Chapter 9

“Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, Betsy,” Ling said.

“What’s up?”

“Ivan is dead.”

“It was going to happen, sooner or later,” Betsy said.

“It looks like Russians are leaving Hawaii by the plane load,” Ling said.

“I’m sure that they all got tired of the sand and sun,” Betsy said.

Barely cracking a smile, Ling said, “The word is out that if anyone is even rude to you, that person and his or her entire family will be punished, permanently.”

“I can live with that,” Betsy said.

Ling looked at all of the people gathered around the table. She knew who most of them were, but was going to politely feign ignorance.

Ling asked, “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

“Sally and her boyfriend, Steve, are on that side of the table. Sanders is sitting next to me,” Betsy said. “Everyone, this is my mother, Ling.”

“Sanders? You look familiar.”

“We’ve met before, Ma’am.”

“Now I remember. You’re the surfer.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“What are you doing here in Hawaii?”

“I work for the state, analyzing commercial fishing data,” Sanders answered.

“So you count fish?” Ling asked.

“Mother!”

“You might say that, Ma’am.”

Sally leaned over to Steve and said, “I wonder when it is going to be our turn to get grilled.”

“I don’t know,” Steve said, looking worried.

Sanders gestured to the empty seat beside him and, surprising everyone, asked, “Would you like to join us for dinner?”

“That would be lovely. Claire will be here in a few minutes. Do you remember her?”

“I remember Claire very well,” Sanders said.

Ling sat down and then asked, “So do you still surf?”

“As often as I can.”

“I heard that the storm that’s developed off the coast is going to bring some big waves,” Ling said.

“It should be great surfing next week,” Sanders said.

Ling said, “I’ll bet. Betsy’s board is still in Arizona. We should probably ship it out here for her to use.”

“I’d appreciate that. It would make a great backup,” Betsy said.

“You got a new board?” Ling asked.

“Sanders is making a couple of them for me,” Betsy said.

Surprised, Ling turned to Sanders and then said, “I didn’t know you did that.”

“I did it a little as a hobby before going to college in California. I picked it back up when I came home. I’m starting to get a pretty good reputation in the area for the quality of my boards,” Sanders said.

“Nice,” Ling said.

Claire came over to the table, looking as elegant as usual. She nodded to Ling who gestured to the seat next to Sally. She sat down.

She said, “Hello, everyone, I’m Claire. I’m one of Betsy’s mothers.”

“Sally and her boyfriend, Steve, are on your side of the table. Sanders is sitting next to me,” Betsy said.

Sanders said, “I think you know Ling.”

Claire cracked a smile and said, “Hello, Sanders. Are you still surfing?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Claire said, “He’s still a polite young man, isn’t he Ling?”

“Yes, he is,” Ling said.

“That’s only because the two of you terrify me,” Sanders said.

Ling burst out laughing. Claire looked at him, amused. Sally and Steve were in full agreement with Sanders. There was something lethal that lurked below the surface in each of the two women. Betsy frowned.

“Sally, I understand that you took Betsy to her first live performance,” Claire said shifting the conversation away from Sanders.

“Yes, Ma’am. That was a wonderful evening,” Sally said.

Claire said, “She told me all about it. I enjoy Gilbert and Sullivan a lot. Your choice of performance was probably the best choice for her first experience.”

“It’s a very funny musical,” Sally said.

“Yes, it is. I remember the first time I saw it. I thoroughly enjoyed it,” Claire said.

Ling said, “I understand that Betsy is training you and Steve.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Sally said.

Steve said, “William recommended that we train with her rather than Gary.”

“Gary’s style would definitely be wrong for Sally. His approach is too physical for her. I’m not sure about you,” Ling said.

“After training with Betsy for a while, I know that her style has a lot more finesse to it than Gary’s. She has an economy of movement and grace that is quite impressive. I want to learn that,” Steve said.

Ling studied Steve for a second. It wasn’t the kind of insight that she expected from most students studying the martial arts. Too many dojos emphasized fighting with a take no prisoners kind of mindset, while a few focused on inner discipline and the spiritual. To find a student who saw and valued the economy of movement and grace, was rare.

She said, “I’m impressed that you noticed that.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

Ling said, “Betsy, all of your friends are very polite.”

“That’s because we’re terrified of you,” Sanders said looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

Ling frowned. She had thought he was joking, earlier. She now realized that he had been serious.

Fully aware that Ling’s feelings were hurt, Betsy said, “That’s only because they don’t know you, Mom.”

“I suppose,” Ling said softly.

Wanting to lessen the tension, Betsy asked, “Will you be coming to the house tomorrow with me?”

“Are we invited?” Ling asked.

“Yes, you are invited.”

“Thanks, we’d love to,” Ling said.

Ling smiled at Betsy. Claire watched the interaction between the two women, knowing how important this invitation was to Ling. After the big fight, Betsy had told Ling to stay away from her house unless invited.

“Will your three friends be joining us at your house?” Claire asked.

“We hadn’t discussed that,” Betsy said glancing quickly at Sanders seated next to her.

Claire said, “It would be such a lovely opportunity to get to know each of you a little better.”

Steve and Sally exchanged looks negotiating an answer. After a sequence of raised eyebrows, pursed lips, widened eyes, and the slightest of head nods, they came to a decision. It looked like they had been a couple for a long time.

