Chapter 9
The next morning frustration and annoyance thrummed through Caitlin’s body. The TV in the living room was on but she could barely concentrate on the show. Maya had borrowed Caitlin’s car, promising to return before she left for work. It was supposed to be a quick errand, but her roommate had yet to return. Caitlin picked up her phone on the coffee table and stared at the screen. She had already called Maya several times, although for some reason her friend wasn’t answering the calls. As the minutes ticked by, she felt the four walls closing in on her as worry added to her mix of jumbled emotions. Her part-time job doing keiki parties was the only thing that allowed her to stay financially afloat. As much as she hated to admit it, missing one day of work would have a serious and detrimental impact on her already tight budget.
Caitlin was about to set her phone back on the table when she let out a small curse. The battery was low. The long cooking session yesterday had exhausted her, and she forgot to charge the device before she went to bed. The last thing she needed was to have the phone die while Maya tried to reach her. Retrieving the cord, she went to recharge her cell phone.
Just when she plugged the cord into the wall, she heard a soft rap at the door. Her heart jumped and she ran to answer it, swinging the door wide open. It had to be Maya returning from her errand.
“Mrs. Brown,” she said as disappointment hit her with full force. Mrs. Brown was a retired senior that lived a couple doors down with her husband. For some unknown reason, the old lady had taken an interest in her and her roommates. Her fingers gripped tightly on the wooden panel while she fought the instinctual desire to slam the door closed. “What brings you here?”
“I was wondering if I can borrow some eggs.” The woman peered past her shoulders as if she wanted to see if there was someone else in the apartment.
“I can get you a couple of eggs. Just hold on.”
Caitlin expected the neighbor to wait outside, but the woman entered the apartment. As her uninvited guest swept her gaze across the small space, Caitlin was glad she’d spent a bit of time tidying up the living room.
“I guess the young man is gone,” she said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
“Young man?”
“Yes, the one who came to visit you yesterday.”
“Oh, that was my friend from school. He left long ago.” She turned to the kitchen. “How many eggs do you need, Mrs. Brown?”
“Just a couple, dear.” She walked farther into the apartment and peeked around the corner as if she didn’t fully trust Caitlin’s words. “Well, I was telling my Robbie that you girls shouldn’t entertain men on your own. And —”
“Thanks for the advice, Mrs. Brown,” Caitlin said, cutting her off. “There’s nothing to worry about. Jason’s a schoolmate, and he came over to help me prepare some recipes that we learned in class. That’s all that happened.”
“Well, you should be careful just the same. From what I’ve seen on TV, some men like to get a little fresh with young women these days.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” She handed over the eggs and steered the older woman toward the entrance.
But Mrs. Brown seemed reluctant to leave. Normally Caitlin was fine with talking to the neighbor, but today wasn’t the day. When the older woman left a few minutes later, Caitlin leaned her back against the door, and let out a loud sigh. Remembering her phone, she checked whether Maya sent a message. But there was nothing.
Walking over to the sliding doors, she went out on the lanai. The midmorning heat was already starting to permeate the island. Peering down, she scanned the streets. From her vantage point, she saw several cars whizzing by, although none of them looked like her black Jeep. She reached up and shoved her fingers through her hair, gripping her skull.
“Hello, dear,” her neighbor said, waving from her balcony.
“Hi again, Mrs. Brown,” Caitlin said and ducked back into the apartment before her neighbor could engage her into further conversation.
Once inside, Caitlin resumed her pacing. “Where the heck is Maya?” she asked the empty room. The errand was supposed to be quick, yet her roommate hadn’t returned. Time was ticking by, and Caitlin needed to get to work soon.
Reaching out to unplug her phone, she lifted it in the air and glared at the unlocked screen.
“Call, dammit,” she yelled at the device as if Maya could somehow hear her. She needed this job to help her pay her portion of the groceries and rent. She was still new at the job so she could easily get fired for being a no-show.
Another knock on the door penetrated her annoyance. It had to be the neighbor again.
“What does she want now?” Caitlin wondered aloud. Mrs. Brown was a pleasant old woman who felt a need to look out for them, but seeing her for the third time today was simply too much. Caitlin debated whether to answer the door but then decided she would do it just to avoid contention with the neighbor. She hurried through the living room, phone in hand.
“Did you forget…?” But the rest of the sentence died in her throat when she found someone else standing on the other side of the threshold. “Jason? What are you doing here?” At seeing the bag of groceries in one hand and a hamper in the other, her anxiety increased tenfold.
His brows creased. “We agreed to pick up practice again today, remember?”
“I don’t remember,” Caitlin said, shaking her head. After they made the dishes yesterday, she gorged herself on the tasty food and drank most of the wine that she cracked open. It wasn’t every day that she indulged like that, and she’d taken full advantage of it. She had a good time and probably consumed too much alcohol in the process. After the meal, she had felt drowsy and perhaps she agreed to do another cooking session with him. If she had, then she’d completely forgotten about the birthday party she needed to host the next day.
“Well, I’m pretty sure you agreed.”
For a moment her mind went blank as she studied his handsome face. When she first met him, she thought that he was a conceited jerk. But after spending time with him, she was no longer sure. In fact, she now liked him. Everything about him was entirely too captivating, she decided, but it was dangerous to allow her thoughts to dwell on his male attributes. And since she was a realist, she knew that she would never have a chance with him. Guys like him didn’t pay romantic interest to girls with her background. History had already taught her that lesson. There wasn’t even a point in thinking about it. It was clear that Jason only saw her as a classmate and maybe even a friend. If she allowed herself to dwell on the fantasy, she knew that she’d only set herself up for disappointment and probably misery as well. He was used to rich girls, and she was far from being one.
