“I am, but I’ll need to come by every now and then and make sure you aren’t taking any shortcuts,” he said, winking at her. “Are you at least going to change clothes?” he asked, his eyes trailing down the legs of her white pants.

“Of course I am,” she snapped. “But can I drink my coffee in peace first?”

He laughed. “Sassy. Good. I can handle sassy, as long as that means you’ll have a lot of energy to get the job done.”

Quinn stood, arched her back, and put her arms in the air to stretch. The shutters were clean, but it had taken just about as much elbow grease as she could muster. Maria had come out and offered to help, but when she mentioned that she was in the process of applying for jobs online, Quinn sent her back in. She needed a job more than Quinn needed help with the shutters.

Her body hurt, but it was a good kind of hurt. She felt useful.

Liam did make frequent stops to see how she was doing, but he was already coming out there to set up the cabinet doors. He planned to do some of the work there before taking them all to his shop to refinish them. When he began scrubbing them down not ten feet from Quinn, they worked quietly, separate but together.

Now she was done, but he still had a lot of windows to go. She should offer to help.

“Hey, you want to help me hit those last two?” He looked up and pointed at the end of the line. Apparently, everyone in Hawaii could read minds.

“Of course,” she said. She was actually enjoying herself.

Before they could start, Maria called out that lunch was ready. They ate sandwiches with a delicious macaroni salad that Maria said was a local favorite. Kupuna joined them, and Quinn felt self-conscious, now unable to stop thinking about his sight. She wondered if his other senses were ultrasensitive. Could he hear her chewing? Breathing? And how did he get around the house so well?

“Kupuna, are you done?” Maria asked, then cleared his plate from the table.

“Mahalo,” he thanked her, then stood. “I’m going to take a nap.”

He went around the table and out the door, taking the hallway rather swiftly. It simply amazed Quinn. She had never seen the man use a cane, or even his hands, to feel for furniture or obstacles. However, she did notice that he avoided coming out to the lanai once he knew they’d stacked shutters and cupboard doors there.

“We’ve still got a lot of washing to do on those windows,” Liam said. “Want to hit the beach for a quick swim first?”

Quinn wouldn’t be swimming, but she did see an opportunity to talk to him about Jaime, so she nodded.

“I’ll change and meet you out back,” he said.