Between Hello and Goodbye(90)

Not if I lose Kal.

I whirled on Chloe. “You sent her into that?”

She stammered, but I was already grabbing a flashlight from my emergency kit at the door. “Stay here in case Kal comes back,” I ordered in the same tone I used during a call. The tone that tolerated zero disobedience.

Chloe nodded quickly and I ran out into the deluge. Faith was just about to climb into her car.

“Faith!”

Though drenched in rain, her hair plastered to her cheeks, there was nothing and no one more beautiful in the world. She froze and stared at me, the hint of a smile touching her lips and then fading again.

“Asher…”

I wanted to grab her, hold her, beg for her forgiveness…

“I need your help,” I said. “Kal is missing. I think he went back to his house. In Hanalei.” My chest ached. “He wanted to go home.”

Faith’s hand flew to her heart. “Oh, God. Okay. What do you need?”

“There’s a footpath from here to there, through the Princeville golf course. He probably took that. He knows the way. I’m going to take it and see if I can catch up with him. I need you to drive ahead to the house. You can’t let him go in. It’s too dangerous.”

Confusion flashed over her face, but she didn’t waste time with questions. “Okay. I’ll call you when I have him.”

When. Not if.

The terror that I’d failed and was going to lose Kal too relaxed its grip on me for a short second, only to come rushing back because I was putting Faith in danger.

“Faith. Be careful.”

Faith flashed me the smallest, arch smile. “You too, firefighter,” she said pointedly. “You too.”

Then she dove into her car, and I began to run.





I drove as fast as I dared to Morgan and Nalani’s house. The rain began to let up, coming down in fat drops instead of buckets. I turned onto their drive and my heart sank to see yellow caution tape barricading the front door and lanai. Wood planks were nailed over the windows.

“God, what else can this family go through?”

My headlights splashed yellow light over the front of the house as I pulled in, and I caught a glimpse of a blue shirt. Kal was climbing under the front porch. His favorite hiding spot. Relief flooded me, but the boarded-up house screamed danger.

I left the headlights on and shot Asher a fast text.

He’s here. Under porch.

Then I climbed out of the car and picked my way over the squelching earth that sucked at my shoes.

“I hate mud,” I muttered and smirked at the irony. “This is how you and I met, Kauai. Are you testing me? Again?”

I crouched on my hands and knees and peered under the wooden slats to the dark alcove. I just barely made out the outline of the little boy.

“Kal?”

“Hi, Faith,” he said dully. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s a really long story. Why don’t you come out and I’ll tell you all about it?”

“No.”

“I heard it’s not exactly safe under there. Come on out and—”

“No.”

I blew a sigh and brushed rain-matted hair from my face. “Okay, can I sit with you? But just for a minute.”

“I guess.”

“Awesome.”

I got down on my stomach and army-crawled over the mud, wedging my way under the porch that was likely home to God-knew how many spiders, worms, and other icky things. There was more space closer to the house, and I was able to sit hunched over beside Kal who was sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest, arms wrapped tight. The whole place groaned and swayed against the storm, and water streamed in from between the porch slats.

“Cozy little spot you got here,” I said and tried to smile. “It’s a pretty bad storm to be out in, don’t you think?”

“I wanted to go home,” he said, his voice small. “But I can’t.”

“I know,” I said, my heart breaking for this little boy who’d lost so much. “But this house isn’t safe anymore, right?”

He nodded. “Because of the mudslides. They’re going to tear it down.”

My pulse ratcheted up at the idea that the house was about to careen down the mountain at any second.

“I can’t imagine how hard all this has been for you,” I said to Kal. “But you’ll have a new home now. One with your uncle—”

“Uncle Asher doesn’t know what to do with me. I heard him tell Miss Barnes. He can’t manage it all. He said it’s too hard.”

“He meant being without your mom and dad,” I said, gently. “That’s the hard part, Kal. The hardest thing.”

He nodded. “Yeah, it is.” Tears filled his eyes; they shone in the dimness. “I don’t want it to be so hard for him. What if he gets too tired and doesn’t want me anymore?”

“Oh, honey.” I put an arm around him. “Asher would never not want you. Never.”

“He doesn’t sleep, and he has to work a lot.”

My firefighter…

“It’s hard for him too,” I said. “Your daddy was Asher’s brother and he loved him a lot. But he loves you just as much. Can’t you feel it?”