Rogue Wave

Chapter 2

Kai Tanaka finished with his shower, and Bilbo, the family's Wheaten Terrier, greeted him as he came out of the bedroom. The screams and laughter of two 13-year-old girls reverberated from the kitchen, making him smile. He finished dressing and exited the bedroom.

The smell of coffee was still strong, so Kai knew someone had already made a run to Starbucks. A lone grande latte sat on the counter, beckoning him. The TV in the kitchen was tuned to Headline News as usual, with the volume so low that all he could hear was the indistinct mumbling of the anchorwoman.

Lani and Mia sat close together at the dinette table, talking to each other over a magazine in low, conspiratorial tones. Then they erupted into shrill screams that dissolved into giggles while they pointed at the magazine. Lani saw Kai head for the coffee and shushed Mia to stop laughing, but they couldn't help continuing to snicker.

"Hi, Dad," Lani said.

"Hi, Uncle Kai," said Mia.

Even though Kai wasn't really Mia's uncle, she had called him that since she was able to talk. He still liked the sound of it, especially because he didn't have any nieces or nephews of his own.

Kai walked over to the table sipping his latte and made as if to get a better look at the magazine. "And what are you guys reading this morning? Is it Newsweek or Car and Driver?"

Lani quickly flipped the magazine closed. It was Seventeen. Mia must have brought it with her. Like most fathers, he couldn't help wonder at how fast they were growing up. They were barely teenagers. To him, Seventeen was far in the future.

Lani giggled at Mia, and then adopted a mock-serious tone. "We're just doing some research for our trip this morning." Mia nodded in agreement.

"Uh huh," Kai said dubiously. "Seventeen has an article about boogie boarding, does it?"

"Not exactly," Mia said. "But there are some tips about beach combing." At this Lani and Mia erupted into another peal of laughter. Kai assumed it was something about how to meet boys, but he didn't want to know, so he didn't ask.

"Where's your mom?"

"She left for work about 30 minutes ago. She said she, uh, overslept." Lani said it as if there was more to it than simply missing the alarm.

Usually Rachel's Monday shift didn't begin until 10 AM, but then he remembered the disabled vets brunch at the Grand Hawaiian. As the hotel manager, she would want to be there early to make sure everything was perfect, especially because the governor was speaking. Kai dialed her cell.

"Hello?" Rachel said, sounding annoyed. A truck horn honked in the background, signaling why she was peeved. She was still on the road. He put the call on speakerphone.

"Traffic?" Kai said.

"As usual."

"Didn't the alarm go off?" Kai was such a sound sleeper, he usually missed Rachel's alarm.

"Oh, it went off. I just missed it. Those two were gabbing away until two am last night. Three times I went into their room to tell them to knock it off. Are they there?"

"Uh oh," Kai mouthed to Lani, who grimaced.

Rachel spoke louder to be heard from the speakerphone. "Are you girls going to be quiet tonight, or does Mia need to sleep on the couch?"

"Mom," Lani whined, "Mia just got here. We've been catching up. What if we just whisper tonight?"

"She got here Saturday, and it's now Monday. All I'm saying is that if I have to come in there tonight, you're not going to be sleeping together for the rest of Mia's stay."

Lani pouted. She knew her mom meant it. Rachel wasn't one to make idle threats. She and Kai both believed in following through, and it seemed to be working. Lani was a good kid.

That didn't mean she didn't test her parents from time to time. Although she was a well-behaved and delightful child for the most part, she was also precocious. Kai wouldn't have been surprised to find her reading Cosmopolitan instead of Seventeen. He half expected her to announce at any moment that she was going to skip the next two years and simply turn 16 at her next birthday.

And the problem was that she looked 16. Still one month shy of turning 14, she had developed remarkably quickly. At 5'8'', she was now taller than her mother by a good two inches, and even more distressingly, she had developed a womanly figure. Her hair was auburn, not the strawberry blond of Rachel's Irish heritage, but she had gotten her mother's arresting green eyes, delicate facial structure, and athletic lean body. From Kai, she inherited the olive complexion and almond-shaped eyes of his Italian-Japanese background. To Kai's chagrin, the effect made her not only beautiful, but exotic. He was going to have to plan for dates very soon, and he was terrified.

