The Beachhouse at the Moana – Honolulu, Hawaii

2255 Eastern/1755 Hawaiian

Mac walked into the restaurant dressed in a lightweight sun dress and sandals, a clutch purse gripped in her hand. She was pleased to see that she wasn't the only person who'd opted for the outfit, as she made her way to the hostess stand. However, before she got there she saw Andy standing off to one side and turned to join him. She warmed slightly as his eyes took her in and a smile graced his face. In her turn, Mac examined him as well, noting the white linen jacket with powder blue shirt underneath and the linen slacks with deck shoes.

"I'm very glad you came," Mac said with a smile.

"I am too," was his reply as the hostess came over to tell him the table was ready.

Walking through the restaurant, they were led to a table by the window. As soon as they were seated, a waitress came over to take drink orders. Mac was slightly surprised when he asked for mineral water, while she selected a diet soda. Picking up the menu, she got her second surprise as she inwardly winced at the prices and resolved that this would be the only time she ate here.

"Is something wrong, Sarah?" Andy asked, although he suspected the reason.

"It's just the prices. They're a little more expensive that I had thought."

"Don't worry about it. Tonight's my treat."

"Isn't the person who made the invitation supposed to be the one to pay?" Mac asked, a hint of tease in her voice.

"Yes and that's why I'm paying, Sarah. You issued the invitation, but I was the one who chose the restaurant. Therefore, I was expecting to pay," Andy told her in a quiet, reasonable voice. "Next time, we'll go somewhere that's more in line with a Marine's budget, whatever that might be."

By this point, the waitress was back at the table with their drinks. Andy already knew what he wanted, so he looked over at Mac. Catching the undecided look on her face, he made a decision.

"How about I order for both of us?"

"Yes, please," Mac said, still slightly daunted by the prices and not wanting to go too far.

"We'll each start with shrimp cocktails followed by an iceberg salad. Then, I will have the 20 ounce rib-eye, medium rare, with a baked potato and she will have the 12 ounce New York strip, medium, with a baked potato. Thank you," Andy told the waitress, picking up Mac's menu and handing them both over.

Looking up, he saw the look on her face. Mac had been glancing at the menu while he ordered and quickly reached over a hundred dollars for the meal. This was too much, too generous.

"Andy, really. I can't let you pay for all this," Mac said.

"You most certainly can. It's been a long time since I've been in such pleasant company," he replied, a vaguely sad look to his eyes, despite the smile on his face. Mac wondered what the cause of that sadness was, as well as why someone only 50 would have retired and come to Hawaii.

"Alright, I'll stop pressing about the dinner if you'll tell me about yourself."

"What would you like to know?"

"Everything," Mac said with a grin, drawing a light laugh from Andy. "We can start with the basics, if you'd like. Where you're from, what did you do for a living and work from there."

"Well, I was born November 25, 1953 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. My dad was a professor at the University of Michigan while my mother stayed at home with me and my two sisters. Growing up, I played the typical sports, football, baseball and basketball. It wasn't until I got to high school that I started running and I've been hooked ever since. I went to Michigan for my degree because my dad taught there and we got a discount, majored in economics, then on to Harvard for my master's in business administration."

"I got a job in Boston, working for an investment firm and rather quickly made a name for myself. I was making a lot of money for my clients and for myself, but I was also putting in a lot of time at work to achieve those results. When I left, I was a vice president making millions, with twenty-some people reporting to me and controlling assets worth billions," Andy said as the waitress approached with their shrimp cocktails.

"Sounds like you were at the top of your game, Andy. Why did you leave?"

Andy just sat silent for a several moments, his eyes fixed on his hands, while he gathered his thoughts and decided how much to tell this woman he hardly knew. It felt like reopening the wound every time he talked about it, the agony flaring anew and threatening to sweep him down a dark path. Yet, he knew instinctively that he needed to tell her at some point.

Mac's curiosity was growing by the moment. She sensed that she had unknowingly touched a very sensitive subject for Andy, but wasn't sure why. Looking at his posture, she noticed the tension radiating from him like waves. Then, there came a relaxation to his body.

"I'll leave that until after dinner. I'd like to enjoy the meal," was his response. "So, why don't you tell me about you, Sarah?"

"Well, I was born April 4, 1966 in Yuma, Arizona. My father was an abusive alcoholic and my mother abandoned me when I was 15. Somehow, I made it through high school, even though I was drinking a lot. The night of my graduation, a friend and I were drinking and driving when we got into a crash and he was killed. After that, my uncle came and found me, getting me to dry out and join the Marines. I went to college and got a commission, then got my law degree a few years later. Now, I'm the new Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for the USMARFORCPAC."

"That last sounded impressive, even if I'm not sure what it means."

"Oh, sorry," Mac said with a laugh. "The Deputy Staff Judge Advocate is a lawyer who advises the command personnel on legal issues, ranging for the rules of engagement to preparing wills. If a military member or their family needs a lawyer, they see a judge advocate. USMARFORPAC is the Marine Forces in the Pacific, everything from California to Japan."

"So, I assume that you just arrived?" Andy asked.

"Yes, I came out early, so that I could find somewhere to live and have a little vacation."

"Where will you be working?"

"Camp H.M. Smith near Aiea," she said, watching him nod.

"If you want, I'd be happy to help you look for somewhere to live, Sarah," Andy offered.

"Thank you, Andy. I'd like that."

"Sounds like a plan. Do you have an idea about what you're looking for?"

