Chapter 3
Danny remembered when Friday was a day to be celebrated because it meant the end of the week and the beginning of two days of freedom. Nowadays, it heralded the beginning of prime customer flow, tourists as well as weekend shoppers. It was busy, and that's exactly what they needed. Unfortunately, it also meant that Grace was out of school, and Danny found he had to become creative in finding ways to bond with his daughter while still running the shop. Once a month, he, Grace, and Jenna would leave Kono at the shop during their slowest period and head down to the park at the end of the block for a picnic. He always kept an eye on the traffic flow outside the building and rarely had to return to the store to back up Kono due to an influx of customers.
The girls got so excited about their short picnics that it made Danny's heart hurt. To them, it was the supreme adventure, even though the trip wasn't even out of their neighborhood. That's what it had come down to.
He stood at the school bus stop, smiling down at Jenna, who was singing some song Kono had put on in the shop. Every time she got to the chorus, she'd put her hands on her hips and shake her shoulders, putting everything she had into the song. It was adorable and filled with innocent attitude that made his heart swell with love and protectiveness. And if he had to deal with holding Recording Rita so Jenna could get her dance on, then so be it.
Grace barreled out down the steps of the bus, filled with energy. "Danno, it's Friday! It's Friday! No school for two days!" She began to sing a song she and Jenna had made up at the beginning of the year, easy to remember since the only lyrics were, "It's Friday!" sung over and over, accompanied with lots of waving index fingers and head shakes. It never failed to make Danny laugh as he held on to each of their hands, listening to them just being happy.
They walked into the shop a few minutes later, the song dying on their lips. There were only a few customers, but Jenna always grew quieter when she was around strangers. She walked over to their table, Grace following.
After a quick glance around the room, Danny said, "Clean Jenna's work off the table, and I'll get you a snack. What do you want today?" He really didn't have to ask; the answer was the same every day.
"Peanut butter and jelly, please!" Grace said, smiling up at him.
"Peanut butter and jelly, please!" Jenna parroted, with a beautiful smile of her own. She released a button on her doll.
"Peanut butter and jelly, please!" Recording Rita echoed.
Danny gently tapped each the girl on the nose before heading over to the bake case.
Kono pressed her stomach against the counter as she talked to her cousin, Chin, and a tall stranger. Danny'd noticed the man as soon as he'd walked inside; it was impossible to ignore someone who seemed to have sexiness wafting off of him and flowing directly in Danny's direction. Danny nodded to Chin as he passed, tried not to ogle the stranger, and snagged a pair of disposable gloves from the tissue-sized box by the bake case.
"Let me guess," Kono said, laughter in her voice.
"The usual," Danny confirmed sliding open the door and grabbing two pretzels. "And of course, one for Recording Rita." He looked up at Chin. "Hey, man. How's the beat?"
Chin smiled. "Still keeping me on my toes."
"You finally got up the nerve to try one?" Danny waved the pretzel in his hand. "My girls eat them everyday, and you're too scared to even try a bite?" He shook his head in mock sorrow. "I fear for the safety of people on this island."
"I can't stop eating the pineapple ones," Chin admitted.
"Those were pretty inspired," Kono agreed.
"Did you create it yourself?" Tall, dark, and sexy asked.
As he plated the pretzels, Danny looked the man over. The short haircut and perfect posture screamed military; Danny wondered if he'd transferred over to the private sector and was now working with Chin at HPD. He was beautiful, long, dark lashes over sleepy hazel eyes. The faint shadow over his square jaw turned "beautiful" into "handsome". The dark hair, full lips, and expression in the man's eyes turned "handsome" into "breathtaking". He was wearing a black t-shirt that looked as if it'd been painted on him, tattoos peeking out from below the sleeves. He had heartbreak written all over him, but it was written in a breezy, flowy script that promised a lot of fun along the way.