"Hey Kai, remember to tell Teresa that they should be ready at seven for the luau tonight."

"Tonight? You mean tomorrow."

"You made the reservation for tomorrow?"

Oops, Kai thought. He knew there was something he was supposed to do.

"No," he said, trying to think of the right words to say. He failed. "Weren't you going to make the reservation?"

For a moment, there was nothing but silence.

"Uh oh," Lani said, wagging her finger at Kai. He shot her a dirty look, picked up the receiver, and turned off the speakerphone. He lowered the volume a couple of notches, knowing what was coming.

"Rachel, I'm sorry…"

"Kai! You promised to make the reservation. Tonight is the only time I'm not working evenings this week. If we don't have a reservation, we're never going to get in."

"The Royal Hawaiian, right?" Kai said, moving into the family room to get a little privacy.

"The Sheraton Waikiki."

"I'm sure it's not too late to get a reservation."

Her annoyance turned to sarcasm. "Right. It'll be easy to get reservations on a holiday. Never mind. I'll do it."

"Look, I'm sorry I forgot about the reservation. If they're sold out, we'll find something else to do."

"Kai…," she started, about to erupt in anger. Then her voice quieted, which was even worse. "Kai, I've had to do practically everything to get ready for our house guests. I made our travel arrangements to the north shore this weekend. I got the house cleaned up. I picked them up at the airport. I even made sure there was enough gas in the car that they are going to use. Now I have to do the one thing I asked you to do."

"I said I'd do it, and I will."

"That's what you said last week when I asked you to do it."

"It's just…" He stopped himself. He was going to make an excuse about his job, but he knew that was the wrong way to go.

Taking the post of director at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center was a great career move for him, but he hadn't counted on how demanding it would be. Including Kai, there were only eight geophysicists on staff, and the PTWC had to be monitored by two of them 24 hours a day. That meant they regularly had to pull 12-hour shifts. It was difficult to recruit geophysicists who were willing to spend that many hours on site, so to sweeten the deal, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-better known as NOAA, the parent organization of the PTWC-built houses on the Center grounds that some of the staff lived in for free.

Not many people in Hawaii could afford a house three blocks from the beach, but it wasn't that much of a perk. Kai and his family lived in a gated complex next to a run-down, blue-collar neighborhood. The beach nearby wasn't even that good. His job as the director meant that he had to take care of not only his employees' work problems, but their home problems as well. Everything from disputes about late night noise to trouble with the plumbing. And being relatively new didn't help. It was literally a 24-hour job.

As if she could read his mind, Rachel said, "I know your job is tough, Kai. It's been the same for both of us. I'm getting used to my job at the hotel, too. But it's getting to feel like I'm doing all the work at home, even though you only work 100 feet from our house. And now Lani…" She trailed off.

"What about Lani?"

"She's been here nine months now and hasn't made any friends yet. Have you noticed that?"

"I see her hanging out with her soccer friends all the time."

"Those are teammates. She has to hang out with them. But in the whole time we've been here, she hasn't once brought somebody back home. Now that she's with Mia, I see how she used to be. And being in that compound hasn't helped."

"Please don't call it a compound." Kai hated that word.

"I know this is a great opportunity for you, but…" She didn't finish the sentence.

So there it was. She didn't want to be here any more.

"Rachel, you knew when we agreed to this that we would have to live in the com… — at the center. It comes with the job."

"I know. But something's got to change." She paused again, then a beep on the line. "That's Marian at the hotel. I've got to go."

"About the luau…"

"Look, I'll talk to Max," she said, referring to Max Walsh, the hotel's concierge. "Maybe he can get us in."

"Rachel, I said I'll take care of it."

"I know you did. I'll talk to you later."

Kai didn't want to leave it that way, but he didn't know what else to say, so he said "Bye" and hung up.

