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But never in the light of day.

Never where he could see her eyes or she could see his.

“Maybe it will help if you tell me… the whole thing. What you can remember.”

Heath let out a breath, feeling his body grow heavier. “Can I hold you while I do?”

She didn’t answer immediately, but when he sat up, put his back against the wall, and opened his arms, she moved closer and leaned against him.

Movement in the doorway turned his head and he saw Ebi walk into view and sit down just inside the room.

Buck leaned his head back, touching the back of his head against the wall. He closed his eyes for a moment but then opened them up, needing the sunlight to push back the pain that threatened to drown him in his memories.

“I don’t know when we knew that the plane was going down,” he began and felt her breath fan across his skin, “but I remember the moment we hit the water. I thought that was the worst moment of my life… but I was wrong.”

ELEVEN

MARI

Buck made no decisions that day.

Or the week after, but they carefully avoided the discussion about his future.

He was in meetings from time to time and when he’d come to her house, they didn’t really talk about work.

Hers or his.

He helped her around the house.

Life moved on.

At least, the parts they could talk about.

The daily grind.

And that’s when things started to build up on a different front.

The humidity in the air built up and even with the fans on in her office and her bedroom, she had to carry around a towel to pat herself dry. Showering two or three times a day to feel clean.

The showers weren’t bad except her water bill was likely to be horrendous.

The best part about them was when Heath was at the house. He made showers fun, even when they were fighting for room in the old tub.

Hoping to help him relax, Mari organized a party in their little community. Someone brought out strings of lights.

Another family brought out their family sized barbeque that they’d made out of metal drums and other pieces of metal.

Before Buck and his friends arrived, the coals were heating chicken on long skewers, and a large Igloo cooler was filled with ice beside a smaller red and white one.

Mari came outside with long cuts of nasubi and zucchini for her smaller grill. Reiko was already there, using tongs to cook spicy rounds of Portuguese sausages.

This, Mari realized, was what she loved about her little neighborhood.

It might be remote compared to living within Honolulu, but there was a peace that seemed to come straight from the soil and grass under her feet.

“Hey,” Reiko bumped into her shoulder, “you going to add those to the grill or…”

Mari giggled, feeling years younger in that moment. “Jeez! You’d think you were starving…”