Unfortunately, Danny'd already had his share of heartbreak, and his life didn't have space for that kind of fun. Besides, his libido had gone into hibernation right after Rachel had left and had probably withered and died from neglect by now.
"Danny, this is Steve, an old friend from high school."
Danny pulled off a glove, reached out, and found his hand enveloped with a warm strength he found even more appealing. He pulled his hand back, absently smoothing his tie and adjusting his tie clip.
"I had a big crush on him when I was fourteen," Kono said, dimpling and shooting Steve a coy look that made Danny wonder if the embers of that had been doused. He'd seen some of Kono's boyfriends, and this Steve guy would be a thousand definite steps up from all of them.
Reluctantly, Danny let go of Steve's hand. "Nice to meet you. A friend of Chin's and Kono's…" he waved his hand to let them complete the saying. "If you'll excuse me, I have two impatient ladies waiting for their snacks." He would've loved to've stood there all day and stared at Steve, but that part of his life was long gone. He had a list of priorities piled up to the top of his head, and making that kind of mistake wasn't anywhere on it. Grabbing the plates, he gave the trio a quick smile before heading back over to the table.
"Danno, who's that?" Grace asked curiously.
"That's Steve, a friend of Chin and Kono's," Danny said, sliding a plate in front of each girl.
"He's pretty," Grace said before focusing on her pretzel.
Don't I know it, Danny thought before turning to Jenna, who was still staring over at the register. "You okay, Bear?" She turned her big, beautiful eyes to him, and he sighed. "Let me guess. You think he's pretty too."
Jenna nodded.
Raising his eyes to the heavens and praying that puberty decided to skip over their home for the next thirty or forty years, Danny stepped back and let the girls eat. With one last glance at Steve, Danny told Kono, "I'll be in back," secure in the knowledge that she'd keep an eye on the girls.
"Sure, boss," Kono said, turning her attention back to Chin and Steve, her body deliberately angled toward the girls' table.
Rolling up his sleeves, Danny escaped toward the large sink of dirty dishes.
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Steve sat at a small table, his back against the wall, staring at the pretzel in front of him. It looked like a Boone Pretzel from the outside, but that was evidently as far as the similarity went.
"It's not going to hurt you," Chin said, amusement in his voice.
Kono laughed, and Steve looked wryly at the cousins sitting in chairs across from him. He gingerly picked it up and bit into it, feeling the warmth and the sweet pineapple chunks slide across his tongue. He hadn't realized he'd closed his eyes until he opened them to find the cousins staring at him expectantly. "This is fantastic."
"It's one of Danny's creations," Kono said.
Danny. Steve hadn't really taken the time to imagine what his Hawaiian franchise owner looked like, but he never would've suspected the man to be blond and built so solidly that Steve itched to run a hand down the man's chest. Those blue eyes that stared him down made his heart beat faster, and he'd had to ball his hands into fists to remain still. This unexpected feeling of wanting had taken him by surprise; he'd never felt such an instantaneous connection with someone, and it rocked him a little. Returning his focus on the food in front of him, he asked, "Isn't this a franchise? Do they allow for things like this?"
Kono shrugged. "I'm not sure what the rules are. I do know that he's been on the phone a lot with the corporate office, but he's always really pissed off afterwards. He never wants to talk about it, though."
"You said these are selling really well?" Steve took another bite. They were definitely going to have to add this to the menu.
"These and the peanut butter and jelly ones are doing the best." She glanced over to the swinging doors before leaning over the table and saying quietly, "Business is okay, but I see how stressed Danny is. I don't know if we're making enough to keep afloat."
Steve swallowed. "What's with the tie? I don't remember it being part of a manager's uniform."
Confused look on her face, Kono said, "I asked him about it once. He said it makes him look professional." She shrugged a shoulder.
Taking his last bite of the pretzel, Steve's attention was caught by the two little girls sitting in the corner, giggling and staring his way. "And those are Danny's daughters?"
Kono nodded. "Jenna and Grace. Jenna's ten, Grace, six."
