“Oh Halia, I’m glad you picked up. Are you at work?”
“I’m at the bookshop right now. What’s up?”
“So you’re not busy?” Dawn asked.
“What do you need?”
“Is there any chance you could pick Akemi up at the airport?”
“She’s coming home? When?”
“Today. She’s on the plane already.”
“I didn’t know she was coming.”
“Oh, you know Akemi. Always last minute. Her flight gets here in less than an hour, and I said that I would get her, but Patty Takahashi needs a bridge partner after hers took ill at thelast minute, and she can’t find anyone else.”
“Sure, I can pick her up.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Hallie.”
The old childhood nickname usually made an appearance when she needed to ask for a favor. Halia didn’t mind, not really. She was glad that Dawn had an active social life.
Losing their dad when he was just sixty-four years old had been hard on all of them, but there were a few months there when she wondered if they might lose Dawn too, so deep and dark was her grief.
And so if there was anything that she could do to keep their remaining parent active and happy, she would. And she did.
“You’ll have to stop by and pick up the car seat,” Dawn said. “Akemi doesn’t have one with her. I’m leaving now, so I’ll just put it on the lanai for you, okay?”
Halia opened her mouth to ask if Dawn could drop the infant seat at the shop on her way out of town… then closed it again. She was in a rush. And Halia didn’t mind the slow, coasting drive down to the cliffs. It was just a few extra miles.
She pulled into the cell phone lot at the airport, texted Akemi to let her know that she was there to pick her up, and sat waiting.
Hunger gnawed at her stomach – she had skipped lunch – and she wished that she had grabbed something on the way. Or at least asked Dawn precisely what time Akemi’s flight was due to land.
She had only been there for about half an hour when Akemi texted to tell her that she was out front. A new excitement thrummed in Halia’s chest as she drove to pick up her baby sister (her secret favorite) and little Kaleo.
Not so little anymore. Kaleo was a chubby toddler now, and Akemi held him in two arms as she stood waiting on the curb.
Akemi had always traveled with just one modestly sized backpack, but she had gathered more and more things over the past year, including a collapsible stroller and portable crib. She tried to wrestle the screaming baby into his car seat as Halia loaded her bags into the back of her car.
“Here,” Halia offered. “Let me hold him for a minute.”
“There are people waiting to pull up,” Akemi worried.
“Let them wait.” She reached out her arms and took the baby, who was smaller than he looked when his mother was holding him.
Petite Akemi only came up to Halia’s shoulders. Halia wondered how she got around by herself with all of that stuff and Kaleo too.
Freed from the threat of a carseat, Kaleo calmed and looked up at her with his huge brown eyes, so dark they were nearly black.
“Long day, huh?” she said to him.
He stuck a thumb in his mouth and regarded her solemnly.
“Should we give it another try? It’s hot out here. Let’s get you out of the sun.”
She cranked the AC inside of the car and then went into the back seat to buckle Kaleo into his seat. Akemi had already adjusted the straps, and this time he went in easily.
