After arranging our flight and lodging plans, we got everything packed up into our suitcases, and we cleaned up Jamie’s room. River gave Jamie a call, and he told us where we could find him on UCSF’s campus. We stopped at a sandwich shop on the way over, met him in the school’s library, and found a table where we could all eat.
“Aw, you guys didn’t have to get me lunch,” Jamie said when River handed him the dense, paper-wrapped Rueben.
“You’ve let us stay at your place the last two nights, Jamie. For free.” River pointed it out while handing me my California turkey on wheat. I added, “It really is the least we could do.”
Jamie waved his hand at us dismissively before swallowing his first bite. “It’s been no problem. Honestly, you guys could stay longer if you wanted.” He took another bite, chewed, swallowed, then paused. “Are there tomatoes in this Rueben?”
River grinned at him. “I requested they add some. They didn’t have romas specifically, so I settled for hot house.”
“Well done, Roma.” He extended his free hand, and he and River shook. “I respect that kind of effort. Even if it does add a weird taste to my lunch.”
We ate our sandwiches while talking, and when we were done, River and I thanked Jamie again for allowing us to stay in his room and for showing us around San Francisco.
“It’s been awesome hanging out again, Roma. When you moved away from Luna Buena, I didn’t think I would ever see you again. Then Mexico happened, which was crazy. And now, you showed up again, right here in my city this time.
“I’m really glad to see you too, Dr. Freeman.”
“And Dazzling Drew.” Jamie lowered his head to view me over his glasses. “It’s been a pleasure.”
“You too, Jamie. You know, you kind of remind me of my sister.”
“Hold up—you have a sister? Does she look like you?”
Laughing and blushing, I looked over at River, who shrugged in my direction.
“Her name’s Cambria. She lives in Washington and is just starting up cosmetology school. Actually, she used to think she wanted to be a doctor.” Jamie maintained eye contact with me, raised his eyebrows, and tilted his head. I could tell what he was thinking. “Would you like me to give you her number, Jamie?”
“Yes, please.”
I again gave River another glance and saw that he was smiling. I jotted down Cambria’s cell number on a napkin and slid it across the table to Jamie. I had only known him for two days, but he really did remind me of Cambria, and if River approved of him, then so did I. I would have to give Cambria a call soon to explain why she might be receiving a strange text from an unknown number. Hopefully she wouldn’t mind.
When we told Jamie where we were flying off to, he looked down at the table and nodded his head somberly. He then stood up, we followed suit, and he embraced River in his arms in that full sort of manner I’d seen him do when we first showed up at his door. He said, “River. I’m glad I got to know you and Julian in Luna Buena.”
River said, “Me too, man.”
River and I headed south for the airport. Once there, we were able to return the rental car River had gotten all the way back in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, four days ago. It didn’t seem right to me that it had only been four days ago when this journey had begun, when I opened the door at my parents’ house to find River standing there, duffel bag beside his feet, asking me if I wanted to carpool to Riley’s wedding.
We didn’t have any issues at the airport—printing our boarding passes, checking in our bags, getting through TSA. By 2:15 pm, we were in the plane, and we managed to trade seats with a willing passenger so that River and I could sit together. Then, right around 2:30, we were taking off into the sky—my very first airplane ride—and in five hours, we would be arriving at our destination.
◈ ◈ ◈
The air was soft in Maui. It was the first thing I noticed when we made it out of the airport in another rental car River paid for. We kept the windows down as we drove east on Hana Highway, which allowed us views of the ocean the farther east we went. The water here was even more of a vivid turquoise hue than it had been in San Francisco.
It wasn’t long before River turned south off the highway and drove us into an area called Haiku. I tried my hand at making up a couple haikus on the spot about the scenery around us: narrow roads, A-framed wooden shops, jungle-y spots of wild greenery. River laughed at my attempts and informed me that the name of this place was not Japanese; rather, it came from a Hawaiian word, ha’ikū, which meant something like sharp break.
It was hard for me to believe that I was really in Hawaii. Hadn’t I been back home in Washington just a matter of days ago? The scenery around me wasn’t what I had pictured it would be, but the longer River drove us, the more enchanted I felt by Haiku. Those narrow roads, the shops, and jungle-like segments I had mentioned in my poetry, all gave this place a rustic feel. We passed by strips of farm land as the drive continued, and then River began turning onto roads that grew skinnier and skinnier until we were funneled down to a single-lane dirt road that brought us up to the cottage we had rented.
The cottage was bestrewn with brown shingles, and it was small, which was fine for just the two of us. It had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a little strip of a kitchen with a breakfast bar, and a living room that squeezed in an L-shaped sectional and television. The ceiling in the house displayed wooden beams, there was at least one potted plant in every room, and Hawaiian art scattered the walls where the crystal-clear windows weren’t occupying space. I didn’t think it could be more perfect until I walked out the back door and stepped into a vibrant garden that had a stream at the very edge of the property.
I had never seen so much green in my life. Other than the few palm trees I noticed at the perimeter of the garden, I had no idea what the names of these trees were—not like I did back home. It sparked a flame of excitement within me when I thought about that, that there was so much I didn’t know in the world, so much to learn.
The sun was already starting to set by the time we got settled into the cottage. The two bedrooms were adjacent to one another, with one bed in each. I took the one closer to the bathroom, and River tossed his duffel bag into the other room. We then drove back on the skinny roads into town, where River took us to a modest, rural market.
As we perused the aisles, River tossed into the shopping basket fresh fish, vegetables, seasonings, and a package of wild rice. He asked me to pick out whatever fruit looked good to me, and I found this to be a difficult decision, with everything looking so fresh. While we were waiting in line to check out, River noticed me eyeing a bouquet of coral hibiscuses. He plucked it up and laid it on top of the other items. I gave him a smile, and when he returned it, I got a warm feeling in my chest.
Back at the cottage, River took care of the food he’d selected, meanwhile, I cut up the pineapple, mangoes, and papayas I had chosen at the store, tossing them together into a simple fruit salad. We ate dinner in the back garden area: fried tilapia, the seasoned rice, a green salad, and my tropical fruit salad. After cleaning up the kitchen, we located towels in the cottage and spread them out in the garden. We lay side-by-side, letting the stars above captivate us and soothe us into the conclusion of our day.