The Maui Effect (Man-Made Trilogy #1)

Shared Static

‘Iwa

Wanting something you know is a bad idea is a strange paradox of the human psyche. Which was why ‘Iwa kept very busy that first week after Dane left, surveying plants and collecting seeds, playing guitar until her fingers stung, scouring the house top to bottom and researching land use laws in Hawai’i. But for every ounce of energy she spent trying not to think about Dane, it seemed his presence would be twice as intense the minute she lay down to sleep.

Despite all her best attempts, ‘Iwa must have relived the waterfall scene two thousand times in her mind. His lips. Hands. Hard body. Hot breath pricking her skin.

The second week wasn’t much better. Day fourteen came and went. ‘Iwa pretended she wasn’t counting, but that was a big fat lie. She’d left her phone at home all day on purpose, and when she got back, there were no messages. Her mood soured and she felt like climbing into bed and pulling the covers over her head. It was her own fault.

On day fifteen ‘Iwa popped in for lunch at Uncle’s. The place was empty, post-holiday crowds had thinned, and she persuaded Eddie to sit with her as she wolfed down a grilled sweet bread and cheddar sandwich. She’d had a quick surf session at Ho’okipa that had left her ravenous.

“Since when do you go surfing by yourself anymore?” her father asked.

“I don’t know. It was small and glassy and I figured I should get out there.”

He gave her a knowing look. The one with his head dropped, dark eyes boring into her, that said, You can’t fool me, I’m your dad .

She shrugged. “I had fun surfing while Dane was here. It made me want to get back into it a little. I mean, we live so close to the beach.”

This was the first time Dane’s name had come up between them since his departure. She’d purposefully avoided talking about him, as if that might make him less real, and her father never asked.

“I like da guy,” Eddie said, picking up the other half of her sandwich and taking a bite.

He never liked the guys she dated. ‘Iwa was too good for every single one.

She gave him a love swat. “Hey, no cheese for you.”

He took another bite, a bigger one. Eddie would do what Eddie wanted to do, heart trouble be damned. On the table, her phone began to vibrate. They both looked at it. She made no move to grab it, but craned her neck so she could see who the message was from.

“No mind me,” her dad said.

She slid the phone over, as though not that interested, but then her heart did a somersault. She saw that it was from Dane. Without reading it, she flipped the phone over.

“ Auwe , girl. Read the damn thing.”

Unable to say no to her father, she read it.

You showed me yours, let me show you mine. I’ll pick you up at the airport. Dane

She read it a few times, trying to make sense of the words. Then she noticed that the link was to Hawaiian Airlines. She opened the link, which showed a round trip ticket to San Francisco, leaving in two days. The tips of her ears began to burn, and a warm sensation coiled up and around her chest.

Eddie lost patience. “You can’t just leave me hanging. What does it say?”

“He bought me a ticket to San Francisco—on Wednesday.”

He raised his eyebrows and whistled. “I better get your shifts covered.”

She held a hand up. “Stop. I’m not going.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t drop everything and fly to California because some dude sent me a ticket. That would be absurd.” And reckless and weird and impossible. “Wouldn’t it?”

“Sometimes love makes you do absurd things.”

“Love? I just met the guy, Dad, come on.”

So why did the thought of being with Dane again, in his element, make her all morning-sunshine and honey-sweet feeling?

His face turned serious and he reached out for her hands and held them in his cracked leather palms. “I know more than anyone how you’ve been burned, ‘Iwa. But you can’t just shut down like an old sugar mill and make up a million and one excuses why you nevah goin’ date again.”

“Dane is all wrong—”

“Hang on. Is that how you really feel? Because if it is, I’ll stop right now. Hell, give me the phone, I’ll even text him back myself.”

He reached for the phone, but she held on tight.

A plum pit formed in her throat. “What if I go and I hate it?”

“What if you go and you don’t?”

“The waterfall—”

“Will still be here when you get back. Think about what your mom would have said if it was her sitting here instead of me.”

