I'm Kona Love You Forever (Islands of Aloha Mystery Series Book 6) by JoAnn Bassett Read Free Book Online Page A

half we’d visited a print shop, an alterations lady and two florists.
    As Kaili got back in the car she said, “Whew. It sure takes time to get anything done around here. In LA we could’ve been in and out of those places like that .” She snapped her fingers. “But everybody here is like, ‘Oh, so happy to see you. Give me a hug. How’s your family? Sit down and tell me your life story.’ It’s a pretty slow way to do business.”
    “That’s why I’m taking you around like this. I want you to see how things work over here. I’ve seen most of these people within the past couple of weeks, but still they take time to be friendly. They aren’t just focused on whether I bring them any business; they care about me . That’s one of the important things you need to learn if you want to blend in.”
    “So, you’re saying if I want to get along at school I’ve got to act like you do? You know, suck up and pretend to care about all this stupid stuff? Like you really wanted to know if that printer guy’s kid got the job he was going for, or the seamstress lady’s granddaughter won that soccer game?”
    “Close, but no bull ‘s-eye,” I said. “I don’t pretend to care. In Hawaii, people actually do care.”
    “But what if I don’t?”
    “There’s an old saying, ‘Fake it ‘til you make it.’ This is the time to act as if the kids at your school are important to you. As if you’re interested in their lives and what they’re feeling. Before you know it, you will be.”
    “I don’t know,” she said. “They’ll probably see right through it and call me a phony. Or, more likely, a phony bitch .”
    Our last stop of the day was in Kula, further up the mountain beyond Doug’s house in Pukalani.
    “Where are we going?” Kaili said.
    “To my cake maker’s place. She’s old-school Hawaiian. Nothing I can say will make the point any better than you meeting Keahou.”
    As I’d imagined, even though I’d failed to call ahead and alert Keahou we were coming, she greeted us at the door like we were long lost relatives.
    “Oh my sweet ku’uipo !” Keahou said. “So good to see my favorite girl! Whatcha been doin’?”
    “I brought a friend up to see you, Keahou,” I said. “This is Kaili. She’s Sifu Doug’s niece from Honolulu. She’s helping me out this week.”
    Keahou stepped forward and pulled Kaili into a hug. She tightly wrapped her to her bountiful breast and slightly swayed as she murmured Hawaiian words even I couldn’t understand.
    “That means, I’m so happy to meet you and welcome you to my home,” she said. “You are ‘ohana to our sifu . He must be so proud of you.”
    Kaili shot me a look as if questioning Keahou ’s sincerity.
    “Oh, he is, A untie,” I said. “Very proud.”
    “What a lani wahine . So very pretty. Don’t you think so, Pali?”
    I nodded. Seems the green hair and chalk-white face hadn’t dampened Keahou’s assessment of Kaili’s beauty. Or maybe she, too, was used to “finding the good.”
    We chatted and I explained to Keahou how Kaili was a recent transplant from the mainland and she’d been having some trouble adjusting.
    “Ah, Honolulu. It’s not easy there. Did Pali tell you stories about when she go over there? Lots of people there. Most are nice; some not so nice.”
    “It’s not so much the big city, Keahou,” I said , before I realized Kaili could probably speak for herself. “It’s the difference between Hawaiian ways and mainland ways.”
    “Ah. Well, not so much different. In both places, good is good. Here’s what you need to know: ‘ ohana first. And, in Hawaii, everybody ‘ ohana !”
    She invited us in for cake and guava juice and we stayed another ten minutes. I checked the clock on the wall and said , unfortunately, we had to leave.
    “I told Sifu Doug I’d have her back home by five,” I said.
    “Okay. I let you go quick this time. But next time, you stay longer. Oh, before you go, I got some stuff for you to