Maile heard the young Daniel again in his voice. She’d heard scant bits and pieces about his father when they were in high school, but he was long gone by then.

“Would Uncle Koji forgive you if it were the other way around?” she asked.

She couldn’t imagine that Uncle Koji would deliberately hurt him. He loved Daniel like a son.

“Probably,” Daniel finally said. “But it isn’t the other way around.” His words were laced with a quiet disappointment.

Maile wondered if he was upset with just Uncle Koji, or also with himself. She leaned closer and reached for his hand.

* * *

When they stepped into the kitchen, Mama sat in her wheelchair, her eyes closed, her head resting to the side. “Barely finished eating, yeah, before she nodded off again,” Auntie Leia whispered to Maile. “Can’t thank you enough for watching her; best thing if she sleeps until we’re back, yeah. If she does wake, there’s papaya for her in the icebox, for you too,” Auntie Leia added. In the next hurried moments, Daniel and Auntie Leia were in the truck and driving off, leaving Maile with Mama.

While Mama slept, Maile looked around the porch. The wind had picked up, rattling through the screen door as the clouds veiled the sun and the porch darkened. She wondered if it was going to rain again as she looked at all the flowers and leaves collected on the wooden table where Mama and now Auntie Leia strung their leis. Maile picked up an orchid, soft as skin to the touch, when she heard Mama talking aloud in the kitchen and quickly let go of the flower.

Maile stood in the kitchen doorway, anxious, as she listened to Mama mumbling something she couldn’t understand. What if Mama caused a fuss that she couldn’t handle? What would Daniel and Auntie Leia think of her? Mama hardly knew her, having met her only once or twice, years ago; she most likely had no memory of who Maile was.

When Maile looked over at her again, Mama was staring calmly back.

“You come to pick up the leis?” Mama asked.

Maile moved slowly toward Mama, not wanting to upset her. She knelt in front of her at eye level. “Mama,” she said, “I’m Maile, Daniel’s friend. I’m here to spend some time with you.”

Mama looked at her. “You come home, yeah.”

“Yes. How did you know?”

Mama smiled. “Naupaka bloom whole again, eh,” she said.

Maile wasn’t sure what Mama was talking about, but was relieved she seemed comfortable and in good spirits, whether she knew her or not. She recalled Daniel saying it was important to keep Mama engaged.

“Tell me about the naupaka blossom,” Maile said.