Chapter 11

After surfing, which did what I'd hoped it would to restore my emotional state, Keone put my board on his racks and then handed me a clean, warm towel from behind his seat.

We wrapped up, smiling at each other as we leaned against his truck because . . . well, we liked doing that. He was scrumptious and looked at me like I was, too.

But I still had angst going on. "Banana."

"Ah, the relationship safe word." He smiled. "Lay it on me, baby. Let's talk it out."

I sucked in a breath, blew it out. "I'm waiting for you to dump me. It's inevitable."

Keone straightened up. "What?"

"Yeah. All good things come to an end. Usually suddenly. Like Tiki going missing." Tears fogged my eyes. "I can't take the suspense. Break up with me already."

Keone didn't say anything, and I couldn't see him through the water in my eyes. I dashed the moisture away and blinked until he came into focus. "What? Say something."

"I'm wondering what the heck brought this on. What did I do?" His voice was low and rough, and he reached out to pull me close, his arms wrapping around my damp, towel-covered back. He stroked my surf-tangled hair. "I'm not breaking up with you. Period."

"I want to believe you, but it's hard." I swallowed the lump clogging my throat. "I have issues."

"I know you do. What would it take for you to believe I mean to stick around and make things work, no matter what?" Mr. K set me back a bit so that we made eye contact. "I love you, Kat. Even if you're a little bit nuts. Which is okay because I am too."

"I don't know," I said miserably, staring down at my sandy feet. "I'm better at planning a defensive tactical strategy than having a relationship."

"Those days are behind you. How about I show you how I feel since talking isn't working." He pulled me in for a kiss. That went on for a bit and pretty soon I forgot what I'd been worried about.

Eventually I detached and cleared my throat. "How's your part of the investigation going?"

"I called Dave Finkelstein and left a message asking about the chicken wire spotted in his truck. He hasn't returned my call," Keone said, rubbing his shiny black curls with his towel. "I'm planning to drop in on his house next."

"Okay. Well, I forgot to ask Opal about the girls buying cat food when I went by there. Got distracted by her doing a rune reading. Signs were hopeful," I said, and told him about my morning. "What're you up to for the rest of the day?"

"I've got to try to catch Dave at home and find out about that chicken wire. After that, some Christmas decorating and prep to do with Mom," he said. "We're getting ready for the big holiday luau with all the family that we do every year on Christmas Eve. I hope you and your auntie will come?" He twinkled his eyes at me.

I tried to twinkle at him too, but it probably looked like I had a bug in my eye because he laughed.

"Sure we'll come," I said. "A real Hawaiian luau holiday feast? Wouldn't miss it. Aunt Fae and I have our own tradition, but it's on Christmas Day. It involves stockings, presents, eating the gingerbread house we made, and lying around reading new books we bought each other, which we always exchange as gifts. I hope you'll join us for any part of it."

"I'm in, especially for the eating, lounging and presents," Keone said.

"Then you have to come help build the gingerbread house," I told him. "We do it a few days ahead so it's still fresh enough to eat."

We got our phones out and booked our holiday activities in our calendars, then engaged in a kiss that tasted of hope and the sea.

"That will tide me over until I see you again," he whispered. "I'm glad we're sharing the holidays. It means a lot to me—and my family."

I felt a quiver of intimidation.

The Kaihales were a very big, very noisy, very opinionated, and very curious family. Keone had seemingly hundreds of aunts, uncles, and cousins along with two brothers, both married with offspring. The clan had welcomed me, but there were still moments when I felt like an outsider "fresh off the plane." Maybe that would always be the case.

I had to focus on the positive: his mother Ilima liked me, from what I could tell. She'd given me a lei at a party. She'd loaned me her bike. She'd poured my offering of vodka into the family's punch bowl at dinner one night. And hopefully, she'd accept what Aunt Fae and I brought to the luau, and we'd be a part of things. "I'm glad, too. Christmas is going to be great."

But as I waved and got into Sharkey, I thought of Tiki—and poor Mrs. Scarborough, all alone.

How great could the holiday be, without our cats?

* * *

I went home and took a shower, then called Opal at the store. "I forgot to ask you something about the investigation," I said. "We had a tip line call that some girls were in the store buying cat food—girls who don't have a cat."

"What?" Opal sounded distracted. "I've got a customer here. Just a minute." She hung up.

I dragged a comb through my long, wet hair as I sat in the bay window, staring out at the grassy hill behind the house.

Still no Tiki.

Where could she have gone?

The thought of the different ways there were for a cat to come to harm made me cold with fear. I was about to hop up and pace the room when my phone rang with a call from Opal.

"The great thing about this tablet and scanner wand I use is that all the purchases are in here," she said. "Yep, a five-pound bag of cat chow went out a few days ago, all by itself. But I didn't ring it up; I wasn't working that afternoon. Your Aunt Fae handled that purchase."

I'd almost forgotten Aunt Fae had a part-time job working at the Ohia General Store, because she was usually there when I was at the Post Office.

"Thanks, Opal, it's great you could find that out so easily. Hopefully Auntie will remember who bought the cat food." I paused, tapping my lips with a finger. "Did you have any more thoughts about the reading this morning?"

"Nope. The thing to remember is that, overall, the runes were positive."

"You're right," I said with forced cheer. "Happy holidays, dear friend."

"Back atcha. And don't worry about Tiki. She's a survivor. She was living off the land and getting by fine before you came to town. She'll come home, waving that kinked tail, sometime soon. Artie told me this morning he woke up after seeing it in a dream."

Artie had a prophetic gift too, but it involved flashes of insight. "That's the first time I've heard of him having a dream about something."

"It doesn't happen often, so we pay attention when it does," she said. "Let me know how things go with the cat hunting!"

"Will do." I ended the call and slid the phone into my pocket. Artie's dream was hopeful, at least.

I headed downstairs and smiled at the sight of neat rows of macadamia nut powdered sugar balls, lined up in rows on newspaper all over the counter.

Over in the living room, Aunt Fae was sound asleep in a rattan chair, her feet up on the ottoman, her head tipped back. Soft snores added a backbeat to the holiday tunes jingling about the kitchen emitted by the old-fashioned antenna radio I remembered from my youth.

I had a nice surprise gift for Auntie—a new speaker that would play music off her phone, complete with a music app that I'd bought a whole year's subscription for. She was going to love not having to listen to static and commercials.

Popping a macadamia nut ball into my mouth, I savored the treat as it both crunched and melted. I washed it down with a glass of cold milk.

My gaze fell on Tiki's full food bowl, reminding me she was still gone.

The cookie turned to lead in my belly.

I approached, and gently shook Aunt Fae's shoulder. "Auntie? I have a question for you. It's important."