The waitress arrived then to replace the shrimp cocktails with the salads. Both of them were surprised to discover that they'd managed to eat the appetizer without noticing, evidently just unconsciously reaching for a bite when the other was speaking. With the salads, they both silently worked their way through them quickly, knowing the main course would be coming relatively soon. When she was finished, Mac picked up where they had left off, drawing a smile from Andy.

"I was thinking an apartment, maybe two bedrooms. Something small and fairly close to the base, so it would be convenient."

"Why don't you get some listings and we'll cruise around tomorrow. That way, you can get a lay of the land and narrow down the areas you would want to live in from those you definitely wouldn't. Then, we can match the listings with your preferred locations," Andy said. "Besides, I'll bet you don't have a car, do you?"

"Mine's being shipped from Washington and won't be here until the end of the month, along with the rest of my belongings," Mac told him.

"Then it's a good thing we meet, otherwise you'd be trapped here or forced to rent a car."

Andy's smile was contagious and Mac found she was enjoying the ease with which they were connecting. It felt more like they were longtime friends than two people who had just met. She remembered when she first met Harm and how guarded she'd been with him, yet with Andy it felt almost natural to tell him anything.

It felt like only a moment had passed, but the waitress was already back with the main course. She waited patiently while both Andy and Mac checked their steaks, indicating that they were cooked to their liking, then left them alone again. Mac cut a piece off and chewed it with relish.

"How did you know I wanted my steak medium?" she asked a moment later.

"Well, I thought if you wanted it cooked differently you'd interrupt and it's the middle of the range, so even if you didn't say something, I thought I'd be safe. My wife always…" was where he abruptly stopped, as the sadness burst forth once again. It was all he could do to contain the sob that threatened.

Mac watched silently, as a piece of the puzzle fell into place. Something had obviously happened to Andy's wife, judging from his reaction to the thought of her. What that something was, she didn't know, but it explained the sadness that something came to his eyes. A part of her wanted to take his hand, tell him she knew what it was like to lose someone, yet she was vaguely worried what his reaction would be to that.

A silence settled over them, as Andy began slowly picking at his food, eventually managing to eat everything although it was clear he hadn't especially enjoyed the meal. For her part, Mac had hungrily eaten everything. When the waitress came to ask if either of them wanted dessert, Mac answered negatively for both of them. The waitress just smiled before removing their plates and returning a moment later with the check.

Andy barely glanced at the figures before removing some cash from a well-used wallet and dropping it on the table. He stood and extended his hand to Mac, who joined him. Together, they left the restaurant and walked out onto the walkway behind the resort. He knew that with everything he'd said tonight, he needed to talk with her. She deserved to know the whole story, to see who he truly was.

"Would you walk with me, Sarah?" Andy asked softly, indicating the beach. "You had a question at dinner I'd like to try and answer."

"That sounds fine, Andy."

When they reached the beach, Andy gently helped steady Mac as she removed her sandals and stockings. After putting her stocking in her purse, she held the sandals and purse with her left hand while her right hand joined Andy's. They walked that way for several minutes, just strolling down the beach while Andy sorted his thoughts and words.

"I met Caroline when I was at Harvard. I was finishing my MBA and she was starting her bachelor's in art history. Both of our families objected to the relationship, I was ten years older than her, her family came from old money while mine was middle-class. She was getting a degree not to get a job but to meet a potential husband, from the right background. It took four years to convince her parents. We got married in the summer of 1986, when I was 32 and she was 22. We had a happy marriage that was eventually blessed with twin daughters, Kelly and Karen."

"As time passed, I worked more and more to provide the best of everything for my family. Oh, I still made time for the important things, like birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. But vacations were often changed because things came up at work and I couldn't get away or they'd just go without me, which is what happened when Caroline and the girls decided to visit her sister in Los Angeles. The three of them took an early morning flight from Logan Airport bound for LAX on September 11, 2001," Andy told her, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Mac gently guided him to one of the lounge chairs, then moved a second chair over next to his before taking his hand in her. She still ached at the loss of Clay and part of the tears she was shedding were for him, but Clay had known the dangers and accepted them. Andy's family hadn't. Flying wasn't supposed to be particularly dangerous anymore and so the risks were mostly dormant, especially with regards to hijackings. That had ended, for the most part, in the 1980s and even back then, the goal was ransoms of money or prisoners. Nobody expected terrorists to turn airliners into makeshift missiles, using the planes fuel and mass as the weapons.

"The memorial service was a nightmare," Andy said softly after a few minutes. "Her family blamed me for their being gone, for me being alive. I blamed myself too, for not being with them, for putting money and the job over family. After the service, I went home to this empty house filled with memories and I broke down. A friend of Caroline's stopped by a week after the service, to check up on me, and found me watching old home movies while drinking. The house was littered with empty bottles of bourbon and scotch, I wasn't going in to work or calling, just watching those movies over and over. Our friends and family got me to see a doctor and after some therapy, I came to deal with the worst of it."

"I sold the house there, retired and moved here to escape the memories. I bought a place here where I could hide out, away from people while my heart tried to heal. You're the first person I've really talked to since they died who didn't know my family," Andy told Mac as he looked into her eyes.

"I'm honored that you chose me, Andy," Mac told him and she was, feeling special in a way she hadn't in a very long time, probably since the day Bud and Harriet asked her to be little AJ's godmother. And while Andy had said that she was beautiful, this feeling wasn't something based on that determination. It was more like an emotional connection, like two people finding each other in a foreign land. This, she hoped, could be the start of a beautiful friendship.