A pair of long, elegant feet appear to my right, then the bottom edge of a surfboard as it plants in the sand. Dimly, I hear the laughter of children.

“Well done,” says Lindquist, without irony. “Now get out there and do it again.”

Lindquist is the kind of mother who believes in routine, which means dinner at six o’clock sharp. The children are sent to the kitchen to help Lani prepare the food and set the table. I wander into the library in search of Olle’s liquor cabinet—Lindquist, it seems, doesn’t touch alcohol—and discover several bottles of fine old Kentucky bourbon whiskey, which gives me a new affection for old Olle. While I’m savoring a sour, I hear some commotion from the driveway, the putter of a small motorcycle and Lindquist’s voice calling out to somebody, who answers back in a voice not unfamiliar to me.

I look out the back window and consider the distance to the guest cottage.

“Janey,” says Lindquist, when she appears at the library door a moment later. “Look who’s come for dinner.”

Mindful of manners, Leo’s brought a couple of bottles of wine to dinner at his stepmother’s house, even though he knows she doesn’t drink. “You and Janey can share them,” she tells him. “I’ll just stick to water.”

Naturally, the children adore him. He’s their brother, after all, and they’ve known him all their lives. They pepper him with questions about Uncle Kaiko.

“Aw, you know Uncle Kaiko,” he says. “He woulda checked right out of the hospital this morning if Dad hadn’t held him down. He likes the morphine, though.”

“I thought you were going to stay there overnight,” I say.

“I thought so too, but the fellow who was supposed to cover for me ate some bad clams at lunch, so I had to take the afternoon boat back after all.”

“What a shame.”

“I thought so too.”

“Did Olle say how much longer he means to stay in Honolulu?” asks Lindquist.

“Surgery went all right, but the doc wants Kaiko to rest up a few more days. I guess we’ll see. Dad might come back early, though, if Kaiko drives him crazy enough. But enough about all that. Kiddos? How do you like having a houseguest around here?”

Doris leaps at the opening. “We taught Janey how to surf!”

“Miss Everett,” says Lindquist.

“Oh, you can call me Janey. We’re practically related, since you just about killed me this afternoon.”

“Aw, I’ll bet you were a natural,” Leo says.

Wesley jumps from his chair. “A big wave took her under! You shoulda seen it, Leo! She about drowned!”

“Sit down, Wesley,” his mother tells him.