Her Hawaiian Homecoming (Mills & Boon Superromance) (13 page)

“Anyhow, I know you hadn’t made up your mind about the job, but any way you could help her now?” Teri asked. Allie was surprised Teri had reached out, given that she’d only met her once. That kind of thing never happened in Chicago, but maybe islanders were different.
Or maybe she’s just trying to be nice.
Ella gave her a pleading look.

“I can help,” Allie said, feeling confident. She’d seen worse.

“You can?” Ella dabbed at the tears on her cheeks. “I’ve got a date with Todd tonight and I just...I just can’t go like this!”

“Todd is like a living legend around here,” Teri said. “Flies helicopters into the volcano.”

“Gives
tours
. It’s nothing quite so dangerous as all that.” Ella laughed a little. “And it’s just our second date.” Ella grabbed her phone and proudly showed Allie a picture of Todd. He had jet-black hair and bright blue eyes and a killer smile. He was sitting in the cockpit of a massive black helicopter, giving a thumbs-up sign.

“Really?” Teri sounded skeptical. “Because people
die
doing that.”

“He’s the best pilot on the island,” Ella declared. “But he won’t want to be seen with me like this!” Ella’s bottom lip quivered, and tears threatened to spill.

“Whoa, now, it’ll be okay.” Allie held her hands up as if Ella was a skittish horse. “Come on over here,” she added, easing Ella into one of the salon chairs. “Let’s get a better look at you.”

* * *

A
L
ITTLE
WHILE LATER
, Allie had worked a miracle with an eyebrow pencil. Ella’s eyebrows arched perfectly. Allie had gone ahead and done the woman’s makeup, too.

“You weren’t kidding about your skills, honey,” Teri said, nodding her head in admiration. “I’m going to have to call you the brow whisperer.”

Ella’s brow looked surprisingly natural, her makeup flawless. She looked ready for her date.

“I
love
you,” Ella gushed, admiring her reflection. “How much do I owe...?”

“Uh...” Allie glanced uncertainly at Teri.

“Oh, screw it. Here’s what I have! Keep it.” Ella pressed eighty dollars into Allie’s hand.

Allie had her hand open with the cash in it as she offered it to Teri.

“Keep it,” Teri said, closing her hand over the bills. “You earned it.”

“But...” Allie didn’t quite feel right as she watched Ella bounce out of the salon. She thought she should refuse it, but part of her knew she was looking at a week’s worth of groceries. And since it didn’t look as if she was selling the land anytime soon, she’d need all the cash she could get. She took it and folded it into her pocket.

“You’re a lifesaver, honey. So glad you could come by. Given any thought to that job? How about you set your own hours? Part-time, whatever works for you.”

Allie felt the cash in her pocket. She needed it, especially if she wanted to eat sometime past next week. “Sure,” Allie said, thinking that she could see herself happily spending time at Tiki Teri’s. She eyed a bowl of mango candy—her favorite—on the counter near the door.

“Take as many as you want
,
” Teri called to her. “You’ve earned them, honey.”

Allie scooped up a grateful handful and unwrapped one for eating and left the rest in her pocket for later.

She left the salon feeling happy about her good deed of the day. She walked into Hula Coffee next door, wanting to say hi to Kai and Jesse, and also craving a little iced mocha something as a reward.

She found Jesse sans Kai working like a well-oiled machine, ringing up orders and making them. When Jesse saw Allie, she bustled out from behind the counter to give her a big hug.

“Hi, Allie!” She grinned, her freckles on her nose just adding to her warm cheer. “What brings you into town?”

Allie told her about Tiki Teri’s and the eyebrow job, and she beamed. “You’re going to be working right next door? That’s great,” Jesse said. “Leaving Dallas, then, to do all the heavy lifting on the estate?”

“Uh...yeah, I guess so.” Allie glanced around at the full house of customers enjoying her grandmother’s coffee. Did she really want to tell them she planned to sell her share as soon as Kaimana signed that paper?

“He’s a good man, you know,” Jesse told Allie.

“Who?”

“Dallas.”

“That’s not what I heard,” Allie said, thinking about what Teri had said about his not being a one-woman man. She didn’t even know why she said it just then. Hadn’t Dallas saved her grandmother’s farm? But did that really matter if he was a cheater and a womanizer? Then again, who cared if he was? Allie had no intention of dating him.