“You brought a picnic basket,” she said, clearing her throat.
“Yeah, I keep my supplies in here.”
“I don’t think I can cook with you today,” she said, feeling like a heel. “I have to get to work.”
Caitlin heard the echo of someone’s front door opening in the hallway. It was likely Mrs. Brown trying to investigate the commotion in the corridor.
“Come in before my neighbor sees you,” she said, quickly beckoning him inside.
She turned to continue her conversation with Jason when suddenly her phone rang and Maya’s name popped up on the screen. Caitlin sent him an apologetic smile, and said, “I’m sorry, I have to take this.” She walked into the living room and lowered her voice when she answered. “Where are you, Maya?”
“I’m on the highway,” Maya answered, her voice echoing through the static. “There was a serious accident, and they closed off the roadway. I thought that the mess would’ve cleared by now but I’m stuck.”
“You’re stuck?” she tipped her head back and stared at the clock on the wall. No doubt now she was going to be late for work. She blew out a long breath of air. “How long you think it’ll be?”
“I don’t know. I can see the ambulance and fire truck blocking the road, and no one’s moving. I’m sorry about this, Caitlin, but I think you might have to call a cab.”
She took a deep breath. “All right,” Caitlin said and ended the call. Letting out another sigh, she opened a browser on her phone and began to search for a cab number.
“Sounds like you need a lift. I can drive you to wherever you need to go,” Jason said.
His words caught her by surprise. She had almost forgotten that Jason stood by the front door. “Are you serious? You’ll drive me?”
He nodded. “Like I told you yesterday, I don’t have anything planned and wouldn’t mind helping you out.”
“Oh, thank you!” she said, sagging against the wall for a moment. The vexation she experienced a moment ago lifted, leaving her almost weak. “I lent my Jeep to my roommate so she could go pick up her new prescription glasses. I didn’t anticipate that she’d have trouble getting back home.”
She went to retrieve her purse. But as she slung the strap over her shoulder, a new thought occurred to her. “You know, you’re my hero. Every time I’m in a bind, you keep showing up to rescue me.”
“Yep, now you know my secret,” he said, following her to the elevator. “I’m a superhero disguised as a cooking student.”
They laughed as they made their way down to the visitor’s parking lot. Three cars sat in the lot, and he stopped in front of a Porsche.
“Nice ride,” she said, running her fingers along the sleek car. Opening the door, she slid into the leather bucket seat.
“It gets me around,” he said, turning the ignition. The powerful roar of the engine filled the air, and he started to back out of the parking spot.
Jason drove with cool confidence, his strong hand dropping down on occasion to operate the stick shift. Unable to help it, she noticed the corded muscles of his forearms rippled as he shifted gears. How would it feel to have those powerful arms around her? He possessed no bulge at his belly, and she suspected that if she lifted his T-shirt she would find chiseled abs that cut and folded in all the right places. Out of the corner of her eye, she studied his masculine profile. If she believed in mythology, she would have thought that he descended from some Hawaiian god. He was beautiful. There was no doubt about it. While he possessed masculine beauty, he also exuded an air of virility and strength. Every movement he made was relaxed and carefree, and the wind from the opened window tossed his curly hair in wild disarray. Medium stubble grew along his strong jaw, causing him to appear a bit scruffy but that in no way detracted from his manly appeal. There was a small depression at the center of his bottom lip, and for one crazy moment, she wondered how it would feel to kiss him. Most likely other girls wondered the same thing, judging from the reactions that she had witnessed at school. But she was willing to bet that locking lips with Jason would be beyond spectacular.
She searched her brain for a safe topic to discuss, and to distract her from thinking about things that were impossible to have. “So how come you know so much about cooking?” she asked.
“My father loves to cook, and when I was a keiki, I loved hanging out with him. Probably in all that time I picked up a lot of this stuff.” He stopped for a moment and looked at Caitlin before turning his attention back to the road. He had revealed more than he intended, and he didn’t want to discuss any more of his life. Changing the subject, he asked. “What kind of job do you have?”
They had entered a residential area. From the looks of it, this section was likely populated by people of middle income. Having lived on the island all his life, he was familiar with where the wealthy and poor folks gathered.
“I work for a traveling cooking school,” she explained. “We mostly do keiki parties, so we show them how to cook something easy like pizza, and maybe poke, if the parents want to buy an upgraded package. We supply the food, instruction, entertainment, and cleanup. I guess with all the cooking shows on TV, there’s a surge of interest in preparing good food. And since the parents have aspirations for their offspring, they want to start them off while they’re young.”
He gave a short laugh. “It’s interesting that everyone wants to be a celebrity chef these days.”
“Not me. I just want to cook well, and I don’t need to be famous while doing it,” she said. “Oh look, we’re here!” She glanced down at the piece of paper in her hand and double-checked the address. “Yep, this is the house all right.” She pointed to the structure that had balloons tied to the wooden mailbox in the front. “I’m supposed to meet my coworkers before we go inside to do the show.”
Jason slowed the car down and parked at the curb.
“I see John over there,” she indicated to the white delivery truck that waited at the side of the road. “But I wonder why Coleen isn’t here yet...”