She lost sight of that sometimes, running herself ragged to try and make sure they had every possible opportunity. In the moment, though, sometimes the answer was as simple as a pit stop for a quick treat.
The girls were mollified, but Oakley still felt out of sorts as she drove south. The jewel-green hills and pristine blue skies that had once soothed her soul now seemed to mock her with their enduring perfection.
Moving away had been harder than she expected.
She missed Waimea more than she’d thought she would.
For a town she didn’t live in anymore, she sure spent a lot of time there. She had hoped that spending weekends there might make the transition easier – for her, but especially for the girls.
Instead, it had only made it more difficult to let go of their old life.
The transition to Pualena had been more difficult than Oakley expected. Just that morning, she had thrown out a pair of her favorite leather shoes because they had been completely ruined by mold.
She had forgotten howdampit always was in Pualena.
That was one of the reasons she chose Waimea to begin with. It was gorgeous and green, particularly on the eastern side of town, but not quite as damp as her home town. Oakley’s house had been just dry enough that she wasn’t constantly battling mold the way that they did in Pualena.
It didn’t help that she was still teaching two days a week at the Pilates studio all the way up in Waimea, or that her daughters – eleven-year-old Hayden in particular – had fought her every step of the way through the changes that their parents’ divorce had brought into their lives.
She had tried to make it all as easy on them as she possibly could. They still did soccer and karate with their old friends in Waimea, but Hayden was irate that she had to give up musical theater when they left the private school.
No matter how much gas Oakley burned going back and forthor how much fun she had with her cousins in Pualena, Hayden had taken the disruption to her life hard. And that made it harder for Harper, who took things in stride and probably would have adjusted more quickly otherwise.
It would just take time, Oakley told herself.
And in the meantime, she kept driving back and forth.
She needed to find work in Pualena – or at least closer to Pualena – but there was no work to be had.
There were a couple of Pilates studios closer than the one she worked at, but neither one of them was hiring. And working more than two days a week with that long of a commute was out of the question. Spending five hours in the car was ridiculous. It was exhausting, and it was expensive.
So she worked two days a week, but it wasn’t enough.
Often it felt like she was still in limbo, living her life half in Waimea and half in Pualena. It wasn’t sustainable. But she wasn’t sure what else to do.
Pualena was paradise in so many ways, but there was a reason that so many people their age had moved away years before. It was nearly impossible to find a job that paid enough to cover the outrageous cost of rent and groceries and every other inflated cost of living on the island.
Oakley had a significant nest egg from her divorce, and so she was in no immediate danger. But every month, she had far more money going out than coming in – and that was scary. She wanted to invest that money, not watch it slowly waste away.
She needed to figure out what the next chapter of her life was going to look like.
4
Halia
Halia was up to her eyebrows in grant requests all morning, until a text from her sister provided her with a welcome distraction.
Laurie:Hey, you busy?
Halia:Always busy, but never too busy for you. What’s up?
Laurie:The shop is full of people, and I don’t want to kick them out to close. Anne has guests checking in, so I told her that I would pick up Pete today. Any chance you could get him and Mia from New Horizons?
Halia:I can do that.
Laurie:Thank you! Are you sure?
Halia:It’s a welcome break from work. I’m leaving now.
