She put her foot on the brake to let a family cross the road. A dad led the way to the other side, with the young mom and three small girls padding along behind him like a line of ducklings. He pointed to a coconut lying on the sidewalk and said something, and the girls laughed. The dad also carried a baby in a pack on his back. For having four children, the parents’ faces looked awfully relaxed. She thought of Ethan and how he’d handle leading the pack. He’d probably be calling out orders like a drill sergeant, his focus on the destination rather than everything around them as they went.

That could be a good thing, though. Couldn’t it?

Enough thinking about Ethan. He made her thoughts even more chaotic. Quinn shut down mentally and listened to Maggie chatter.

It didn’t take long before they saw a sign that said NAPILI.

Basically just a residential neighborhood dotted with boutique hotels and upscale vacation condos, Napili was much less crowded than the Ka’anapali and Kapalua areas it lay between. Quinn wondered if her relative lived in one of the swanky gated neighborhoods or if he’d chosen a place to meet far from his home.

“Wow, look at that.” Maggie pointed across the road at the view of the ocean. “I can’t even describe that color. Blue? Green?”

“Azure?” Quinn offered. Whatever it was, the waves were beautiful.

Maggie bounced in her seat. “Quinn, we still have forty-five minutes. Let’s walk down to the water.”

“I’m not really dressed for the beach.” After sorting through her clothes a million times, she’d finally settled on a white sundress and strappy brown sandals for the meeting. She put her hair up in a twist and added silver hoop earrings. She didn’t want to look sloppy or too casual. She thought about her billowy white pants but then decided they might make her look too pretentious. Every other outfit was wrong for one reason or another until Maggie finally pointed at the sundress, and Quinn reluctantly stopped obsessing and put it on.

“You’re fine,” Maggie said. “We’ll take our shoes off when we get to the sand, anyway. I just want to get my toes wet.”

Easy for her to say. Maggie wasn’t in a dress. She’d donned a cute pair of khaki shorts with a bright-yellow shirt. Her feet were nice and relaxed in flat beige sandals. Maggie could pull off any clothes in any setting. She had the confidence. And she did just come all the way to Hawaii for Quinn and hadn’t yet touched the ocean.

“Fine,” Quinn said. “Help me find a place to park.”