There she was, helping a customer at the counter. She wore an over sized blazer, a white tee shirt and straight leg jeans. The way her black shoulder length hair was knotted up in a pony tail only served to bring back memories.
She stood a head shorter than I but her body was well proportioned. What little make up she wore only served to bring out more of the true beauty she had been blessed with. Leinani was the type of woman who didn't have to do much to look good. She had probably picked out the jacket she was wearing at the local thrift shop. She always looked good.
We met one day as I was visiting Willy. Mutual attraction electrified the room and she had agreed to have dinner with me. She blamed it on the pheromones. I can honestly say I don't remember much about our first meat together for I was mesmerized by her charms. Six years of our live blew by in the time she took to look over at me over the candle lit table. Then reality took over fantasy.
She was part of the past, not part of the future. We had made our run of it and tried our best. It all came to an end over another candle lit table. She left before I could tell her I now owned a piece of the hotel we were dining at. Or maybe I just forgot to tell her.
She looked up from the register and our eyes met. She didn't smile or wave; her expression like mine did not change. I could feel her eyes on my back as I kept going. There was too much there for me to deal with. Not right now. Maybe not ever.
The doorman smiled at me as I got back into the Rover. Kua was just finishing up his last burger.
"How'd it go boss?"
The image of Leinani had made my heart beat a little faster. "It went okay."
Kua studied my face closely. He knew who else besides Willy worked there. He shook his head and put the Rover in gear.
"Where to now?"
"Head toward Makiki. I got something to check out." I tried to shake Leinani out of my head. Like bad habit, she appeared when she felt like it.
We drove on through the rain up towards Punchbowl crater. That was where the National Cemetary was along with a school named after Robert Louis Stevenson. Punchbowl was an older section of town that was lined with single family homes, most of which were built decades ago. We were headed for an apartment complex that seemed out of place amongst the older houses.
The concrete complex was terraced in five symmetrical rows. All the balconies were lined with bougainvilleas, probably to help block the noise from the street. Each level contained ten apartments.
We pulled up to the parking garage only to find that I had forgotten to grab Samantha's parking card. Kua turned around the corner and drove up to the front door. The driveway encircled a manicured lawn sprinkled with ginger and Bird of Paradise plants. He locked the Rover and followed me to the lobby.
An elderly Polynesian man dressed in a uniform that looked to be a size too small came out of the glass doors and approached us. The buttons on his shirt looked ready to pop and his pants were so tight, his white socks showed. He smoothed out his salt and pepper moustache before addressing us.
"You can't park there."
"We'll only be a minute. Gotta go upstairs to make sure I didn't leave the stove on. My girlfriend will kill me."
White socks looked at me closely and nodded his head. "I know how it is brah. Better be safe than sorry."
Samantha's apartment key stood out among the others on her ring. We got inside and headed upstairs. Kua stood behind me as I opened Samantha's door.
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