Banana Split Read Online Free PDF Page A

went to the sliding glass door facing the common courtyard shared by all the condominiums. She opened the vertical blinds, squinting at the bright sunshine. She’d been in Hawai’i of all places for three full months, but she was as pale as though she’d made it through another Rocky Mountain winter. Wasn’t vitamin D important for neurological health?
     
    “Sunshine every day,” she said out loud, then turned to find some paper so she could make a list of her newly realized goals. Her gaze landed on the half-eaten burrito she’d called lunch, and it brought to mind a second goal. “Fruit every day.” She hadn’t had so much as a banana in more than a week. She wrote down the first two goals and added a third: “Talk to Pete every day.” It was only three things—three small things—but writing them down made her feel empowered and gave her a new focus. She smiled.
     
    She tore the paper out of the notebook and secured it to the fridge with a magnet shaped like the sun, which seemed apropos.
     
    Doing her own grocery shopping would be a step in the right direction, but she felt unable to take on that task right away, so she called the local market and placed an order for mangos and a pineapple to be delivered along with her prescriptions. On a whim, she also ordered a brownie mix, then felt overwhelmed by the thought of having so much preparation-needy food in the house.
     
    Baby steps, she told herself, taking a breath and recognizing that after three months of waiting for change, making change happen wouldn’t be easy. But she had Dr. McKay and Pete and brownies. She was heading in the right direction.
     
    Then there was a knock at her door and all of her self-assurance disappeared. Her hand went to her throat, she forgot to breathe, and the first thought that immediately came to mind was that she should hide.
     

Chapter 4
     

     
    Sadie approached the door on her tiptoes, careful not to make a sound. There was no way the delivery from the market had arrived already. Konnie was the only other person who ever came to her condo, but she knocked four times in a quick rhythm. Plus Konnie had already checked in on Sadie today.
     
    It could be one of the renters for the other condos, but why knock on Sadie’s door? The rental company that supervised the condos preferred e-mail communication, which was fine with her. Now and then she would see one of the renters in the common area, but they assumed she was renting too and weren’t looking to make lifelong friends while on vacation.
     
    When Sadie reached the door, she pressed her eye against the peephole, glad that she’d kept the curtains closed over the front windows. She could see the small square porch and the sandalwood shrub dotted with pink blossoms on the left side. Whoever was out there was standing too far to the right for her to get a full view of them. Was that on purpose?
     
    If her visitor didn’t have the courtesy to stand in the center of the porch, she couldn’t be expected to open the door, right? As she justified her silence, she saw an arm raise up. She watched the entire movement but still jumped when it knocked on the door again. Pulling back, she shook her head at her reaction but didn’t open the door. Instead she pressed her eye against the peephole one more time. The visitor had shifted, and she could see it was a child. A young boy—maybe twelve years old. He had big brown eyes, and his long black hair was pulled into a messy ponytail at the base of his head. He didn’t have native features, exactly, and was therefore probably hapa —mixed race. He kept looking over his shoulder.
     
    It was one thing to hide from a salesperson, but a little boy? After taking a deep breath, Sadie latched the swing bolt and pulled open the door so that she could look out through the four-inch gap. The boy immediately straightened up when he saw her.
     
    “Hello?” she asked.
     
    “Aloha,” he said, managing a slight wave before