‘Iwa closed her eyes, imagining Lily across the table from her, smelling like lavender and chocolate, quoting lyrics from obscure love songs, and then she would have said, Your choice, sweet pea, but choose well and choose love . As a kid, this phrase annoyed her to no end. It felt like she was being given a choice, and in the same breath, that choice was being taken away. Now she was coming to see the wisdom in it. Lily had left her fingerprint on everything, which made her humungous absence almost bearable.

“Choose well and choose love,” ‘Iwa said.

His eyes turned watery and he gave her a sad smile. “I miss her.”

“Me too.”

Who knew what the future held with Dane, but what did she have to lose?

“Three days?” she said.

“Piece of cake.”

She picked up the phone and tapped away, butterflies swarming in her stomach.

Be careful what you wish for. See you soon x.

Then hit Send before she could chicken out.

Dane stuck to his word. Only that one message was sent. ‘Iwa had packed light, bringing her only winter gear, which wasn’t much. She pressed her forehead to the cold window as the plane descended, looking out at dark water and gloom. Nerves began to creep in the closer she got to landing, and then once on the ground, she found it hard to breathe. Sure, they’d spent some time together, but her introvert self wasn’t used to spending three full days with a person, especially one she didn’t know all that well. In the bathroom, she splashed water on her face, smoothed out her hair—which had gone limp in the dry plane air, and dabbed on some lipstick. Then she made her way to the curb, petrified.

When the doors opened, she was struck by a stiff blast of cold wind. The air smelled foreign here, of cable car brakes and fog and fish. ‘Iwa had no idea what she was looking for, and began searching all the cars for a familiar face. People were all business here, zooming in and picking up their passengers in winter coats and stylish boots. Wearing her old cowboy boots, ripped jeans and an old wool sweater of her mom’s, ‘Iwa was most certainly the least stylish person in the whole airport. When you came from a land of rubber slippers and summer dresses, fashion was easy.

After standing on the curb for ten minutes, teeth chattering, she checked her phone again. It was still on airplane mode. When she turned it on, there were three messages from Dane. Running behind, five minutes late. Sorry, make that ten. And finally, We didn’t factor in traffic, hang tight.

We?

Moments later, a black Ford truck piled high with board bags and towing a jet ski pulled up right in front of her. The passenger door opened and Dane hopped out. ‘Iwa stood still, unsure of how to approach. But Dane held his arms in the air, as he would coming off a perfect wave, and made a beeline for her. He wore a rust-orange jacket and a beanie that accentuated the angles of his cheekbones.

When he reached her, he pulled her in for a hug and whispered into her hair, “You came.”

His arms felt strangely like home.

She thought of the moment she saw his message. “You left me no option.”

“I was thinking my chances were fifty-fifty at best, then when you weren’t answering my texts, I started to wonder,” he said, taller than she remembered.

Dane pulled away and smiled, grabbing her hand and leading her to the truck. Kama, who had been waiting in the driver’s seat, came around.

“Welcome to Cali, where the water’s cold and the sharks hungry,” he said, hugging her tight.

Having Kama there with Dane was like a pressure release valve, and ‘Iwa immediately loosened a little.

Dane knocked Kama in the arm. “Don’t listen to him.”

They refused to tell her where they were going, and ‘Iwa had no idea if they were headed north, south, east or west, but they climbed over some scrubby hills dotted with conifers filled with squirrels. On the other side, the ocean appeared, slate gray under a monochromatic sky. A sign said Half Moon Bay . She should have known. They were headed to Mavericks, California’s best known big wave.

As daylight dimmed into night, they met up with Hope and a light-eyed, bushy-bearded man named Yeti with the demeanor of a monk. His voice carried hints of an Australian accent and he seemed to float around the house they were staying in—a modern wood and glass structure that belonged to a friend. Everyone had their own bedroom, which made ‘Iwa breathe easier. And yet, every time she looked at Dane, a line of heat shot up her spine.