Sally said, “I’d love to go.”

“Same here,” Steve said, hoping they weren’t making a mistake.

All eyes turned to Sanders. He felt like an ant under a magnifying glass hoping that the sun wasn’t out. He had no idea how to answer. He’d only become reacquainted with Betsy two days ago. Even this dinner was unplanned. He had been visiting the boat, it had gotten late, and Betsy had given an open invitation to dinner and he was the only one who accepted.

Not wanting to accept or reject the offer outright, he said, “I was thinking of working a little on Betsy’s new boards, but it’s not critical.”

Ling put a hand on his and, with a slight pleading tone to her voice, said, “Please.”

“Sure,” he said. “I guess I can go.”

“Great,” Ling said.

For the next two hours, Ling and Claire dominated the conversation. It wasn’t that they talked all that much about themselves, but that they asked questions of everyone. To everyone at the table, it was more in the manner of an interrogation than a leisurely dinner conversation. Unfortunately, Sanders caught the brunt of most of their questions.

After everyone had finished eating, Claire made a quick little gesture with her right hand. Ling nodded her head. Betsy had caught the gesture, but couldn’t figure out what it meant. She frowned.

Ling said, “If you don’t mind, Claire and I have to take care of a few things.”

“Okay,” Betsy said.

While rising from the table, Claire asked, “What time will you be at the airport?”

“About ten or so,” Betsy answered.

“We’ll see you there,” Ling said standing up.

Once they were gone, Sally said, “Your moms are kind of intense.”

“I know, but they are also very caring. When they adopt you as part of the extended family, you’ll see for yourself just how nice they can be,” Betsy said.

“I’m sure they can be nice,” Sanders said regretting that he had agreed to go with them the next day.

Betsy called for the check only to be told that her mothers had already paid it.

Everyone showed up at the hangar at the appropriate time. They boarded and flew to the island. The landing was perfect. The only downside was that there was a little rain falling at the time. At least there hadn’t been high winds or major wind shears to worry about. The drive to the house was smooth and quickly accomplished despite the softly falling rain. The guests were soon ensconced in their rooms with Ling and Claire sharing one room, Sally and Steve sharing another, and Sanders staying alone.

After taking Sanders on the obligatory tour of the house, the interaction between Sanders and Betsy became somewhat awkward. In a way, he was more Ling’s guest than Betsy’s. After all, the invitation to visit for the weekend had originated with Ling. Betsy was nervous because she wasn’t prepared to spend time alone with him. He felt like he had been pressured to come. They each made excuses to separate – Betsy claimed a need to exercise and he claimed a need to check up on some work that he hadn’t finished the previous day.

Checking up on Betsy, Gary stopped at the exercise room. She was pedaling like mad on the stationary bike. From the expression on her face, it was obvious that she was lost in thought. He had a pretty good idea what was bothering her.

“What’s the matter, Betsy?” Gary asked while taking a seat on one of the weight benches.

“I don’t know,” Betsy answered.

“It’s him, isn’t it?”

“Who?”

“Sanders.”

Betsy asked, “Why would you think that he’s on my mind?”

“If I understand the situation correctly, you’re not comfortable with having him here.”

“That’s not right,” Betsy said protesting a little too forcefully.

“Let’s see. You’re a single young woman and he’s an available young man. You knew him in the past and now you have a chance to get reacquainted. Your opportunity to get to know each other on what might be called a casual double date last night was ruined by the arrival of your mothers,” Gary said watching her reaction to his words.

“Yes.”

“Then they invited him here. All of a sudden you’re the hostess, he’s a young man of interest, but you don’t know how much interest you have in him or if he’s even interested in you. There are a lot of people here and it’s raining outside, so you don’t have much of a chance of spending enough time alone with him for each of you to explore your feelings towards each other.”

“Are you reading my mind?” Betsy asked.

“No.”

“What do I do?” Betsy asked.

Gary said, “The spare key to the Hugger is hanging on a hook in the kitchen. Since you don’t drive, I’m sure that he would be a gentleman and take you to the store.”

“What store?” Betsy asked.

“Does he like beer?”

“Yes,” Betsy answered.

Gary said, “It turns out that we’re out of beer.”

“Are we?” Betsy asked knowing that almost all of the staff occasionally knocked one back.

“Have you seen any beer?”

“Well ... no, I haven’t looked for any,” Betsy said.

Gary grinned and then said, “There you go. As far as you know, we’re out of beer.”

“I guess we’re out of beer.”

Gary said, “While he’s doing the gentlemanly thing of driving you to the store, you might take the opportunity to apologize for the awkward circumstances of his invitation. Let him know that you appreciate him coming over, and that you would have extended an invitation to him, but that your mother beat you to it.”

“What then?” Betsy asked.

Gary laughed. “I’m sure the conversation will take care of itself, after that.”

“Thanks, Gary,” Betsy said while dismounting from the stationary bike.

“You’re welcome.”

Betsy found Sanders and he happily agreed to drive her to the store. They went into the kitchen to grab the key and found almost everyone seated around the table.

Betsy said, “We’re going to the store. We’ll be right back.”

Thinking this would be an excellent opportunity to get to know Sanders better, Ling asked, “Would you like some company?”