s not.”
28
Current Day - October 2018
“Oh,my goodness, Daniel, were you here all day?” The sweet voice is like a melody to my ears, and her face, it’s one I never forget no matter how bad a day might be. I study her as she walks gracefully in a shiny pair of black leather stilettos, matched perfectly with her tailored three-piece suit. My granddaughter has the word success written in her eyes. Her confidence plays a fine line between playful and serious, but no one could mistake her look for anger. She speaks softly like her grandfather but owns her contrasting freckles that stand out against her sun-bleached hair. Of course, it’s rare to see Makena with her hair down since she believes in keeping her face free from distraction, but when she lets it down, the ringlets I used to coil around my fingers still dangle halfway down her back. It’s hard to recall when she transitioned from a giggly little girl to this poised, elegant woman who appears to own the world. I still see the pink cheeks and gaps in her teeth, wet lashes, and crooked pigtails as she ran through the wind on the beach every afternoon until the sun stole every bit of her energy.
“Gran, you sound like you’re losing your voice. Are you feeling okay?” Makena asks.
“I’m not losing my voice, sweetheart. I’ve been helping this nice young man with his research today.” I glance down at his notepad, finding it as blank as it was when he arrived this morning.
“Nice young man, huh?” Makena responds with a smirk. “I suppose he is what you say. In fact, I thought so just a year ago when we got married right on that beach down there.”
I take in Makena’s words, trying to smile in response, but wishing I could recall a word of what she’s talking about. She’s married to this man. I don’t recall.
“Dan, you haven’t taken notes,” Makena points out with a chuckle.
“I have some notes in the car. I jotted them down while she napped earlier. She painted such vivid pictures; I didn’t want to miss anything while looking down at my notebook.” I readjust my posture, realizing I haven’t moved from this seat since we ate lunch a couple of hours ago. It’s time to stretch my legs. Keiki typically reminds me, but I assume she didn’t want to interrupt my storytelling.
Makena wraps her hands around my elbow and tugs as I push myself up to my feet. “I remember helping people up like this,” I tell my granddaughter. “Now I’m the one who can’t stand up without a good heave-ho.”
“Oh, Gran,” Makena sighs. She keeps her hands nearby and ready in case I stumble like a toddler taking her first steps, but I’m not going far. It’s the time of day when the cumulus clouds roll through, their shapes and buoyancy mimic the appearance of a hand-drawn cartoon with unique curves and shading. I once thought clouds looked the same no matter where a person might be in the world, but it wasn’t until I began traveling that I noticed how different a cloud looks depending on the weather, elevation, and environment. If there was a contest on which location has the most beautiful clouds, this island would win without a close race.
Makena’s hand strokes my upper back as I lean my elbows down on the ledge of the balcony. “That’s a horse, without a doubt,” she says, pointing at the cloud I was just studying.
“A Clydesdale, to be specific,” I counter.
The muffled sound of a bee buzzing pulls my attention away from the horizon in search of the source, but when I glance in Makena’s direction, the pulsating sound halts as she holds her telephone up to her ear.
“Hi,” she answers. “What’s up?” Makena lifts her gaze from her shoes and finds her reflection in my eyes. “Yes, I’m here. She’s great.”
Is it me she’s speaking about?
“Sure, hold on.” Makena reaches her telephone over to me, waiting for me to take it from her hand. I always hate fiddling around with this new technology the kids carry around. It hardly fits in my hand, and I feel like I might drop it. Surely it would shatter into a million pieces if that were to happen. As relentless as Makena is, she holds the telephone up for me until I concede and take the shiny device from her hand, holding it up to my ear.
“Gran, turn it around; it’s facing the wrong way.” I must look ridiculous, but a true telephone doesn’t offer the option of mistakenly holding the receiver incorrectly. With both hands, I turn the piece of glass carefully until it’s flipped around.
“Hello?”
“Mom, what have you been up to all day? I’ve called a few times, but Keiki said you’ve been busy outside talking Daniel’s ear off. Is everything okay?”
I continue holding the phone within both of my hands as I pivot my stance to face the water rather than Makena. “Yes, I’ve been talking to Daniel for the last few hours. There’s no need to worry.”
“You don’t sound right, Mom.”
I close my eyes, focusing on his voice. “I just said there’s nothing to worry about,” I repeat.
“Okay, well Julia and I will be over soon.”
