I was hoping she’d elaborate.
OK, so everything about me screams tourist. Great.
“Two weeks,” I answer.
Luke is beaming standing next to me. “I had to talk her into it,” he says, and Kendra and Seth exchange a look.
Then they look at me.
“Did he manipulate you?” Kendra says in jest. “He’s good at that. You gotta be careful around this one.” She grins at me.
“All right now,” Luke says and walks with me to the patio. He leans toward my ear and whispers, “Don’t let them get in your head; they’re worse than they try to make me out to be,” but it was hardly low enough they couldn’t hear him.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I smirk up at him.
Braedon comes walking from around the side of the house looking like a linebacker with four more folded lawn chairs in his hands. Luke’s hand finally slips away from my waist and he takes two of the chairs from Braedon, unfolding them with a snap and setting them side by side on the patio. Some other guy comes walking down the back steps and goes straight over to the barbecue grill, lifting the lid with a giant spatula in his other hand; smoke billows in big puffs into the air as it escapes the confines of the lid. The meat on the grill sizzles and pops as he begins flipping the burgers over.
I hear the shuffling of ice inside a nearby Igloo chest as Luke reaches inside and pulls out two bottles of beer. He pops the lid on one and holds it out to me.
“Thanks.”
He pops the lid on one for himself and we sit down at the same time in the two empty chairs.
“So are you not here with anyone?” Kendra asks in her chair across from us. “I mean, in Hawaii,” she clarifies.
“I was,” I say. “Actually I was here on a job, but after the job was over, I decided to make a vacation of it.” I glance over at Luke sitting next to me and we smile at each other. “He did kind of talk me into staying,” I admit, and then with a smile, I add, “Not that it was very hard to do.”
Kendra and Seth catch Luke’s eyes again, but I pretend not to notice. Pressing the bottle to my lips, I take a small sip.
Music plays from a stereo inside the house, funneling through the screens on the open windows, but it’s not obnoxiously loud, and none of the people here are obnoxiously drunk. It’s more a social gathering than a wild party and I’m glad for that—I’m no angel and like to party every now and then, but with Luke, I just want to hang out and keep things cool.
Luke and Seth start talking about some guy on Kauai who just bought a new hang glider, but he makes it a point to keep me from feeling excluded by interjecting a comment to me about it every now and then. Really, it’s not necessary, but I think it’s sweet of him to worry about me like that and want to make sure I feel comfortable. All of us talk for a long time—though I talk less than anyone because I’m not from around here, am not familiar with surfing or hang gliding or hiking the Pipiwai Trail or even with the everyday conversations, but still, Luke makes sure I never feel excluded. At one point, his hand finds its way to my thigh, where he pats it for a moment, smiling over at me, and then moves it away.
I don’t want him to move it away, but I guess it’s too soon to be suggesting something like that, especially in front of other people, two of whom—Kendra more than Seth—happen to be watching Luke and me with overly curious glances that make me more and more uncomfortable as the evening wears on. I’d much rather have Alicia as my company, but she’s been pretty busy playing casual hostess and sitting on Braedon’s lap since we arrived.
The guy doing the grilling takes the burgers off the fire and stacks them in a large mound of steaming meat on a platter. Without him having to sound the dinner bell, everybody gets up in intervals to make themselves a plate.
“What do you want on your burger?” Luke asks me, standing from his chair.
I start to get up, too, but he stops me. “No, I’ll make it for you.”
“Just ketchup,” I say, smiling up at him.
“Potato salad and baked beans?” he asks.
“Just potato salad—thanks,” I tell him, and he smiles and goes off to make our plates.
“So where are you from?” Kendra asks once Luke steps out of the way.
“San Diego. Lived there all my life. What about you?”
“I was born in Hawaii,” she says. “Honolulu. But I’ve lived most of my life in California. Haven’t even been in Hawaii long enough to call myself a local.” She chuckles lightly.
A bout of silence fills the space between us for a moment.
I sip on my beer just to be doing something.
“So,” she speaks up, “did you and Luke meet over at the resort? That’s where he usually meets girls”—she sort of chokes down the beer she just swigged from the bottle and waves her hand in front of her face rapidly—“I didn’t mean that how it sounded.”
Actually I think you did.
I look at the grass, my feet, the strange little insect crawling across the patio beside my shoe, and then back up at her. I swallow nervously and place my beer between my thighs, glancing across the patio at Luke standing next to a table where the bowls of beans and potato salad and bottles of condiments are placed.
Finally Kendra leans her back against the chair with a long sigh.
“Look,” she says in a low voice, “let’s just forget I said that. It totally came out all wrong.” She laughs lightly. “So is Luke going to take you hang gliding?”
My eyes get big.