15. Tara

“Mama!” Lucy called from her perch.

“I hear you, Lu,” Tara said.

“Hi Mom!” the macaw tried. “Hi Mom! Mama! Hi Mom!”

“Come on, Lucy. I’m trying to work.”

She screeched, igniting more sounds of protest from down the hall. The kids weren’t thrilled about having a half-feral macaw in the house.

Lucy hadn’t lived inside for a long time, and her anxiety over losing her home and mate in one fell swoop was turning her into a stress case. If she wasn’t screeching or pooping on the furniture, she was pulling out her own feathers. There was a small bald patch on her chest that was growing more concerning by the day.

It devastated Tara to see her in such distress, and she gave the macaw all the attention that she could in between searching for Ricky and keeping up with the rest of her tasks – but that wasn’t really enough time.

Usually the kids gave the parrots attention, but on the day after the storm Lucy bit Cody hard enough to draw blood. Since then, they had given her a wide berth. She was happiest on Tara’s shoulder, but even then she had a new habit of screaming inches from her ear.

“I hear you,” Tara said again, “but if my customers find out I cooked these meals with a giant bird on my shoulder, I’m going to lose all of my customers. Can you just chill?”

Lucy screeched in irritation and went back to tearing apart her newest toy.

“That’s great. Thank you.” Tara opened the oven to check on the trays of ‘ulu brownies that were baking. As soon as they were done, she had trays of veggies ready to roast. As she was closing the oven, a knock sounded on the door.

“Liam,” she said when she opened it. “Hi.”

He stepped inside and hugged her. His shoulders were damp from the drizzling rain outside, but still warm beneath his t-shirt. She leaned into him, fully exhaling for the first time since the storm.

“Any sign of him?” he asked.

She stepped back and shook her head.

“He’ll turn up.”

“I hope so.” She sighed and looked towards the kitchen. “I must have lost track of time. We can start on the aviary soon, but I have a bit more prep to do first if I’m going to have everything ready for tomorrow’s deliveries.”

“Why don’t I go out and get started, and you can join me when you’re ready?”

“On your own?”

He smiled softly. “Sure, why not? I can fix the whole thing myself if you need me to.”

“It’s a big aviary,” she worried.

“I’ve seen it. I can do it.”

“Okay.” She squeezed his arm. “Thank you. I’ll have brownies and coffee waiting when you’re ready for a break.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

He left, and she went back into the kitchen. Egg drop soup was up next, but she had used up the last of their eggs on omelets that morning. There were bound to be more than enough scattered around the property, but Piper was slacking on her morning chores.

“Piper?” she called down the hall. Her daughter appeared a moment later, short red hair sticking out in all directions.

“Yeah?”

“Would you go get the eggs, please?”

“But it’s all muddy out there,” Piper whined.

Tara gave her a level look.

“Ugh. Fine.”

“Have fun,” Paige called in a singsong voice.

Tara looked at her. “Have you fed the rabbits yet?”

“No.” She drew the word out morosely and followed her sister outside.

Tara went to the sink to wash dishes. Outside, a chainsaw sounded as Liam began to clear away the wreckage of the tree that had taken down her aviary.

Paige came running back in a few minutes later, her cheeks pink with distress. “Mom!”

“What?”

“There’s a woman at the gate who says she’s here to see Gertrude and Maybe. You’re selling them?!”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Tara turned off the water and dried her hands. “I’m sorry. I meant to tell you. With all the craziness of the storm and the birds, it slipped my mind.”

“But you said they could stay!”

“I said that I would try. And I’m trying my best, sweet pea. But this just isn’t sustainable. Cows are expensive animals. I’m keeping up with the feed bill, but one vet bill would ruin us. It’s just not responsible to keep them.”

“But your business is doing good! If you just got a few more customers…”

“I’m working myself to the bone already, and I don’t want to be. I want time to do fun things with you too, like snorkeling over in Kona. We need to find a healthier balance.”

“I’m with mom,” Piper said as she walked in and deposited a basket of mud-spattered eggs near the sink. “We never get to do the real Hawai’i stuff.”

“This life is the real Hawai’i stuff,” Paige protested. “Horses and chickens and mud.”

“You know what I mean. Like vacation stuff.”

“I need to go meet the woman who’s here to see the cows.” Tara took the brownies out of the oven, all four trays of them, and put the veggies in to roast. She touched Paige’s shoulder in passing. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you ahead of time. Even if she does want them, they’re not going today.”

“What do you even care?” Piper asked her sister as Tara walked away. “They’re just big dumb bovines.”

“You’re just a big dumb human!” Paige retorted.

Tara sighed and walked out into the light drizzle. Her dogs trotted happily at her side as she walked out to the gate and apologized to the woman she had kept waiting.

As she stood in the back pasture answering questions about the two cows, the distant hum of the chainsaw was a warm comfort to her. She hadn’t even asked Liam to help her clear the wreckage or fix the aviary. He had offered to help, and when she was too busy to work alongside him, he had gone ahead and started on it himself.

Mitch had never, not once, helped with a task on the homestead without her asking several times. Eventually, she had stopped asking. He worked a nine to five, and she managed everything else.

To spend time with someone who shared her values, someone who had the capacity to step up and do the work without even being asked… it was a lot to wrap her head around. Especially with everything else she had going on.

By the time the woman left, Liam had cleared enough of the fallen branches to begin work on the aviary.

“I don’t think you’ll have to buy any new materials,” he said. “We can get this straightened out and put it back together. That fence is another matter, though.”

