“On Maui. He only comes in two or three times a week or so to check on the laboratory. I didn't know you knew my brother, Miss Clark.”
Brother!
“We met many years ago.”
Kiki
was
Parker's
sister
. If Parker's sister was working at the coffee company that had to mean her tirade twelve years ago had hit home. “Your brother owes me twelve thousand pounds of coffee. Feel free to mention that to him.” Annie wasn't sure, but she thought she saw shades of panic in the beautiful dark eyes.
“Perhaps I can rearrange my schedule and we can discuss matters. Negotiations are always . . . interesting.”
“Perhaps you shouldn't. Rearrange your schedule I mean. I don't negotiate. Heads of state negotiate. I'm just a lowly multimillion-dollar company that does business with you. That's just another way of saying we do it my way, or I take my marbles and go home.” Annie looked at her watch. “Oh, dear, I've taken up four more minutes of your time. Five o'clock, Miss Aellia. Not one minute later.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Miss Clark.”
“You see, that's where you're wrong. I don't bargain. Fourteen dollars a pound is a fair price. I pride myself on being fair. Thirteen would be better, but it's such an unlucky number.”
“I'll need to talk to my brother.”
“Do whatever you feel you have to do, Miss Aellia. My price is firm, and so is my deadline. One more thing. It's a small matter, but small matters sometimes influence decisions. You knew we had an appointment today. A car service here would not have gone unnoticed. I learned early on that the better you treat a customer, the better the relationship develops.”
“I'll remember that, Miss Clark.”
“So will I,” Annie said smoothly.
Â
Â
Annie arrived back at the hotel to mass confusion. Hundreds of guests as well as employees were milling about chattering like magpies. She asked a young man holding a surfboard what was going on.
“Water line ruptured. All the floors are flooded. The management is going to relocate all the guests. At no cost.”
Annie stared at the mass confusion, reminded of another day, years ago, when she'd been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Her stomach started to churn. A moment later she saw two streaks of dark movement. Guests scattered as Rosie and Harry skidded to a stop, sat back on their haunches, then barked loudly for attention.
Annie tussled with them for a few minutes. “You're scaring these people half to death. Show them what ladies and gentlemen you are.” A smile on her face, Annie watched indulgently as Rosie pranced up to the guest she'd been talking to and offered her paw. Harry waited patiently until Rosie returned to do the same thing.
“Great dogs. I don't imagine they let anyone get too close to you.”
“You're right, they don't. Excuse me. Elmo, over here,” she said, waving the straw hat in the air.
“Guess you heard,” Elmo said.
“Yes, one of the guests filled me in. Where's our stuff?”
“By the front door. They're bussing us all to another condo. We go in the next van. You got here just in time. How'd things go?”
“They didn't, Elmo. She was sitting tight. Parker wasn't there. Seems his sister more or less runs things these days. She wanted an increase, and I wanted a decrease. I gave her till five o'clock to meet my terms. I guess she doesn't have total control because she said she had to talk to her brother. Will they. forward our calls?”
“They said they would. I signed for all of us.”
“This new place will allow the dogs?”
“That's what they said. They're calling our names.”
“I'm sorry you had to pack up all our stuff, Elmo.”
“Are you kidding? The last time I saw unmentionables like that was sixty years ago, and then they had
yards
of material to them. It was my pleasure.” Elmo cackled gleefully. “The dogs watched my every move. I found that interesting. It looks to me like you aren't in too good a mood, Miss Anna Daisy Clark.”
“I thought
he'd
be there, Elmo. I got all gussied up, and had it out with his sister. That's a downer right there. Why do you suppose they have a laboratory? They didn't have one when I was here before. This is
not
going to spoil our vacation.”
“Tomorrow's another day. He'll probably show up once we get settled. They are not going to let ten million dollars slip through their fingers. I don't care how rich or successful they are. Maybe they need a laboratory to test the beans. Ha, I bet they're trying to make
synthetic
ones. There's nothing left today that's natural. Everything has ten ingredients in it that you can't pronounce. Why should coffee be any different?”
Annie frowned and shrugged, her thoughts far away under a sparkling waterfall. She licked at her lips as she remembered how good it felt when Parker Grayson kissed her.
CHAPTER NINE
It was three-thirty in the afternoon when Annie finally hung up her last wrinkled dress. The dresser drawers were full of what Elmo called her unmentionables. The dogs were snoozing on the balcony that overlooked the ocean.
“How about a nice frosty beer while we wait for your phone call?”
“Sounds good to. me. It is beautiful here isn't it, Elmo?”
“Yes, but I don't know if I'd want to live here.”
Annie accepted the beer bottle and carried it out to the balcony. She looked at her watch. “I'd say she's cutting it real close.”
“She wants to make you sweat. That's business. Maybe she couldn't get hold of her brother. That's a distinct possibility, Annie.”
“Maybe I should call the other condo to see if any calls came through for us.”
“You did that a half hour ago. You also called downstairs. Just sit here and stare at the ocean and drink your beer.”