Jesse let out a disgruntled sigh. “Don’t you dare be swayed by island gossip,” she scolded as she gave Allie back her change for the iced coffee. “Most of it isn’t true, and the other part is completely fabricated.”

This made Allie laugh.

“Seriously, though, Dallas... I mean, Hula Coffee would not be here without him.” Jesse handed Allie her iced latte. She took a big sip. “Kai and I, we wanted to start this shop, you know? Always have wanted to, but try telling a bank officer that a surfer and former whale-watching guide are good business investments.”

“They wouldn’t loan you money?”

“We were considered high risk. We had no collateral, since that was before Kai got his big endorsement deal, before the surfing really took off. He wasn’t making much then.” Jesse wiped down the counter. “Dallas loaned us the money, and we’re not the only ones.”

“I know,” Allie said, thinking about her grandmother. “How was he able to...”

“Give away free money?” Jesse shrugged. “He did inherit some from the sale of his family ranch, but by the way he gives it away, I can’t imagine he’s sitting on all that much anymore.”

“Why does he do it? Do you share profits?” Allie was still looking for the angle.

“We’re paying him back, but he won’t take interest. He’s just a part of the community. He cares,” Jesse said. “Locals look after one another. And all that stuff about him being a player... I just don’t think it’s true, honestly.”

Allie suddenly had a sneaking suspicious Jesse
really
cared for Dallas. Maybe more than she let on. “Do you...and Dallas...?”

Jesse barked a loud laugh. “Us? God, no!” she exclaimed, as if Allie had just asked Jesse if she had a crush on her own brother. “There are
many
reasons for that.”

“Oh.” Now Allie just felt puzzled. “Do you...”

“I like girls, Allie,” Jesse said, matter-of-factly.

And then it all made sense to Allie. No, she definitely wouldn’t be into Dallas. He was the furthest thing from a girl there was.

“Oh,”
Allie blurted, and then laughed. “And here I thought...”

“That I was secretly in love with Dallas McCormick.” Jesse shook her head. “Not my type. Too many Y chromosomes.”

Allie laughed, strangely feeling relieved. “So why all the rumors about Dallas?” Allie just felt like where there was so much smoke, there had to be a fire. “That he cheated on his fiancée? Left her and her little girl?”

“I don’t believe it,” Jesse said flatly.

“What happened, then?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know. He won’t tell me, and I don’t want to pry. It’s none of my business.”

“But the tourists...” Allie knew she should stop digging up dirt about Dallas, but part of her just couldn’t help it.

“He only started that after Jennifer,” Jesse said. “If you want my opinion, he’s just rebounding—hard. He doesn’t know how to stop. But make no mistake—he’s one of the good ones.”

Allie left the coffee shop feeling strangely unsettled. Maybe she’d been wrong about Dallas. Maybe she’d jumped to too many conclusions about him like she had about pretty much everyone on this island. Even Grandma Misu, assuming she’d spent all these years withholding support, when she couldn’t give any. Maybe rushing to judgment was her fatal flaw.

Except for Jason. He sure got past all your defenses.

She didn’t want to think about Jason. She didn’t want to think about Dallas, either, although his stark blue eyes seemed to hover in her mind no matter how hard she tried to think about something else. No doubt he was handsome, beyond handsome. And if she were honest, he’d been nothing but nice since she’d stepped foot back on her grandmother’s property. She’d been the rude one. Like accusing him of stealing from her grandmother—case in point.

The bright, warm Hawaiian sun beamed down on her, and the cool trade winds blew off the ocean, ruffling her dark hair as she strode back down the main street. She got into her car and decided, on a whim, to follow the signs to Magic Sands Beach.

Why not spend some time on the beach? She still had on her bikini beneath her sundress. She might even take a swim. The bright white sandy beach was dotted with big black lava rocks. She remembered those from her childhood, and they could be found on most beaches, a not-so-distant reminder that these beaches were still new and growing, with Kīlauea, the active volcano not too far away, pouring hot lava into the ocean.

The wind blew stronger here, and the surf was a little rougher than she expected: boogie-boarding kids were having a grand time catching waves that pulled them to shore. Some boys even got dumped upside down, laughing as they popped back up out of the crystal-blue water, shaking their blond heads and sending salt water in all directions. She walked by the big red sign that said in bold, intimidating letters: No Lifeguard. Swim at Your Own Risk. Danger: Strong Currents, but figured that if the kids could do it, so could she. She kicked off her flip-flops and pulled off her sundress. A college kid walked by, his eyes lingering a little longer than they should on her yellow bikini. She had to admit, it felt good. Down the beach she saw a couple lounging on folding chairs beneath a big, colorful umbrella.

