she usually dated.
Convincing anyone she cared about Rob would require some top-notch acting, something she wasn't very good at. Too often her temper flared and she let her true feelings show. Could she pull it off?
Yes, she assured herself, remembering all that was at stake. Her career. Vanessa and Jason ' s future.
Dana stopped inside the terminal and looked around for Vanessa, but she wasn ' t there. Strange. Vanessa was rarely late. Even after Dana had claimed her bags Vanessa hadn ' t appeared. Dana was waiting in the long line for rental cars when Vanessa dashed up.
" Sorry, " Vanessa said, struggling to catch her breath. " I-I— "
" It's okay. I just arrived. " Dana hugged her sister and kissed her cheek.
As usual, Vanessa was stylishly dressed, in a floral-print skirt and a blouse piped in a matching print. Her thick blonde hair brushed her shoulders, and she wore sunglasses that covered half her face.
They walked outside into the moist tropical heat fanned by the ever-present breeze from the trade winds. At the curb was a Range Rover with the Kau Ranch sign painted on the door and the Coltrane logo, a black Angus cow wearing an orchid lei.
Dana decided to immediately tell Vanessa about Rob. Waiting wouldn ' t make it any easier. " Va nessa " —she drew in a calming breath—"I ' ve met someone. "
" Really? " To her surprise Vanessa sounded only mildly interested.
" I hope you don ' t mind, but I ' ve invited him to come here and spend my vacation with me." The words were coming out in a breathless rush now. " I ' ve been seeing Rob Tagett. "
" Great, " Vanessa replied as she tossed the suitcase she ' d been carrying into the back seat and waited for Dana to put hers in.
Great? Dana silently climbed into the passenger seat. Was that all she had to say about a man that Dana had once insisted she hated? Vanessa pulled away from the curb without asking a single question. Though relieved, Dana had mixed feelings. Didn ' t Vanessa care?
Without making another comment Vanessa took the Haleakala highway toward Maui ' s up-country. Dana glanced at her, but Vanessa didn ' t look her way. If she didn ' t care about Dana ' s love life, didn ' t Vanessa at least wonder about the blackmailer? If the truth came out she might lose her son. Something had to be troubling Vanessa, distracting her. "Vanessa " —Dana put her hand on her sister ' s arm—"what ' s wrong? "
Vanessa ' s lower lip quivered. "It's Jason. "
She realized Vanessa was crying, silent tears dripping from beneath her oversize sunglasses. The car veered toward the lane of oncoming traffic. "Pull over. " Dana pointed to the parking lot of the Bad Dog Gym. Vanessa drove in and slammed on the breaks, bringing the Rover to a jarring halt. "What happened? Is Jason ill? "
Vanessa whipped off her sunglasses. Beneath the sheen of tears, anger burned like a white-hot flame in her blue eyes. "Jason ' s fine. At least he was when he left with Big Daddy and the boys to go pig stick ing. "
" No! Jason ' s barely five. He's much too young to go on a pig hunt. "
" Big Daddy doesn ' t think so. "
" What about Jason ' s father? Didn ' t Eric put his foot down? "
" Are you kidding? " Vanessa ' s tears had stopped. She swiped at her wet cheeks with the back of her hand, where a doorknob-size diamond gleamed on her ring finger like a beacon. "Have you ever known Eric to cross his father? "
So true. Dana shook her head. The Coltrane brothers might look like men—rough, macho men's men—but Vanessa's husband Eric and his brother, Travis, were dominated by Big Daddy.
" Maybe they won ' t find the pig, " Dana said.
" They ' ll find him. They took Rambo and the other tracker dogs. "
Dana stared out the window at the clouds skirting Haleakala like bill owing petticoats, reminding her self that wild pigs were a nuisance. Descended from the boars brought by settlers in the eighteenth century, the pigs had " gone wild. " Even environmentalists agreed that they were a
Convincing anyone she cared about Rob would require some top-notch acting, something she wasn't very good at. Too often her temper flared and she let her true feelings show. Could she pull it off?
Yes, she assured herself, remembering all that was at stake. Her career. Vanessa and Jason ' s future.
Dana stopped inside the terminal and looked around for Vanessa, but she wasn ' t there. Strange. Vanessa was rarely late. Even after Dana had claimed her bags Vanessa hadn ' t appeared. Dana was waiting in the long line for rental cars when Vanessa dashed up.
" Sorry, " Vanessa said, struggling to catch her breath. " I-I— "
" It's okay. I just arrived. " Dana hugged her sister and kissed her cheek.
As usual, Vanessa was stylishly dressed, in a floral-print skirt and a blouse piped in a matching print. Her thick blonde hair brushed her shoulders, and she wore sunglasses that covered half her face.
They walked outside into the moist tropical heat fanned by the ever-present breeze from the trade winds. At the curb was a Range Rover with the Kau Ranch sign painted on the door and the Coltrane logo, a black Angus cow wearing an orchid lei.
Dana decided to immediately tell Vanessa about Rob. Waiting wouldn ' t make it any easier. " Va nessa " —she drew in a calming breath—"I ' ve met someone. "
" Really? " To her surprise Vanessa sounded only mildly interested.
" I hope you don ' t mind, but I ' ve invited him to come here and spend my vacation with me." The words were coming out in a breathless rush now. " I ' ve been seeing Rob Tagett. "
" Great, " Vanessa replied as she tossed the suitcase she ' d been carrying into the back seat and waited for Dana to put hers in.
Great? Dana silently climbed into the passenger seat. Was that all she had to say about a man that Dana had once insisted she hated? Vanessa pulled away from the curb without asking a single question. Though relieved, Dana had mixed feelings. Didn ' t Vanessa care?
Without making another comment Vanessa took the Haleakala highway toward Maui ' s up-country. Dana glanced at her, but Vanessa didn ' t look her way. If she didn ' t care about Dana ' s love life, didn ' t Vanessa at least wonder about the blackmailer? If the truth came out she might lose her son. Something had to be troubling Vanessa, distracting her. "Vanessa " —Dana put her hand on her sister ' s arm—"what ' s wrong? "
Vanessa ' s lower lip quivered. "It's Jason. "
She realized Vanessa was crying, silent tears dripping from beneath her oversize sunglasses. The car veered toward the lane of oncoming traffic. "Pull over. " Dana pointed to the parking lot of the Bad Dog Gym. Vanessa drove in and slammed on the breaks, bringing the Rover to a jarring halt. "What happened? Is Jason ill? "
Vanessa whipped off her sunglasses. Beneath the sheen of tears, anger burned like a white-hot flame in her blue eyes. "Jason ' s fine. At least he was when he left with Big Daddy and the boys to go pig stick ing. "
" No! Jason ' s barely five. He's much too young to go on a pig hunt. "
" Big Daddy doesn ' t think so. "
" What about Jason ' s father? Didn ' t Eric put his foot down? "
" Are you kidding? " Vanessa ' s tears had stopped. She swiped at her wet cheeks with the back of her hand, where a doorknob-size diamond gleamed on her ring finger like a beacon. "Have you ever known Eric to cross his father? "
So true. Dana shook her head. The Coltrane brothers might look like men—rough, macho men's men—but Vanessa's husband Eric and his brother, Travis, were dominated by Big Daddy.
" Maybe they won ' t find the pig, " Dana said.
" They ' ll find him. They took Rambo and the other tracker dogs. "
Dana stared out the window at the clouds skirting Haleakala like bill owing petticoats, reminding her self that wild pigs were a nuisance. Descended from the boars brought by settlers in the eighteenth century, the pigs had " gone wild. " Even environmentalists agreed that they were a
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