Between Hello and Goodbye(26)

“Not at all,” Morgan said. “Asher and I were discussing the natural ebb and flow of business fortunes. Like the tide. Sometimes it’s high and flush and other times, it recedes a little bit. That’s all. Right, Ash?”

“If you say so.”

Faith took her seat and put her foot up, her observant glance moving between us. “On an island this small, I’d imagine you’re only going to get so many clients per year,” she ventured.

“True,” Morgan said. “But we’re about to head into the busy wedding season.”

“Though we don’t want to bank everything on one season,” Nalani said, rejoining us. “We’re looking for ways to expand.”

Faith nodded. “Do you have an online presence?”

I rubbed my face. “You have to stop using that phrase.”

She stuck her tongue out at me and turned to Morgan. “Do you have a website?”

“We do. It’s not great.” Morgan bit his lip. “Would you mind…taking a look? It’d be nice to have a pro tell us all the stuff we’re doing wrong.”

“No, we can’t ask…” Nalani began hesitantly.

“I don’t mind at all,” Faith said. “I can’t promise anything, but I’m happy to look.”

Morgan and Nalani exchanged hopeful glances. “You sure?”

“It’s what I do,” Faith said with a shrug and smile.

Nalani went and retrieved a laptop. She and Morgan sat with clutched hands, as if they were in a doctor’s office awaiting a diagnosis, while Faith studied their webpage.

I slipped away into the kitchen with no small amount of relief—and gratitude—for Faith’s help. If Morgan wouldn’t take my money, maybe she could give them a boost.

And if she can’t, they’re getting the money anyway.

Morgan had his pride, but he didn’t understand that the entire point of selling my soul on Wall Street had been to ensure he’d never have to want for anything. I didn’t almost kill myself so that I could watch him suffer. From the moment I opened my eyes to a smoke-filled morning and his scared-to-death expression, he’d become my responsibility. It was ingrained in me, and nothing was going to change that.

I loaded our lunch dishes into the washer while watching the scene on the lanai through the window. My brother and his wife talked and laughed with Faith, listened to her advice with smiles of hope and excitement blooming on their faces. My chest felt warm with pride, as if I could take credit for her. As if she were part of our little clan. As if she belonged here.

As if she were mine…

I shook my head to clear the bullshit out. She wasn’t mine and wasn’t going to be. I didn’t have relationships that lasted longer than a night or two, and even if I did, she lived thousands of miles away. She needed her big city, while I couldn’t imagine stepping foot on the mainland ever again. I’d finally found a modicum of peace here. The islands helped temper the rage that constantly simmered in me that our parents had broken my and Morgan’s childhood and left me to put the pieces back together. Faith was beautiful and fun, and her sly, flirty smiles gave me inappropriate thoughts, but it couldn’t—and shouldn’t—go any further.

The fact I had to keep giving myself these mental cold showers was driving me fucking nuts.

Enough already.

“You moved here because you love the island, right?” Faith was saying when I came back out onto the lanai. “Because it’s beautiful and serene and all that jazz.”

Morgan laughed. “All that jazz. Yep, about sums it up.” He turned his huge grin up to me. “Faith has some fantastic ideas.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, not looking at her.

“I was just suggesting they could take their clients on excursions around the island and photograph them at the falls or the beach…”

“Or at the canyon!” Kal piped up as he clambered up the wooden stairs. Dust from his foray under the porch coated his hair and clothes.

“Right, the canyon. Whatever that is,” Faith said, shooting him a smile. “Or that trail that tried to kill me. Photograph your clients in the beauty of the island, and they’ll feel like they’ve become a part of it. That’s what they’ll take home with them.”

“I love it,” Nalani said.

“Me too,” Morgan said. He put his hand to his chest. “Mahalo nui loa, Faith.”

“It’s nothing,” she said. “I was just thinking about how when I leave, I like the idea of taking a little piece of the island home with me.”

Because she was leaving. End of.

“Time to get going,” I said dully.

My family walked us to the front porch, and Kaleo tugged Faith’s arm. “Are you coming back? You have to meet Momi. That’s my great-grandma.”

“My grandmother,” Nalani explained. “And yes, we’d love to have you back again.”

Faith’s smile didn’t touch her eyes. “It was very nice meeting you all.”

And in that moment, I knew she wasn’t staying another day, never mind the rest of her trip. She turned and crutched toward my Jeep without another word. I said my goodbyes, gave Kal a hug, and followed after.

“I’m pretty tired,” Faith said when I got behind the wheel. “I’d like to go back to the condo.”