She stretched her arms up in the toasty sunshine, taking a moment to be thankful for the warmth when everyone else she knew was probably wearing three layers of wool in Chicago, despite the fact it was April. Chicagoans wouldn’t get to shed their layers until late May. She exhaled, glad not to be in the miserable cold. She wondered if Jason and his new bondage girlfriend were freezing somewhere, being battered by late-season snow. She hoped so. That old familiar anger flared up in her chest again, burning like too much hot sauce down her throat.

Out in the distance, she saw an orange kayak bobbing in the ocean. She remembered Dallas carried a similar one in his pickup, and wondered for a fleeting second if that were him. The figure was too far away to see, and Allie dismissed the thought.

She dropped her sunglasses on top of her clothes, tucked her phone and keys into the pocket of her dress and headed to the water. The Pacific Ocean felt surprising cold on her toes. As she waded in, though, her body got used to the water, and it felt good against her skin. She glanced at her tanned arms, thinking,
I’m already looking as if I belong here
. She sucked in a breath as the cool water hit her bare midriff, as she waded in chest deep. The rocky and sandy bottom felt odd against the soles of her feet, and as she looked down, she saw tiny silver pencil-like fish darting around her. Allie fanned out her hand in the water and a small blue fish skipped over her palm.

Sunlight glinted on the water’s surface, making it sparkle. Truly beautiful, she thought.

About twenty feet away, waves crashed on a shallow coral reef near the shore, throwing up white sea foam as wave after wave pummeled the small shallows. Sharp lava rocks jutted up from the water, and the wave rose precariously high.
Stay away from there
, she thought as she moved in the opposite direction, taking a deep plunge into the ocean and swimming, freestyle, across the waves. She swam for a few minutes, and then a big wave dipped her, and she popped her head up, surprised to see she’d not made it very far from the reef. In fact, she seemed to be
closer
to it.

She swam harder, but the current worked against her, moving her to the rocky inlet, where waves crashed dangerously into the rock and coral. Allie pushed her arms into the water, kicking her feet furiously, but it was as if she was swimming in place. She wasn’t used to swimming this long, and her muscles ached. Tingling panic tickled the back of her neck as she found herself floating toward the big surf-size waves that had suddenly blown in from the ocean. The wind picked up, sending bigger waves in her direction, and she felt as if she was swimming against a tidal wave, steadily losing ground. Her legs burned; her muscles ached. A five-foot wave splashed over her head, dunking her beneath the water. The next wave was worse: it came so hard and fast, it sent her barreling head over heels.

The next wave hit her so hard, she didn’t know which way was up; her world was a mess of sea foam and air bubbles. She only barely managed a breath before the next one hit, bouncing her into a submerged lava rock, scraping her leg. She hardly registered the pain as she doggedly swam to the surface, spitting out salty ocean brine and gasping for air. Trapped between the rocky shallows and the growing waves, she saw no escape.

“Help!” she gurgled to the sky, wondering who could even reach her. The kids on the boogie boards? No one would even be able to hear her over the roar of the ocean. She fought furiously, but got pummeled by wave after wave, some sending her under, one knocking her back hard into a rock, nearly blasting the breath out of her. No matter how hard she fought, the waves kept coming.

A big wave smashed her backward, pushing her below the surface, and kept her there. She frantically tried to swim, but the current held her down, pushed her sideways and slapped her head into another rock. She saw stars, her vision clouded until she couldn’t see which way was up anymore.

This is it
, she thought.
I’m going to drown.

Her lungs were on fire. Salt water burned her eyes. Everything felt futile. Fighting the current. Swimming and getting nowhere.

Was this what her dad had felt like in his last moments?

She remembered the water pouring into the car. She’d been frantic but had moved on instinct. The car had been flipped over, and she was hanging upside down, but it had been easy enough to wiggle out of her seat belt. Her father had always told her she was his little escape artist, always getting out of locked bathrooms or jungle gyms or car seats. She had just done what came naturally. She’d gone for the open broken window, half swimming out, since the car had been filling up fast with the fresh stream water. They’d crashed into a small pond, fed by a beautiful waterfall. She’d made it to shore, as the water wasn’t that deep. She’d dropped Max on the way, and had gone back for her stuffed animal, bobbing in the murky water, near the car door. She’d grabbed him and clung to him.