"Jenna…"
"… has Down syndrome."
Steve shifted a little, uncomfortable. "Why are they whispering and giggling like that?"
"That," Kono said, standing as a customer entered the store, "is just a younger version of how I used to look at you." She flashed him a flirtatious smile and headed to the counter.
"So," Chin said, voice lowered, "you still wanna do this?"
During the ride from the airport, Chin and Steve had hashed out a plan for Steve to get closer to the franchise while still sticking as closely to the truth as they could.
Steve nodded. "I'm in." He looked closely at Chin. "What about you? I know I'm asking a lot…"
"I don't like lying to Kono," Chin said, "but as long as you don't hurt Danny or his family, then I think I can live with it. For a little while," Chin added.
"I just want to figure out what's going on," Steve promised.
"You gonna be able to live with lying to Danny?"
"I don't even know the man," Steve said.
"And yet you keep looking at the those swinging doors like you can't wait for him to come back."
Steve shot Chin a look he'd perfected in the Navy.
"Okay then." Chin slapped his hands on his thighs and stood. "Let me go talk to Kono, set this thing in motion."
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Danny kept busy in the kitchen, even after the last dirty dish had been loaded in the dishwasher, after all the clean ones had been put away, after the floor had been swept and mopped, and after all of the countertops gleamed. He knew he should check on the girls, although they knew they could always come in there if they needed him. For some reason, he found himself… unwilling to do that just yet. It wasn't cowardice, per se, that had kept him in the back. It was the anticipation that worried him. He wanted to go back out there and see Steve, maybe talk to him, watch him walk around the shop. He wanted it a little too much.
He couldn't afford the distraction, not now while he was trying to keep his head above water. To be honest, he didn't need it any time. What little free time he managed to carve out needed to be spent with his daughters. They were the only ones who mattered.
Taking one last swipe at a gleaming faucet, he sighed, ran his hands through his hair, washed those hands yet again, and manned up, pushing open the doors. He mentally cursed himself as his eyes immediately sought out Steve, and he jerked them away to focus on his girls.
"It's time for your baths. Since it's Friday, do you want to go upstairs and put on one of your programs after you're both clean?"
The girls nodded.
"Bear, you're in charge. Remember, though, that you both have to agree on the program."
"Okay, Danno," the girls chirped, kissing him on the cheek before they headed into the kitchen.
Danny took his time gathering the plates and napkins before bringing them back to the counter. Working around Kono, who was helping some customers, he put everything away and grabbed a cloth from the quat bucket, squeezing it and returning to wipe down the table. Feeling a presence behind him, he waited a few seconds before sighing. "Yes, Kono."
Kono stepped into his line of sight and dropped into Grace's chair. "We need to talk about my leaving for the police academy."
"No." Danny took his rag and walked away. He'd expelled a lot of energy keeping that thought from ruining his sleep at night; he certainly wasn't ready to revisit it at the present time.
"But – " Kono started, following him.
Danny turned around quickly. "I have three months to figure something out." The look in Kono's eyes made his stomach turn to lead. "What?"
"I leave next week."
"You said I had three months!"
"Yeah, like, two and a half months ago."
"Shit. Shit shit shit." Where the hell did the time go? Danny ran a hand over his face, his mind scrambling to figure out a way he could keep the shop up and running by himself. He could barely afford to pay minimum wage; the only reason why Kono stayed with him was because she still lived with her mother and, he strongly suspected, she felt sorry for him. BH – Before Hawaii – he'd have been insulted, but now he was desperate and had more than himself to take care of. His pride was nothing to keeping a roof over his girls' heads and food in their stomachs.
Kono forced him to look her in the eye as she grabbed his free hand with both of hers. "Chin and I have an idea."