The dogs were at the door before the knock sounded. Annie gasped, then turned white. What if it was Parker? The dogs whined their distress.
“The only way you're going to find out is if you open the door,” Elmo drawled.
Annie padded barefoot to the door. She looked through the peephole. Two men. “Sit and mind your manners,” she cautioned the dogs. She opened the door a crack. “Yes?”
“Miss Clark. I'm the manager, and this is my assistant manager. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but we don't allow dogs here.”
Annie's heart thumped in her chest. “If that's true, then why did you allow me to have this condo? My dogs are well trained and behave. If there's any damage, I'll be more than glad to pay for it. It isn't my fault the other condo flooded. I'm not the one who made these arrangements, they did, and you agreed. I'm not moving, and neither are my dogs.”
“You don't understand; animals are not permitted,” the manager said fretfully.
“What I understand that
you
don't understand is that I'm registered here now. You agreed to allow me to stay. Someone here in this facility okayed my dogs. I repeat, I am not moving. Now, what part of that don't you understand?”
“We don't allow animals.”
“You already said that. You now know my position on your rule. Take it up with the Whaler condo people. If you don't like that suggestion, call the authorities. Harry, Rosie, show these nice gentlemen your teeth.”
If the situation wasn't so serious, Annie would have exploded into laughter when both dogs bared their teeth. “Is that impressive or what?” she said to the jittery managers. “If I were to drop five hundred dollars here on the doorstep, will that make all this go away?”
“In the blink of an eye,” the manager said smartly. The assistant manager nodded his approval.
“You wait right here.” Annie was back in a minute with five crisp hundred-dollar bills. She reached out and dropped them into the hallway. “Finders keepers,” she said, before she slammed the door.
“You guys did real good,” she said, tickling both dogs' ears. If they had been cats, they would have purred.
“Guess you heard, huh?” Annie said, flopping down on the chaise.
“My ears didn't perk up till I heard you tell the dogs to show them their teeth. Pretty clever,” Elmo said.
“Yeah, so clever it cost me five hundred bucks. What time is it?”
“Four-fifteen.”
“This is too close for comfort.”
“So call again if it will make you happy. My advice would be to have another beer.”
“I can do that, too. Three and I dance on the table. You know that, Elmo, so stop plying me with liquor. What should we talk about?”
“What would you like to talk about?” Elmo queried.
“Why didn't you ever get married, Elmo?”
“I guess I never found the right woman. I think I was looking for someone as kind and wonderful as my mother. No one measured up. I came close a few times, but it didn't feel right so it just never happened. I did miss not having children, though. I enjoyed the kids on the campus. That's the end of that story. Why don't we talk about Mr. Parker Grayson?”
“There's not much to say. You know the story. He's too steeped in his culture and can't see beyond the end of his nose. Great kisser, though. I really liked him, and I thought he liked me. Sometimes things just aren't meant to be. Part of me wants to see him again and part of me doesn't. That's the end of that story. Now what should we talk about? What time is it?”
“It's four-twenty-five. You want to talk about the Hawaiian flowers? Hibiscus is what they call the flowers in the gardens over to the right.”
“Really. Bet you don't know the name of the state bird. It's nene. It's kind of like a goose. Wanna know the state tree? It's kukui, better known as the candlenut. Long ago it provided the Hawaiians with light, oil, relishes, and medicine.”
“You're just a wealth of information,” Elmo said as he got up to get more beer.
“Get some root beer for the dogs, Elmo.”
Annie flipped the lid of the beer bottle and took a swig. “Boy, this is good. There's nothing like a cold beer on a hot day. What time is it, Elmo?”
“Four-thirty-five.”
“Guess what the state fish is? You spell it humuhumunukunukuapua.”
Elmo laughed so loud the dogs stopped slurping their root beer to stare at him. “Where'd you learn all that?”
“From the brochure on the plane. I read it word for word while you were sleeping.”
“I'm impressed,” the old man muttered.
“You should be. Listen to this.
Ua
mau ke
ea o ka aina I ka pono.
That means, the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. They say King Kamehameha III said it when the Hawaiian flag was raised after a brief period of unauthorized usurpation of authority by a British admiral.”
“My education is now complete. Do we have any nibbles or munchies?”
“There were some corn chips and dried fruits in the welcoming basket. I'll get them for you. What time is it?”
“Four-forty-five.”
“If this phone rings one second after five, we are not answering it. Maybe I should call the Whaler again.”
“If that will make you feel better, then do it.”
“It's possible, Elmo, that everyone is busy over there pumping water. Maybe no one is manning the phones.”
“So call. And when they answer, you'll know you shot yourself in the foot.”
“You are surly, today, Elmo. Is your arthritis bothering you?”
“A little. Pretty as this place is, I don't much like it. It's too flowery. Too green. I don't like apartments. I like to go out on the porch and sit in my rocker.”
“Do you want to go home, Elmo? It's okay if you do,”
“I miss the shop the way I missed the drugstore when I left Boston. Would you be upset if I left? I'll take the dogs with me.”