There was a heightened energy in the air, a shared static between the four surfers, that rubbed off on her. From growing up on Maui, she recognized it well. Yeti and Kama were welcoming, if not all business, but Hope barely acknowledged her presence. It made ‘Iwa wonder how many girls Hope had seen Dane cycle through.

Over deep-dish chunky tomato and pineapple pizza—Yeti was a vegetarian—and sparkling water, they plotted the morning’s approach. By first light, the swell should be already pumping, so they’d be ready to launch the skis at dawn.

“Intervals are seventeen seconds. Looks like the waves are still tracking to move under the Farallones, and winds should be nonexistent, at least for the first part of the day,” Yeti said, after reading the latest update.

“When’s low tide?” Dane asked.

“Ten forty-five.”

Hope surfed big waves, but she had a limit. She was also an experienced ski operator. On days like tomorrow, Dane, Kama and Yeti would each switch off with her as partner, allowing more time for catching waves as she drove the ski. ‘Iwa, it turned out, would ride in a motor boat with Jeff and Hilton, two Patagonia photographers, so she could see the waves up close.

“Only if you want to, though. There’s always the beach on the north side, but you can’t really see much from there,” Dane was quick to say.

Apparently, Mavericks broke a half mile offshore, and Vandenburg Air Force Base owned the bluff, so cliff viewing was not the same as Pe’ahi, where you could get a bird’s-eye view if you knew where to be.

“Put me in the boat,” she said.

She was here, might as well get the full experience.

After everyone had drifted off to their rooms, Dane and ‘Iwa sat on the patio wrapped in blankets and sipping hot cocoa, talking about everything and nothing. It felt like being at a sleepover, except in this case her friend was a very hot man. But she also felt a shyness she hadn’t felt on Maui. Maybe it had something to do with being on his turf. Or feeling guilty for all of the thoughts she’d been having about his mouth working its way down her abdomen.

After a time, he dragged his heavy wooden chair closer, and said, “So what was it that changed your mind?”

“Changed my mind about what?”

“About seeing me again. Coming here. In the truck that last afternoon on Maui, you seemed pretty skeptical about the whole thing.”

She had hoped she wouldn’t have to explain herself. Even she didn’t know quite what she was doing here. “My dad talked me into it.”

The corner of his mouth curled up. “That’s not what I expected to hear, but I’ll have to thank him.”

“Yeah, well, he thinks I’m too serious and I work too much and I need to have fun. Your invitation sounded fun and a little bit like a dare, so here I am,” she said, realizing she probably sounded more standoffish than she meant to. On one hand she wanted to be here badly, and was so happy she came. On the other, she was scared at how much Dane made her feel.

“You like a good challenge, huh?”

“In the right circumstances,” she said, then tried to soften her response. “But really, he asked me what I thought my mom would say, and I know she would have told me to come, to take a chance.”

“Don’t feel you have to explain any more—I’m just happy you took me up on my offer,” he said, standing up and holding a hand out to her without another word.

‘Iwa took it and he pulled her up and into a warm hug. She inhaled deeply, breathing in the smell of citrus soap and California on his skin. She let her cheek rest against the rise and fall of his chest as he ran his fingers through her hair. They stood there for a while, not saying anything, and he felt so solid—more mountain than wave.

She, on the other hand, had a chest full of moth wings. The desire to properly kiss him had been building all day, and when she could no longer take it, she stood on her tippy-toes and lightly pressed her lips to his. He seemed caught off guard, but immediately recovered, and kissed her deep and slow, and a little rough. One of his hands ran up her shirt, brushing up against the bottom of her breast, while the other tugged at her hair. Before she knew it, she was practically straddling his thigh.

God, he felt good.

Then sanity struck like ice water. What happened to her plan to take it slow? See how things went? This was more a reconnaissance mission than anything, she told herself.

Behave.

Dane seemed to register her change, and he stepped back and said, “Let’s get you inside and to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”