Danny closed his eyes for a moment, taking a few breaths. He always had this fear, this dread inside him. He knew that his grasp of this life was tenuous at best, and he'd tried to keep his worry from all of his girls, Jenna and Grace being easier than Kono. But now, with Kono leaving, he was just going to have to adapt. He'd get one of those "be right back" signs for when he had to go to the bus stop, and he'd read somewhere about inside picnics, where he could lay out a blanket for the girls. Unfortunately, he couldn't afford to close up shop for one day a week. Jenna needed outside time, time to soak up the sun and run and breathe the air, and he'd have to figure out a way to make that happen.
The only time Jenna had been to the beach was the first day they'd arrived.
"Boss," Kono's insistent voice cut through his thoughts, and he opened his eyes to find a worried expression on her face.
"I'm okay," Danny lied, knowing that he'd figure something out. He didn't have a choice. Summoning up a smile, he said, "It's not like you didn't give me ample notice."
Kono didn't smile back. "Danny…"
"You go, become a cop. Help out this one," he swung his arm toward Chin, faltering for a second when he briefly locked eyes with Steve, "keep us all safe. I'll figure something out. I always do."
"Actually," Chin said, stepping closer, "Steve's looking for a job."
Danny couldn't help but use the time to look at Steve again. The arms, the abs, the thighs… Danny squelched a sigh that bubbled up inside. "Steve looks like he's on a break from the Army."
"I was in the Navy, actually," Steve said with a little smile.
"Was being the operative word," Kono said. "He's out now, needs a job."
"Good luck with that," Danny said, knowing that the man could probably walk into any company and at the very least get a job in security.
The bell chimed as a few customers entered the store. Kono went to intercept them as Steve and Chin stepped closer to Danny.
"What if Steve worked here?"
Danny threw Chin a look. "Let's take this to the back." Without waiting for an answer, he turned on his heel and led the way into the kitchen. Once there, he leaned against the sink, ankles crossed, arms folded. "Do you know how much Kono's making?" He let them stand in silence before he continued to speak. "Let's just say that we're both well versed in the current minimum wage laws. She has no benefits, gets no vacation time." He looked at Steve. "You could do pretty much whatever you want, become a cop, do private security or hire yourself out as a mercenary. Hell, I bet even the secret service would scoop you up." Danny knew he sure as hell wanted to.
"The work that I did for the Navy meant that I spent more time working than spending what I made, so I have quite a bit of money saved up. I just need time to remember what it's like to be a civilian, to figure out what I want to do."
"Don't want to commit to something until you've figured out your future?"
Steve nodded.
Absently scratching his cheek, Danny knew what he ought to do. He ought to shove a pretzel in both Chin and Steve's mouths and shove them out the door. He also knew what he wanted to do, which was push out everyone who wasn't Steve, then have his wicked way with the man in the kitchen. It'd been so long that it would only take less than five minutes from start to finish with Danny, although he strongly believed that he'd need much more time to work his way around Steve's body.
But this wasn't about his wants and needs; it was about how to keep the business running without sacrificing even more time with his daughters.
"So, what you're saying is that you have a problem with commitment?"
"I committed to the Navy for over eleven years," Steve said, his arms crossed as well. "I have no problem with commitment when I've decided that I'm ready for it."
Danny felt the weight of the words but didn't give them a chance to sink in before he asked, "How do I know that once I get you in here and train you, you won't suddenly figure out who you want to be when you grow up, leaving me in the lurch?"
"I promise that I'll give you plenty of notice," Steve said. "And I've worked at a Boones before, the summer before I went to the Naval Academy." He looked around the kitchen. "It's been a while, but I'm sure a lot of it'll come back to me."
Danny's eyes narrowed. It all seemed a little too perfect. "One of the things I learned from Benny, who ran a shell game in midtown Manhattan, was that if something looked too good to be true, you can be damned sure that it was."
Steve shrugged, arms still folded. "Think of me as a filler, just until you can figure out a more permanent solution." He gave Danny a hopeful smile.
"Okay," Danny heard himself saying.
He hated himself a little bit for melting.