“What? What’s the matter?” Serena looked at her in concern.
“Nothing.” Annie waved off the question. “Just remembering that I lost my favorite pair of sunglasses that day.”
“Oh.” Serena trained her eyes on Annie, a sympathetic look on her face.
“Never mind.” Annie shook her head, mourning the loss of her sunglasses again.
Serena looked at her for another moment, then spoke. “It must be so nice to have your sister close again.”
“It is and it isn’t.” Annie’s mouth twitched. “Sam’s really blunt, and we clash sometimes. We get on each other’s nerves a lot. Jeannie has also been the one to balance us, and without her here . . .” She shrugged.
“When I was growing up, I would have given anything to have a sister or brother to fight with.” Serena pressed her lips together.
“I guess the grass is always greener on the other side.” Annie lifted her shoulders. “Sam can be such a pain in my butt sometimes.”
But then again, Sam had done many kind things for Annie too. Like being willing to take Finn whenever Annie needed time to herself. Sam was also the one who had suggested to Annie that she volunteer at the Kauai Humane Society.
They’d been sprawled on their stomachs on the private dock that only the residents on their dead-end street could use. It had been a warm afternoon only a couple of weeks after Annie and her family had arrived in Kauai, and Annie was trying to relax, to enjoy the sunshine and the pi?a coladas that Sam had whipped up for them.
Sam had turned to Annie with her eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you do something for the community instead of moping around?”
Annie let out an unladylike snort. “What, you mean like, volunteer at a shelter?”
Sam nodded. “Yes. The Kauai Humane Society is always looking for volunteers. And you love dogs.”
Annie was about to protest, but then she stopped. She did love dogs. And these days, she preferred the company of animals to people. They didn’t ask any questions or want to know how she felt all the time.
“You know what? I think I might do that.” She was surprised when the words popped out of her mouth.
“Great. It’ll be good for you.” Sam reached out and bopped Annie on the head. “You’re an emotional wreck, your son is afraid of you, and your husband looks miserable half the time. Life’s too short. You need to get your head out of your ass.”
“Why is she a pain?” Serena’s question had Annie focusing on her again.
“Because she thinks I’ve got my head stuck up my ass and that I should let the past go and enjoy being in Kauai. She thinks Brody’s going to leave me if I don’t try to make things better.” Annie clapped a hand over her mouth. Had she really just said that to someone she’d just met? And she couldn’t even blame the wine. She hadn’t even had half a glass yet.
“What?” Serena sat back on her stool, her mouth open. “No way. You and your husband look so solid.”
“Yeah, well, like I said before, things have been a bit rough lately.” Annie fell silent, not wanting to talk about everything that had happened.
“Hey,” Serena said, seeming to sense that Annie wanted to change the subject, “why isn’t your son in preschool? Isn’t he that age?”
Annie’s face flushed. “Yeah, he should be. We were going to put him in the one that Cam went to, but our neighbor basically implied that would be a mistake.” Annie grimaced as she remembered how Kalani had informed them a few weeks ago that they wouldn’t be able to get Finn into a good school in the middle of the year. She’d said you had to be on the wait list practically as soon as you were pregnant.
“Why is that?” Serena tilted her head.
“Sam works an assortment of odd jobs. She’s a dog walker, bartends at Duke’s on Kalapaki Beach, and she’s also the caretaker of a few properties for people who live on the mainland and rent out their condos. You can imagine her income isn’t very high, plus she’s a single mom. What our neighbor Kalani was trying to say to us was that the school Cam went to is in a low-income area, since Sam qualifies for low-income services.”
Even though Kalani had said that in the nicest way possible, it had still irked Annie. When Kalani offered to put in a word for them since a classmate of Leila’s had moved away because of her father’s job transfer to the mainland, Annie wanted to turn her down out of spite. But she knew she couldn’t. On one hand, she wanted to defend Sam’s choices. But on the other, she did want what was best for Finn. She and Brody had known when they decided to move to Kauai that the school system wasn’t as good as what they had in New York. Shouldn’t she want to put Finn in the best school possible?
Kalani had further enforced this belief when she told them that the quality of care and early education given to the children in Leila’s school was better than could be found at schools where there wasn’t a wait list. And they provided food for lunch, which some of the other preschools didn’t.
Annie had swallowed and forced a smile on her face, telling Kalani it would be lovely of her to put in a word for Finn. Brody had poked her in the side at her use of the word “lovely,” while Kalani had beamed at them and said she’d do her best to try and get Finn into Leila’s class. They had an appointment to visit the school later that week.
Annie’s cell rang right then, and when she saw who was calling, she quirked an eyebrow at Serena. “It’s Sam. Think she heard us talking about her?”
Serena sniggered as Annie picked up the call.
“Hey, Annie. The storm’s getting bad. Why don’t you come over here?” Sam’s tone was rushed, and Annie could hear the concern behind her sister’s words. But she could barely hear Sam over the loud music and screaming coming from the background.
“I’m fine.” Annie glanced back at Serena. “I have someone over here.”
“Oh, a friend? That’s great.” Sam was practically shouting to be heard over the music. The reception wasn’t great, and she was cutting in and out. “。 . . Kalani?”
“What?” Annie shouted back.
There was a burst of static and fuzz.
“I’ll call you back on the landline,” Annie said, and then hung up.
She dialed her father’s line, and when it was picked up, all she heard was the loud music and the kids screaming again, but much clearer this time. Holding the phone away from her ears, she heard her father say, “Wei?”
Annie shook her head. He still answered the phone like he was in Taiwan, even though he’d been in this country for so long. “How’s Finn? I guess they’re having a good time.”
“Yes, so loud.”
“Is Sam there?”
No reply from her father, and then her sister was back on the phone.
“Much better,” Sam said. “Cell service is already getting bad. I think we’re going to lose power. Who do you have over there with you? Kalani?”
Annie rolled her eyes. Why did everyone want her and Kalani to be friends so bad? Yes, once, she probably would have been friends with their cheerful neighbor. But these days, she couldn’t handle all that chipper energy. She had more of a connection with Serena in just the short time they’d met.