Oh Damn One Night of Trouble Read online

  Oh Damn

  One Night of Trouble

  By: Alice Miller

  © 04-19-2013

  Chapter One

  Oh damn. For the third morning in the row she saw his smug handsome face as he sat in the booth near the window. The morning sun lit up those hazel eyes and he flashed a smile when their gaze met. He wriggled his index finger beckoning her to come to him and laughed because she didn't have a choice.

  Kailani was used to the tourists coming into the diner and flirting with her but Joshua Kent Chandler was no tourist. She walked over to his table and smiled. “Good morning,” she said. “Are you ready to order?”

  “Coffee,” he said, studying the menu, “and...”

  Kailani's false smile widened. She waited. It was taking him some time to decide between eggs and pancakes because he was still a little drunk. His beautiful hazel eyes were glazed over and his black wavy hair had that mussed up by a woman's fingers look. He'd already been to bed and back out of it again. Who was he kidding?

  “Scrambled eggs and toast,” he said.

  The other waitresses were giggling behind the counter and Joshua smiled at them. He waved.

  “Anything else?” Kailani asked.

  “No, that will be all,” he replied.

  She turned away from him, rolled her eyes and sighed. Beckoning and dismissing were a part of the job. She tore the order slip off and placed it on the counter.

  “I'll take it to him,” Lily said, smiling at Joshua.

  “That's my table,” Kailani told her.

  “Oh he never leaves a tip unless he wants to give you his phone number,” Lily said. “Do you want it?”

  Kailani wrinkled her nose. “No, I don't want it.” He was wearing formal black pants, polished shoes and an expensive stark white shirt. He took off the tie and opened the collar more than a few buttons, revealing a muscled tan chest. Lily sighed and Kailani rolled her eyes again. She gave the table away and moved on to a nice elderly couple. They always gave good tips and they were sweet people.

  She finished her shift. Mr. Chandler ate his breakfast and went home to slide back under his rock near the beach. No one got his number and Lily was pissed off again.

  “He's an asshole,” Lily said, taking off her apron.

  “Why?” Kailani asked, “Because he didn't write his number on the back of a receipt?”

  “I don't know why I bother,” she said.

  “Who is he anyway?”

  “Who is he? Where have you been?” Lily asked. “You never pay attention.”

  “I'm working. I study and I attend classes,” Kailani said. “I'm not looking for a husband.”

  Lily laughed. “I don't want him for a husband. Kailani, you are so naive.”

  “I'm not naive,” she told her. “That man is trouble.”

  Lily shrugged. “I wouldn't mind one night of trouble with him.” She paused. “He's from the mainland, California I think. No one knows much about him but he dates all the wealthy tourist ladies, takes them out for a good time.”

  “Oh, a man whore?”

  “An escort,” Lily said. She shrugged. “He has a lot of money and a very nice car.”

  “I guess he parks it in front of his rock,” Kailani said.

  “What rock?”

  “The one he lives under,” she said, heading for the door. She laughed at the look on Lily's face. “See you tomorrow.”

  Kailani liked working in the diner and after she finished with her classes, she hoped to own a restaurant. As she walked home to her apartment, she planned it out in her mind visualizing everything about it from the menu to the décor.

  Lost in her thoughts, she stopped on the bridge near Kula Lake. She hoped that one day she could pass over it, continuing to dream of the future she had planned without thinking of Keanu. He was supposed to be a part of her future and they were going to own the restaurant together but he wanted to go to the mainland to discover what life was like off of the island.

  Kula Lake was golden when the evening sun cast its splendid rays on the water. The deep pink and yellow hibiscus flowers surrounded its edges and it was a beautiful place but it made Kailani sad.

  Keanu was different when he returned for a visit but Kailani thought it was because he'd been away for so long. They were standing together at Kula Lake when he said, “Kailani, I don't think I'm in love with you anymore.”

  She stared at his face and watched his lips move as he went on to explain about Tawnya and his feelings for her. He mumbled something about not wanting to be dishonest because they had grown up together and knew each other so well. Tears filled Kailani's brown eyes and she ran to get away from him.

  Keanu left the next day and he didn't come back.

  He was gone but Kula Lake had been there for a thousand years and Kailani guessed it would be there for a thousand more.

  Kailani walked on. Her footsteps were slower and the energy she'd had during the day was gone. She was tired but she had to attend class. She couldn't miss any. Keanu may have given up on them but she would never abandon the dream. It was hers, hers alone, and Kailani was determined to succeed.

  After a quick shower and a change of clothes, she was off again and on her way to the college. Kailani was filled again with enthusiasm when she passed through the doors and went to class. She paid attention, took notes and marked another excellent grade down for the last test she had taken.

  It was dark when she came out to get into her car and as she drove through the streets she watched the tourists going in and out of the restaurants, laughing, smiling and pausing to take pictures.

  She reached the lonely stretch of road that she had to travel on and she heard a thumping noise from the front end of her car. She had a flat tire.

  Kailani muttered under her breath and got out of the car. She opened the trunk to get the spare one when she saw the headlights of another car coming closer. For safety, she reached for her cell phone and put it to her ear as if she were talking to someone.

