Page 10 of One Night in Hawaii

“I feel bad for the guy,” I said.

“Eh. Anyway, tell me more about you.”

I didn’t know if anything I said could be anywhere near as exciting as what she had seen and done in her life. “There’s not a lot to tell. I live on a boat, which is also my research vessel. I travel around the islands doing research I’ve been hired to do by the university or private companies.”

“That sounds exciting.”

“I’m working the little jobs to save up for that whale migration journey,” I explained.

She took a bite of her food and suddenly broke into a bright smile. “How would you like to earn some money?”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I want to hire you to be our personal tour guide,” she said. “I’ll pay you thirty-thousand dollars. That’s about two grand a day. I want to get my brother outside. He is going to wallow and become even more isolated than he already is. I’m hoping to show him there is a life beyond the board room.”

I almost choked. “Excuse me?”

“Please. Take him out on a boat or for a hike or teach him to surf. I’ll cover all the costs of whatever activities you get him to do and pay you for your time. It would mean a lot to him. Let me rephrase that. It would mean a lot tome. I want him to have fun. I need him to experience life. He’s so in his head all the time. He has a lot of pressure on him. I want him to let loose. This is the perfect place to do that and you’re the perfect person to show him around.”

The money she was offering would be enough to put me over my goal. I would have enough to make the trip to Alaska and then some. I could even eat something other than rice and noodles every day. It was a no-brainer. I would make more spending two weeks playing tour guide than I would make doing months of little research jobs.

“Okay.” I nodded and let the idea sit a little longer. “Absolutely. That would be fun.”

“Really?” she asked with surprise.

“Sure,” I said, shrugging. “I don’t have any jobs lined up at the moment.”

“You rock! Thank you so much. I owe you so much more than thirty grand. I know this will change my brother’s life. He just needs to experience actual fun.”

“He didn’t have fun with his fiancée?”

She snorted. “He doesn’t have fun period. He turned twelve and he lost the fun mechanism.”

“That’s one thing about being on the beach in Hawaii, fun is easy. People come here for a reason. It’s the most beautiful place on earth. How can you not have fun when you’re surrounded by all this beauty?”

“I agree. Tomorrow, we have a fishing trip scheduled. It’s on a luxury boat and they promise we’re supposed to catch fish. I could care less if we catch fish, but I booked it because it seemed like something a man would like to do. I want you to show up but he can’t know we’ve talked. It has to look like a total chance encounter. If my brother knew I paid you to hang out with him, I don’t think I would make it back to New York.”

“You’re not going to be with us?”

She shrugged. “Maybe sometimes, but I have no problem finding fun. He’s the one that needs the help.”

I didn’t think she was trying to set me up with her brother. They were very wealthy and I wasn’t in any danger of stealing away some rich guy. “Let me give you my number.”

We quickly exchanged numbers. “I’ll text you the information for the boat. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this. I’ll warn you, he can be a bit of a stick in the mud at first, but he’ll loosen up. Just don’t take those surly looks personally. He looks at everyone like they stink but it’s just the way he is. He’s not really a jerk.”

“You’re making me worried.”

“Don’t be,” she said, laughing. “It might take him a minute to warm up. And he doesn’t know I booked this trip. I plan on surprising him in the morning. He might put up a fuss.”

“I will do my best to bring the sunshine and fun,” I told her.

“I’ll text you the information.”

I drove back to Ryder’s. I was hoping he would be home. I couldn’t wait to tell him about my quick money. He was going to think I was making it up. Unfortunately, he wasn’t home when I got back which meant we wouldn’t be doing dinner tonight together like he said. I carried my groceries to my boat and put them away. I spent a little time checking my email, making sure I didn’t miss a work opportunity.

I put an away message on my email and got busy jotting down some things I could show my new client. There was a lot to see and do on the island, but it was off the island that I found the most exciting. I wanted to make sure I did things that would appeal to someone that never did them before. I had surfed a thousand times and snorkeled and done all those things, but someone from New York may not have. I needed to make sure I picked activities that appealed to what Penelope described as a hermit.

With my list done, I crawled into bed early. I wasn’t going to sleep. I was going to dream about my voyage. I couldn’t believe I finally had the money to do it. Well, almost, but I wasn’t going to do anything to screw it up. I was going to make sure Pip and her brother had a great time on his honeymoon.

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