House of the Hanging Jade by Amy M Reade Page B

yesterday and—”
    â€œWhat about yesterday?” Liko looked at me quizzically.
    Apparently this wasn’t about Marcus skipping school. “Oh. Never mind. What do you want to talk about?”
    Liko took a deep breath and leaned in toward me. “K, it’s just that Barbie is coming on to me. What do I do?”
    Uh-oh. I stared at him. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. First Doug, now Liko. What was she thinking?
    â€œAre you sure?” I already knew the answer.
    He smirked at me. “K, I’m not pupule . I know when I’m being hit on.”
    â€œOkay, okay, Liko. I just can’t believe she’d do that to her family after all everyone has been through. What are you going to do about it?”
    â€œI really like her, K. But I know it’s the wrong thing to do. I’m really torn.”
    â€œIf you know it’s the wrong thing to do, then there’s your answer. Don’t do anything stupid,” I urged him. “And don’t forget that Lars is your friend too. And your boss.”
    He hung his head. “I know. I know. But things aren’t good between them.”
    â€œThings will be much worse if you and Barbie . . .” I trailed off.
    â€œI know,” he repeated. “I’ll see you later. Lars and I are going up to Pohoiki today.”
    I was dismayed that Liko would even consider a relationship with Barbie. I was also worried about the kids, about the family, and my job, if the Jorgensens’ marriage crumbled. I was preparing dinner that afternoon when Marcus came into the kitchen. “Have you seen Liko?” he asked.
    â€œHe’s surfing at Pohoiki with your dad. Anything I can help you with?”
    â€œNah. I have a question for him about my math test.”
    â€œHow’d you do on it?”
    â€œI got an A,” he said with a wide smile. “But I got one wrong and I need him to explain it to me.”
    â€œNice job! I’ll tell him you’re looking for him when I see him.”
    Liko was home in time for dinner. He and Lars joined the kids on the lanai for homemade pizza. It was a big hit. Lars and Liko regaled the kids during dinner with stories of their surfing prowess. As I refilled glasses of lilikoi iced tea, I saw Marcus’s eyes shining with excitement. “Are you still planning to go surfing this weekend?” he asked. “I want to go.”
    â€œSure thing, son,” said Lars.
    I was glad Marcus had something to look forward to. Time with his dad would be good for him.
    At 5:00 the next morning my alarm went off. I texted Marcus.
    You up?
    Yes. Be right there.
    I waited for him in the kitchen, then we went out to my car in the darkness and headed for the fish market. On the way we picked up James so he could help choose the fish for our poke . Both boys were tired, but they seemed to be excited. They wrinkled their noses when we walked into the fish market. We weren’t the only ones there; there were two fishermen talking to the owner, and one chef waiting patiently for his fish to be wrapped. When it was our turn, I told the boys to ask the owner for two very large pieces of sashimi-grade ahi. If we needed more, we could always return to the market before school started.
    We took the fish back to the house and went straight to the kitchen. We had also bought some masago . The boys weren’t thrilled with the idea of putting roe into the poke with the raw ahi, but I convinced them that it would add a beautiful texture and flavor to the poke . Justine came into the kitchen just as we were starting, so she helped us. We sliced the deep red ahi into small cubes and coated them with sesame oil, added Japanese mayonnaise, Hawaiian salt, scallions, onion, wasabi oil, and the brilliant orange masago .
    Marcus stood back and snapped a photo of the poke when we were done. He showed it to me with a smile. “This looks so cool!” he said, beaming. James looked over my