“If that's what you want, Elmo. One minute after five, I'll call the airport and schedule your flight. I can go back commercial.”
“I feel like a curmudgeon leaving you.”
“That's because you are a curmudgeon. I understand. Did you unpack?”
“Nope. I'm good to go. You're sure you don't mind me taking the dogs?”
“Elmo, it's okay. I just thought you would like a vacation. I don't ever remember you taking one in all the years I've known you.”
“That's because I never did. Vacations don't mean much. I'm too old to waste my time sitting around. I want to be doing something. I can help Tom with the coffee bins if we're going to start selling coffee. You're going to want fancy bags. White maybe, with a daisy on them. See, I can be working on all that while you're here chasing that guy you say doesn't want to be caught.”
“I never said any such thing, Elmo. What time is it?”
“Four-fifty-seven. Three minutes to go.”
“What am I going to do with myself now that you're leaving? had all these tours planned.”
“You can still do them. I would have held you back. I can't walk like I used to. The dogs are happier in their own environment,” Elmo said, throwing in what he knew would be the clincher.
“I can't argue with that. Guess I screwed up, huh?”
“No. No, Annie, you didn't. Sometimes you are just too kind and generous for your own good. When you get to be my age you want to be where you're the most comfortable. I like my old chair and my worn-out slippers and my big-screen TV. I like to putter in the kitchen and water my plants. I like messing up my stove knowing someone else is going to clean it. Most of all I like to sit up late at night and read all the journals and pamphlets that still come to me.” .
“I love you, Elmo Richardson.” This time Annie didn't ask for the time. She picked up the phone she'd dragged to the balcony and dialed the number the pilot had given her. “There's been a change in plans, Captain. Mr. Richardson wants to leave as soon as possible. He's packed and ready to go. We can be at the airport in thirty minutes if that's okay with you. No, I won't be returning with you, but the dogs will, so have plenty of root beer on board and a lot of munchies for Mr. Richardson.
“We'll take a taxi,” she told Elmo. “I hope we can find one that will take the dogs.”
“You might have to drop some more money on the floor.” Elmo cackled.
“I might at that. Maybe I'll rent a car tomorrow and explore on my own a little.”
“That sounds like a good idea. I'm ready.”
“Okay, guys, let's go. I think we should use the service elevator. No point in making more waves. I'll call Tom when I get back. Be sure to check on him, Elmo. He's like you; he can't sit still. He always has to be doing something.”
Outside, a young Hawaiian boy in a red-and-white-flowered shirt approached Annie. “Your dogs are beautiful. I always wanted a German shepherd, but my sister is allergic to dog hair. I didn't know they allowed dogs here. I'm just a valet, so maybe they don't tell me these things. You are the daisy lady, yes?”
“It was a problem. That's why they're leaving. Can you find us a cab that will agree to take the dogs? We want to go to the airport. How do you know I'm the daisy lady?”
“Miss Clark is the daisy lady, they said. It is on the bulletin board. The manager does this so we call each guest by name. I do not know what daisy lady means. If you give a generous tip, any driver will take you.”
“How does fifty dollars sound?” Annie queried. “I own coffee shops called Daisy Shops.”
“Thirty dollars too much. Too late,” he said, wagging his finger playfully.
Annie handed him a ten-dollar bill as she settled the dogs in the backseat of the taxi.
“Mahalo,” the valet shouted as he pocketed the ten dollars.
At the airport, the plane stood in readiness. Annie escorted the two dogs up the metal stairs and into the plane. “Have a good trip, Elmo. I'll call you as soon as I know you're home safe. Take care of my dogs. I'll find you the best grass skirts the island has to offer.”
“My ladies will be mighty pleased. I don't think I'll announce my arrival right away. Some peace and quiet for me and the dogs will be nice. Are you sure you aren't upset with me, Annie?”
“I'm sure. I understand, Elmo. You guys behave yourself till I get back,” she said, tweaking the dogs' ears. They growled good-naturedly.
The moment Elmo saw Annie on the ground walking toward the terminal he leaned back, slapped his thigh and laughed so loud the steward came running. to see what was wrong. Elmo waved him off, still laughing. “We pulled it off. Now she's free to go after that guy who has been in her heart for so long. We were just excess baggage. Without us to worry about she's got all the time in the world. Now, settle in, I have a bunch of junk none of us are supposed to be eating. Licorice for you, Rosie, Pom Poms for you, Harry, and for me, cigarettes and Hershey Kisses. It's a long flight home, but I have
pounds
of treats.” He laughed again. The dogs threw their heads back and howled.
Â
Â
“We're here, miss. Do you want the front entrance or the back entrance?”
“Take me around to the back. I think I'll sit out by the pool for a while and have one of those marvelous drinks with an umbrella in it.”
Annie chose a chaise longue with a fluffy blue towel thrown over the back of it. “We're about to close the bar, miss, but I can make you one last drink,” a waiter said.