“Yeah, that’s not such an easy fix.” She didn’t know where she was going to find the money to replace the section of fenceline that the tree had taken down… maybe she could sell the cows in time. For now, she had put all of the animals together in the back pasture where the fenceline was intact.

“I have a roll of fencing in my barn that I can bring down tomorrow. It’s pig wire, not chainlink, but it’ll do that job.”

“That would be amazing. Thank you.” She turned to survey the wreckage of the aviary. “I’m just glad that it didn’t take out the guava tree. Ricky and Lucy love that thing.”

“Those albizia trees are a hazard.”

“They’re a menace.” Tara glared up at the trees that swayed above them, beautiful against the pale gray sky. “I’ve tried for years to contact the owner of the lot next door and get the trees cut down, but I’ve never gotten a response.

“I’d do it myself if I could. I don’t even care about the legality of it anymore. I should have done something about it when they were still small enough for me to cut down. But hiring someone to deal with trees that size must cost a fortune.”

“I know a lawyer who could write a letter threatening legal action.”

“I can’t afford to sue.”

“Just the threat of it might be enough to get whatever faceless conglomerate that owns that property to hire tree trimmers and take those trees down. Maybe you can write up an estimate of the property damage you’ve incurred over the years, and he could put a letter together.”

“It’s worth a try. Thank you.”

Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out to check the message.

“Sorry,” she murmured as she tapped in her passcode. “Between the meal deliveries and the lost bird postings, I can’t not check my phone.”

“No worries.” Liam set to work straightening out the crumpled mess of wires that had been the southern wall of the aviary. Tara wasn’t so sure that any of it was salvageable, but she supposed it was worth a try. The materials would cost a fortune to replace.

“Someone spotted Ricky!” she exclaimed as she read the message. “He’s just one block over. But… oh, he’s way up in an ‘ōhi?a tree. They say fifty feet, at least. Making all sorts of noise. He’s probably stuck, poor boy. He’s never been that high before.”

“Do you think you can coax him down?”

“I hope so.”

“What if you bring his mate? Would he come down if he hears her?”

“She’s been shrieking so loud he can probably hear her from there. But no, I won’t try to bring her anywhere. She’s been so stressed that she bit Cody, which had never happened before.”

“His favorite food, maybe?”

“Maybe. He must be hungry.” She took a breath. “Okay, I should go.”

“Do you want me to come with you or keep working on this?”

“If you could keep working on the aviary, that would be amazing. I don’t have a cage for them anymore. Having one stressed macaw in the house is bad enough. If they both have to live inside with us, my kids might move in with their dad.”

Liam chuckled and said, “Okay, I’ll keep plugging away at this.”

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” He stepped over a pile of branches and pulled her into a hug. “Now go get your bird. I’ll hold down the fort.”

Tara checked the time and let out an overwhelmed huff of breath. “I’ll try to make it quick. Paige has a lesson with Maddie in less than two hours.”

“How about this,” he said, smoothing hair away from her face. “I can drive Paige to her lesson and pick up the fencing while I’m up there. Then I’ll come back, work on this, and Maddie can drive her home.”

She stared up into his dark blue eyes, feeling a moment of true calm amidst all the chaos of her life. “Are you real?”

He laughed and kissed her forehead. “Last time I checked.”

“Okay.” Reluctantly, she stepped out of his arms. “I’m going to go see if I can bring that birdbrain home.”

“I wish you success on your rescue mission. I’m here if you need backup.”

She put a hand up to his cheek. Then, with effort, she turned and walked away.

“Paige,” she said as she passed the rabbit shelter, “Liam’s going to give you a ride to his place today. He’s going to ask Maddie to bring you home.”

“Okay.” She was nuzzling a baby bunny. “Where are you going?”

“A neighbor messaged me that Ricky’s in the ‘ōhi?a forest behind their house. I’m going to see if I can get him down.”

She went inside to grab the keys to the van. If she did succeed in coaxing Ricky down from the tree, she didn’t want to walk all the way home carrying an agitated macaw. There was already a carrier in the back of the car.

Cody was in the kitchen, glowering. Teenager though he was, that was an unusual mood for him.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“What was that?” he demanded, gesturing to the window above the sink.

“What was what?”

“You and Liam. Are you, like, dating now?”

Tara’s cheeks grew warm. “I didn’t realize we had an audience.”

“You were basically making out in the middle of the yard!”

“We were not!”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us.”

“I didn’t have anything to tell. Liam’s my friend. And, yes, we’re… exploring the possibility of becoming something more.”

“Gross.”

“But it’s too soon for me to be sure of what this is, much less discuss it with you three.”

“You can’t just start dating Liam!” he exclaimed, gesturing wildly. “We’ve known him forever! He’s basically our uncle. It’s too weird.”

For a moment, Tara just stared at him. Her son, usually mild mannered and wise beyond his years, was throwing something very close to a tantrum. She wanted to unpack that with him and figure out what was really making him so upset, but in that moment she felt pulled in a dozen different directions.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t have time to discuss this right now.”

“You never have time!”

“I have to go try to get Ricky.”

“Right, your first born.”

“Cody!” She took a breath and summoned her patience. “Do you want to come with me?”

“I have class.”

“Fine. We’ll talk later.”

“Fine,” he spat.

Tara walked out, shaking her head.

Sometimes just getting through her day to day life felt like going to battle against a hydra. As soon as she had one problem sorted, two new ones sprang up in its place.