  The car, a sleek red Audi convertible, slowed to a stop and Kailani stared when she saw his face. She forgot she was supposed to be chatting with her 'rescuer'. Oh damn, she thought, not him.

  “Can I help?” Joshua asked, smiling at her.

  “I don't think so,” Kailani said.

  “No?” He backed up, parked behind her car and got out of his. He glanced at his watch. “I have some time,” he said.

  “Really?” Kailani asked. Time available between one woman's bed to the next, she mused, wasn't he something?

  “You work at the diner, don't you?” he asked. “The food there is great.” Joshua looked at the flat and went to the trunk. “I'll help you,” he offered. “Sometimes those lug nuts are hard to get off.”

  He was on a mission.

  Kailani gave him a pleasant smile and stayed out of his way. “You might get dirty,” she said.

  “I have extra clothes in the car,” he told her as he took off his suit jacket and draped it over the roof of her car.

  “Convenient,” Kailani noted.

  “Yes, sometimes it is,” he agreed. He put the jack under the car and started pumping it with his hand. “Long day?” he asked.

  “I was at the college,” Kailani said. “I am studying Culinary Arts.”

  “What's that?” he asked.

  “The art of preparing food and I'm taking Business Management.”

  “I know what that is,” he said, putting the spare tire on the wheel.

  Kailani's pleasant smile widened.

  “Go on, say it,” he said, standing up and grinning at her. “Everyone on this island knows what I do. It isn't a secret.”

  “Are you bragging about it?”
r />   “No, I'm not bragging,” he said, putting the flat and the jack into the trunk of her car.

  “Do you ever worry that your business might be in the middle of another person's business?” Kailani asked.

  “What?” He smiled. She was smart, he thought, too smart for him.

  “The women,” Kailani stated, leaning against her car and crossing her arms over her chest. “The ones you...”

  “Date?” he asked, with a teasing grin.

  “Yes,” she said. “What if they have husbands or boyfriends waiting for them somewhere?”

  “If they are married,” he said, “they don't tell me.”

  “Thank you for changing the tire,” she said, opening the door to her car.

  “You're welcome.”

  Kailani started the ignition but he hadn't gone back to his car. He was standing there. She looked up at him.

  “Are you married?” Joshua asked.

  “No, I'm not,” Kailani said.

  “Can I ask you out?”

  Kailani laughed and drove away. In her rear view mirror she saw that he was smiling.

  Chapter 2

  She was carrying a tray with four plates on it when he came into the diner the next morning and sat where the elderly couple had been sitting the day before, making it her table to wait on. Kailani set the tray down and served the small family, talking to them in a pleasant voice.

  Joshua was drunk. His hair was ruffled but those green eyes of his followed her everywhere she went.

  Kailani sighed, after she waited on everyone else, and went to his table smiling. “Long night?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Scrambled eggs and toast?”

  “Yes.”

  She started away from the table.

  “Kailani?”

  “Hmm?” she asked, turning to face him.

  “Why were you laughing at me?”

  The question stunned her. Why would he care? Wasn't it obvious?

  “Last night,” he said, reminding her, “When I asked you out, you laughed.”

  Lily had conveniently placed herself a few feet away to eavesdrop with clearer accuracy and she stormed away, heading for the kitchen.

  Kailani heard a crash. She smiled at Joshua Kent Chandler. “Excuse me?”

  “You didn't answer,” Josh said. “You laughed and drove away.”

  “I don't think I'm your type,” she reasoned.

  “I had too much to drink,” he mumbled, rubbing his hand over his face. “I'm sorry.”

  Kailani laughed.

  “You're doing it again,” he said.

  “I'm sorry,” she apologized. “I'll get your eggs, toast and coffee.” She smirked and went into the kitchen. She couldn't stop laughing but Lily was fuming.

  “He asked you out?” she demanded.

  “I had a flat tire. He changed it,” Kailani said. “It was nothing.”

  Lily grasped her arm. “He never asks anyone out from here.”

  “You need to get some, soon,” Kailani said, taking Lily's hand off her arm and dropping it. The kitchen filled with laughter and she went back into the diner. She picked up the coffee pot and went from table to table.

  When she went to Josh's table, he was watching her closely. “I'm not your type,” she repeated.

  “I know that,” he said. “You're smart.”

  She smiled.

  “It's because of my business, isn't it?”

  “I'll go get your eggs,” she said and she went to the counter to pick up his plate. She brought it back and set it down.

  “What if we go out as friends,” he suggested.

  “Friends?”

  “Yes,” Joshua said. “I could use a friend.”

  “I'm sure you have plenty of friends.”

  “No, I don't. It's sad but I don't,” he explained. “I have a cat named Tubbo but no, no human friends.”

  “You have a cat named Tubbo?”

  “If you saw him, you'd understand,” Josh told her.

  “Ah...”

  “Women don't want to be my friend because of what I do,” he said, “and I don't have any guy friends to watch games with on TV...”

  “Are you trying to tell me that you're lonely?” Kailani asked, with a tinge of anger.

