Page 95 of Hula Girl

I’m not kidding about that. More than one tourist who got too close to the geyser which erupts every few minutes at the same spot as Heart Rock, has been sucked in and quickly drowned. Its blasts of seawater of up to one hundred feet in the air are a magnificent sight to behold, but only at a safe distance.

Thankfully, our breakfast spot wasn’t all that far away, and I’m soon parking along the road at mile marker thirty-eight-point-five. I rush along the trail toward the water, my mind racing with questions about what all this means.

But the only answer I need is the one I find when I see Ava standing by Heart Rock, looking at me expectantly. She’s wearing a short yellow sundress and has a matching hibiscus tucked behind one ear. I stop several yards away, taking in the sight of her. Then I laugh when she raises her arms and sways her hips just so. She’s my perfect Hula Girl.

I go to her, and before either of us can say anything, I slide my hand into the hair at the nape of her neck, pull her body to mine, and kiss her.

I kiss her like she’s mine.

Because that’s what she is.

I know that both from how I feel and from how she returns the kiss. It’s full commitment on both sides.

When we finally pull away, she looks up at me and says, “Missed you, Surfer Boy.”

“Where did you come from, Hula Girl?”

She smiles at me, her eyes sparkling in the sunlight. “All I know is I’m right where I want to be.”

Just then, the geyser goes off, and we both turn to look at it. The water shoots high into the air, fanning out slightly. The sunlight is just right to create a rainbow in the spray of water.

“How’s that for romance?” I tell her, grinning.

She looks into my eyes. “Total fairy tale, babe.”

I get all that she means with that. I get that this means we’re really working on being together. That she believes in us. And that we’ll figure it all out.

“You better believe it,” I tell her, and lean in for another kiss.

She surprises me by putting her hand to my chest. I watch as she looks around, taking in our surroundings. The wind is whipping the ocean against the rocks. Wandering Tattler birds are making occasional calls. Mercifully, we’ve found a brief time when there isn’t anyone else here. The geyser is bound to go off again, giving us another private show.

“What is it?” I ask.

Her smile is beautiful, serene. “All this,” she says, gesturing around us, “and all I can hear is my own heartbeat.”

I cock an eyebrow. “And is that a good thing?”

“You better believe it,” she replies and leans in for another kiss.

40

Ava

So, what happened after the fairy-tale reunion at Heart Rock? Did everything just magically fall into place? Not exactly.

Instead of jumping right into the logistical and practical matters of it all, we reverted to vacation fling mode. We created our own little world, either at his place, or in the water, or at Makai’s. Then, we spent time with his mother, Rebecca, which allowed me to get to know her better. She’s very sweet and welcomed me warmly, especially when she understood that the sudden seriousness of our relationship wasn’t based on an accidental pregnancy. Pika and Hiro have become my good friends, too. So has Makai, though I suspect he loves to play up our friendship as a way to tease Ford since he likes to pretend that he’s just a customer to him.

It was after almost two weeks of living in the moment like this that we started talking about what our future would look like. Ford was quick to suggest that we work out a way to split our time between Maui and Los Angeles, saying he wanted to take up the offer the Inner-City Music Project had made for him to come on as a consultant. That would require him to be in LA. for a good chunk of time every quarter. I loved that he was showing me that he was willing to compromise. It meant that I wasn’t the only one willing to change my life for our relationship. But I had to figure out what I would do with my career. Unlike Ford’s generous leave of absence policy, mine was finite. I had a total of four weeks before I had to return.

One lazy afternoon after spending too much time in the sun and ocean, we sought refuge under the shade of a palm tree to let the saltwater evaporate on our skin. I dug my toes into the soft sand and closed my eyes, trying to let the rhythm of the waves and the gentle breeze rustling the palm fronds relax me.

“Honey,” Ford said.

“Hmm?”

“Let’s talk. Time to dig deep. And I don’t just mean your toes.”

Turning toward him, I cracked one eye to give him a quizzical look.

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