Teresa Gomez, Mia's mother, came out of the guest room eating the last bite of an apple. Like the girls, she was already dressed in a tank top and sarong.

"Dr. Tanaka," she said.

"Dr. Gomez." Now that Teresa was an MD, she and Kai batted the honorific back and forth like a badminton birdie.

"I see you found the latte I got for you."

"Yes, thanks."

She gave him a quizzical look. "You all right?"

"Sure," Kai said. "Great morning so far."

She didn't look convinced, but she didn't press the issue. Kai followed her back into the kitchen.

"How was your jog?" Teresa said as she tossed the apple core into the disposal and washed her hands.

"Fantastic! You and the girls are going to have gorgeous weather today."

"If it's a day off for you, why don't you come with us to the beach?"

"Day off? I wish. I'm on call today. I have to give a tour this morning, and there's a paper I'm submitting to the Science of Tsunami Hazards next month that I've got to finish."

Teresa appraised Kai's outfit and began to laugh. "I forgot. We're in Hawaii."

He looked down at his clothes and realized why she was laughing. Even though Kai grew up in Hawaii, he had lived in Seattle for more than 15 years. Kai loved the Pacific Northwest, but he never got used to the cold and drizzle. So after returning from a decade and a half of raincoats and flannel, it hadn't taken him long to revert to customary Hawaiian dress. To a Seattleite like Teresa, the flowered shirt, khakis, and tennis shoes he was wearing might seem like a stereotypical joke about island life, but it was perfectly natural for him. Kai laughed, too.

"Believe me, I'd love to join you," he said. "Where are you guys boarding?"

"I wanted to go to somewhere quiet, but I got vetoed." She jabbed a finger at the girls. "So we're going to Waikiki. At least I'll get to relax with a good book while they're swimming."

Kai winced. Because of the holiday, Waikiki would be packed not only with tourists, but with locals as well. May was a big month for travelers, and three-day weekends were always popular with American tourists from the mainland. Almost 50,000 visitors stayed in Honolulu at any one time, and Waikiki claimed most of them. Teresa would be hard pressed to find any peace on the beach.

"I think they just want to check out the boys," she said.

"We do not!" said Lani.

But Mia at the same time said "Yeah!" and Lani turned red.

Kai tried to help Teresa out.

"Why don't you go to Kahana Valley? There's a great beach there."

"It's boring," Lani said. "If I finally get to go to a beach, I want to go to a good one.

"What do you mean? We go to our beach all the time."

"Yeah, right. Only when you're with me. What's the use of living three blocks from the beach if I never get to go?"

"Here we go," Kai said. To Teresa, "This isn't the best neighborhood. One time, I saw some kids smoking dope down at the little park that leads to the beach. Now she's mad that I won't let her go on her own."

"If I didn't live in this compound, I might have someone to go with."

"Why does everyone call it that?" Kai said.

"I'm sure it's not because of the barbed wire and security gate," Lani said, her sarcasm reaching new heights. "Come on, Mia. Let's get ready."

They ran off to Lani's bedroom.

"Teenagers," Teresa said. "It's always fun, isn't it?"

"Barrel of laughs." Kai handed her the keys to his Jeep.

"You don't need your car today?"

"Nope. I usually don't go anywhere during the day. Parking at the Grand Hawaiian?"

"Yes. Rachel got us a voucher."

"Good. When do you think you'll be back?"

"I'm thinking around five, so that we have plenty of time to get ready for the luau tonight."

Kai cringed at the mention of the luau.

"Problem?"

He forced a smile. "Not at all."

Teresa gave him another puzzled look. She knew that something was wrong, but though she was a good friend, she would never try to pry.

She smiled and said, "Well, all we need are the boogie boards."

"They're in the garage," Kai said.

"We'll get them!" yelled Lani from the other room.

As he and Teresa went outside, Kai paused to turn off the kitchen TV. Just before he clicked it off, he noticed that Headline News had a graphic showing the TransPacific logo and text saying "Airliner missing over Pacific."