  “Yes,” he said, looking up at her.

  “Maybe if you weren't...” Her words faltered.

  “What?”

  “You might try changing your...profession,” Kailani said as tactfully as she could. “You might try working at an honest job.”

  “My job is honest.” He winced as her eyes narrowed on him. “I know what you mean,” He said, “a job like yours.”

  “Well, I don't necessarily mean waiting tables but you must have other skills besides...”

  He grinned. “I guess I have a few others.”

  “Good,” Kailani said. “That's good to hear.” She had to get out of there, away from that table. In a brisk walk, she took the coffee pot and went across the room.

  After a while, he finished his breakfast and left. The booth was empty. Kailani went to clear the dishes away and she saw pen marks through the back of the receipt. She held her breath, turned it over and smiled. He'd drawn a heart and put their names in it, as if they were in grade school.

  Lily glared at her.

  Kailani smiled and put the receipt in her pocket.

  The rest of the day was ordinary, like most days and unless something brilliant happened along the way, Kailani knew years could become ordinary. That was why she had a plan and she was going to follow it.

  The diner closed and she went home, stopping by Kula Lake and she sat down on a bench. She didn't have any classes that evening and she had time to relax. She watched the tourists having fun and taking more pictures.

  She put her hands into her pockets to rest them there and her fingertips touched the folded piece of paper. Joshua Chandler was smooth, she thought. He probably had a million friends and most likely, he told all the female ones that he was lonely.

  Poor lonely Mr. Chandler, she mused, going home alone to his cat named Tubbo. Kailani laughed at the thought of it.

  “Can we take your picture?” a man asked. He was standing beside his wife and she was holding a shopping bag stuffed full of souvenirs.

  Kailani smiled. “Why do you want my picture?” she asked. She knew why. Tourists had been taking pictures of her ever since she was little.

  “You're Hawaiian, aren't you? I mean, a Native to the island,” the man said.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “You're beautiful,” the woman said. “Can we put this flower in your hair?”

  Kailani smiled. “I finished at work and I smell like hamburger grease. I don't think a flower is going to help me.”

  “It's all right, you are very beautiful,” the woman said. “Can our little Casey sit beside you?” she asked.

  Kailani looked down at the white fluffy dog. She hoped he was friendly. “Sure,” she said. She patted the bench and Casey hopped up beside her.

  The tourist man smiled and took the picture as Casey licked her face.

  Kailani laughed. They went away and she saw him coming toward her. She muttered under her breath. What was he, a stalker?

  “If you pat that bench, I'll sit down,” Joshua said, with a grin.

  “Ok but don't lick my face,” Kailani said.

  He laughed. “Do you like animals?”

  She looked directly into his eyes. “Most of them,” she said.

  “I'm sorry I put you in an awkward position at work,” he said. “I wanted to apologize and tell you that I got the message.”

  “Oh good,” Kailani said, “Because I have a lot to do. I'm working. I take all those classes...”

  “I understand.”

  “It's nothing personal...”

  “Yes it is,” he said. “You don't date man whores. I get it.”

  Kailani's smile fell to a straight line. “I...”

  “Lily told me w
hat you said and I understand how you feel about it,” he said, rising to his feet. “Maybe it is time for me to get another job.”

  “Lily had no right...”

  “But it's the truth, isn't it?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Kailani said.

  “Thank you for being honest Kailani,” he said and he went away.

  She watched as he went across the street to the pet supply store and bought a huge bag of cat food, put it in his Audi and drove off.

  She went home alone. She didn't have a Tubbo. Her apartment was empty and without any creature except for herself and a dead cactus that she had somehow neglected and killed.

  Chapter 3

  The next morning the diner was packed full of people. Kailani wondered what was going on and then she saw him.

  The muscles in his biceps bulged as he waited at the table, smiled and took the woman's order. His wavy black hair was styled, slick with gel and he was wearing a bright yellow Ma kai Diner T-shirt and a very well-fitting pair of jeans.

  “No...” Kailani uttered and she immediately went to find Susana, the owner. She discovered the older woman sitting behind the coffee counter on a stool, smiling. “Susana, why did you hire him?”

  “He's good for business,” Susana said. “The place is full. Look, there is a line outside. We never had a line of people waiting to get in.”

  “I understand but...do you know who he is?” Kailani asked, in a quiet voice.

  “Oh yes, I know. The lady tourists have to eat somewhere, why not here?” Susana said.

  Kailani couldn't argue. The diner had never been so crowded. She put on her apron and went to work. Luckily, her tables were in the back corner of the restaurant and she didn't cross paths with him often. When she did, he smiled at her and continued working.

  At the end of their shift, she saw him in the back room. He'd changed into a suit and tie.

  “You're going to be tired in the morning,” she said.

  “I have a meeting to go to,” he said, “and then I'm going home to eat pizza and watch the game with Tubbo.”

  Kailani smiled. “Why did you take a job here?”

  “I needed a break,” he said, “and I wanted to do something different.”

  “Oh so you plan to continue...”

  “Whoring around?” he asked. “I make a lot of money as an escort and I'm good at it.”