Toby Neal: Blood Orchids

She went along her favorite route beside the Bay, watching the mynahs hopping on the grass of the park. The light breeze clattered through the leaves of the coconut palms, a soothing harmony with the hushing of waves against the rocks. She found a place to sit on the jetty, perched on a boulder. Keiki gave a sigh and settled her big square head on her paws, watching the restless, turquoise water.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she dug it out with her good hand. It was an unfamiliar number.

“Hello?”

“Lei? It’s Wayne. Your dad.”

“Oh, hi.” Long pause. She remembered she had given him her number. She stared, unseeing, at the foaming surf. It was weird hearing his voice after so long, weird that he could just call her-and yet not unwelcome.

“What happened with the Changs?”

“Oh yeah.” She’d forgotten about that. “The stalker was somebody else. He came after me, and… I killed him.”

“What, seriously? Are you okay?”

“Few bumps and bruises. Broken wrist. But he got the worst of it.” She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the memory of Jeremy Ito’s ruined eye, the wire rising out of it.

“Thank God you’re all right. Well, I guess that was a dead end then.”

“Yeah.”

Awkward silence. Finally he said, “I’m glad nothing I did had anything to do with you getting hurt. I was really worried about it. Those Changs are bad news.”

She nodded. Remembered he couldn’t hear that and tried to speak but nothing came out.

“Well I just thought I’d follow up. I don’t expect you to say anything. Just know I-miss you.” He hung up.

A criminal, flawed, he was still her dad. He missed her. That felt good.

That reminded her to call Aunty Rosario, whose exclamations and machine-gun questions took up the whole walk home. Love and family. Sometimes it was just a pain in the ass.

“Hey Lei!” Tom Watanabe came up his driveway toward her, his brow furrowed.

“Hey, Tom.”

“What happened to your arm?”

“Tangled with a perp.” She was beginning to like her brush-off line.

“I’m worried about you. Can you come in for a minute and talk?”

“Okay. Just for a minute.” It was time to get this over with anyway, she thought with an inward sigh.

“I’m sorry, maybe I forgot to mention it, but I have a cat. She’ll freak if Keiki comes in.”

“Okay,” Lei said, and made the big Rottweiler sit. She tied the leash around the railing of the porch. She went in through the minimalist gloss of his front room, following him into the kitchen. He ran a glass of water from the refrigerator filter and handed it to her.

“It seems like there’s a lot of drama going on. You sure you’re okay?”

She set the water down on the granite island without drinking it.

“The stalker thing is over, so yeah, I’m okay. Just need to recover. Listen, I don’t think I’ve been fair to you.”

He smiled, a baring of teeth.

“Oh, here it comes. The part where you tell me, ‘let’s just be friends.’”

“I guess. I like you, just not… that way.”

She reached for the glass of water.

“Sure I can’t change your mind?”

“I’m sorry. I’m just not interested.” Lei set the glass down with finality.

“It’s too bad, you know,” he said conversationally.

“What do you mean?”

“That you won’t give me another chance. I could’ve helped you.”

“Helped me? I don’t need help.”

“Really? The way you lock yourself in, like that’ll keep you safe? The way you run like you could get away? The way you carry a gun just to go for a walk?” He gestured to the bulge under the thin windbreaker. “It’s pathetic. All your efforts, and you couldn’t catch someone who might be just trying to show you how vulnerable you are, that you need somebody.”

Lei pushed away from the counter. He was blocking the door of the kitchen.

“I don’t have to listen to this.” Her heart thudded as she put her hand on the Glock. “Let me out. Now.”

“Your loss,” he said. He took one step to the side. She edged past him, backing out through the house, but he didn’t follow as she went down the steps and untied the dog. Her cell rang, a jarring vibration as she jogged toward her house. She transferred the leash to the hand with the cast and dug it out of her pocket.

“Hello?”

“You sound out of breath.” Stevens.

“Running,” she huffed.

“Sure you should be doing that with your bruised ribs and all?” His voice was sharp. The question made her realize there was indeed a stabbing pain in her side, one she had been ignoring since she’d left her house. She slowed to a walk.

“Probably not.”

“Thought we could go on a real date tonight.”

“Okay.”

“Such enthusiasm. I’ll pick you up at seven. Wear something nice.”

“I’ll see what I’ve got.” She closed the phone and concentrated on getting home and locking the door behind her.

They sat at a corner table of the Banyan Tree, Hilo’s finest dining restaurant. The oceanfront view reflected gleaming torches on the water. Stevens raised his glass of expensive chardonnay.

“To new beginnings and a real date.”

Lei clinked her glass against his. She sipped the crisp wine. It still hurt to smile, and her ribs ached from running. Her thoughts spun like confetti.

“You look beautiful.”

“That’s what you said when you picked me up.” She’d anchored her hair on top of her head, leaving curls dangling. Her ears were heavy with the unfamiliar weight of glowing Tahitian pearls, Aunty’s graduation present. She wore her only dress, a tropical print wrap that hugged her lean curves and managed to cover the bandage on her collarbone.

He reached for her good hand, stroked the back of it.

“Something’s wrong.”

“No.” She pulled her hand away. “Everything’s wonderful. Thanks for doing this.”

“Cut the crap, Texeira. What’s up?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t want to ruin our first date.” He watched as she took a fortifying gulp of wine. “Some stuff happened today,” she said.

“Like what?”

“Had the ‘let’s be friends’ talk with Tom Watanabe, and he didn’t like it.”

“Nobody ever does.”

“No, but he said some things that made me think… maybe he’s been up to something. I’m probably just being paranoid.” She fiddled with her napkin, smoothing it, avoiding his eyes.

The waiter came and gave them a pause as they ordered. The minute he left, Stevens turned to her again.

“What did he say?”

“He said maybe someone was just trying to show me I needed help, needed someone to look out for me.”

“Asshole.”

Lei sneaked a glance over at Stevens’ bunched jaw and tight fingers on the stem of his wineglass.

“I also met a guy from class at the gun range. He was a little off too.” She pulled on a curl and it wrapped around her finger. “I’m sure Dr. Wilson would say I’ve got some post trauma stress or something.”

“You went for a run and to the gun range two days after an attack that should have put you in the hospital? I thought you’d be home in bed like any sane human.”

A long silence.

Lei looked out at the ocean. The sunset had faded and the moon trailed silver footprints over the ruffled water.

“This is going to be hard, if you won’t take a little bit of care of yourself,” he said.

“I’m fine. I need to get back on the horse, get back to work.”

“What you need to do is chill out. If you’re going to keep doing whatever you think of without caring about your safety… it’s going to be hard.” He sat back, picked up his wineglass. “It already is hard.”