Aloha to You: City Complications Series, #1

By Tara Kennedy

Seth is an aspiring journalist stuck in a day job he hates. When he interviews a DC-based lei maker he finds himself drawn to Adriana's non-traditional approach to following her dreams. But will his doubts about her approach ultimately be their undoing?
Adriana's already learned the dangers of living a life partially on line.  She has set up boundaries and routines to keep herself safe.  But it turns out routine can get a little, well, routine.  Will Seth be the perfect addition to her life, or further proof that trusting others always ends in tears? 
Some people have to find their dreams, Some people make them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Talkapedia Press
• Release date: Aug 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393652847

Book preview

1

S o, how did it go? Rafe asked.

Eh, Seth said. "They were great. They liked my writing samples and the pieces I had done for The Clarion, but you could tell they wanted to know why I hadn't done anything since college." Seth picked at the sleeve of his coffee cup.

So do something else.

Seth chuckled. Yeah well I'd love to. But so few places accept freelance features from someone who hadn't been a staff writer somewhere other than college. Maybe I'll just be a museum communications assistant for the rest of my life. He pressed a hand to his chest and holding back the fear. Seth's mom was a big fan of speaking out your big fears, so they would seem smaller. It had worked when it was things like the couch will eat me in my sleep. It was less helpful when it was after working on being a journalist through high school and college, he had discovered the shrinking of mainstream journalism meant there were more eager college grads than jobs in journalism. So here he was - twenty-four, working an entry-level job helping museum educators write museum copy for children which all boiled down to painting by dead dude. He might have somehow missed the deadline to become a writer. A real writer.

Rafe shrugged, his dark hair now dry from their run. Well you could talk to my cousin again.

Seth repressed a sigh. Rafe's cousin Karina worked at Sweet Sips, an ad-supported lifestyle blog. He had talked to her before, but she didn't want a piece on the changing political demographics, or how refugees were adjusting to life in the US. She wanted how many sparkles is trashy or five fabulous outfits to would take you from day to date night. Writing museum copy was less soul-killing.

Okay, man. Another run next week?

Yeah, I'm up for it. Rafe lived way out at the end of the metro line, so they tried to meet once a week to run.

Rafe nodded and gathered up his empty coffee cup, waved, and headed for the door. Seth pondered the empty coffee cup and wondered if he should get one more. He could stay here on this early summer day now that the sweat from their early run had cooled and just pretend. He crumpled his cup, frustrated with the line of thinking. He was a facts person, not a pretender.

He checked the time. Hopefully his roommate's latest hookup had already cleared out.

She had not. She - it wasn't worth learning her name - and Sander were leaning up against the fridge looking seconds away from having no clothes on, barely able to take their gazes from one another to say hi to Seth. Seth waved and hurried straight to his room.

Maybe by dinner time it would be safe to emerge. Seth wished he had enough money to live somewhere without a roommate but the DC area rents weren't cheap, and he'd already been through a government shutdown that ate through most of the savings he'd been putting together.

As he put on his headphones, he wondered. How desperate was he to get a byline of some sort? Sighing, he emailed Karina.

2

Adriana draped a lei across the table and looked at the cereal, the scone from the bakery around the corner, the tea, and the place mat. The red rose lei looked silly. The lei didn't belong on the table. She shifted it, so it half draped over the edge of the turquoise plate. No, now it looked like it had maybe fallen off the person setting the table. But still silly. So, no help for the nice place mats that had been sent to her. Wait. She grabbed the lei and put it around her neck. Her dark sundress offset the lei, red sandals, and a red lipstick that coordinated without looking too matchy-matchy.

She crouched down and held up the selfie stick, getting both her and the table in the shot. She took a few shots and then decided to change the angle a little, to take advantage of the sun coming in from the windows. Yes, this was it. It was only because she hadn't had her tea yet that she hadn't thought of this. She pulled out the chair and paused like she was in the act of sitting, and activated the camera. She checked the shots, and took one more to get a better angle on the scone plate. Adriana cropped the picture, posted to Instagram:

A princess needs a complete breakfast. #FlowerPrincess #PuaPrincess #BestBakery #SaturdaysAreTheBest #PlatesofBlue #FlowersofFun #hungry #ad.

She took the phone out of the selfie stick to better track the comments that came in. But now she could sip the tea and eat some scone. She took a bite of the cereal. Soggy. She carried it to her kitchen and dumped it out pouring a fresh bowl to eat.

Adriana refused to post pictures that weren't things she would eat, but sometimes things cooled or got soggy, and she figured replacements were only the tiniest of cheats. There was some artifice on social media, but she had watched folks crash and burn, trying to be too many things to too many people and ultimately losing followers.

The phone rang. Hi, Mom, she said.

Did you finish breakfast? I tried to wait. Her mom called every Saturday and Sunday but waited until Adriana's morning post since her mom's routine often involved things like sunrise gardening.

Yep. Adriana pushed away her bowl of cereal. It would be soggy again by the time her mom was done. She heard scratching and remember to open the door to Pua'a, her pig-nosed cat. He'd tried to jump on the table while she was framing her shot. So she'd shut the dining room door on him this morning. He meowed sharply to express his displeasure and then jumped on the table.

Is that Pua'a? Say hi to my little Pua'a for me.

I will, Adriana said.

Goldie read another article about millennials all living in their parents' basements and I told her you barely even did that after college. She said you were the exception because there wouldn't be so many articles if it wasn't true.

Adriana smiled but didn't interrupt, knowing her mom was gearing up for the punchline

So I told her I read an article about how gen-Xers spend all their time complaining about millennials instead of worrying about themselves, and that's why their houses are getting foreclosed on.

Oh, nice one, Mom, Adriana said.

Thank you. Frank didn't think it was that funny. He said I should try to be nicer to Goldie.

Adriana reached out to stroke a hand along Pua'a's back. In a neutral voice she asked, Has Frank met Goldie?

Frank was her mom's new boyfriend. So far, most of her mom's stories were about what Frank disapproved of. She could see how Goldie and her mom's relationship might seem a little fraught, but her mom and Goldie got a kick out of their verbal sparring.

Adriana had banned her mom from telling her about her sex life after she had dated that one yogi. But Adriana hoped Frank was more fun in bed if he was going to tut tut at everything her mom did.

No, but I showed him her Facebook page and even he got a little heated up when she shared a climate change denier meme.

Ah, Adriana said.

So, how many lei are you making today? her mom asked.

Today they are all kukui nut ones. So a few plain, a few hand-painted, only ten. Adriana bought the kukui already polished. The nuts were sturdy, and shipped well, so were a very popular choice in her store.

Stay hydrated and take breaks, her mom said

I will, Mom. Adriana took the cereal bowl away from Pua'a and dumped it. The supplies were laid out for the lei, so she had time to finish her tea and scone before she started and check on her Instagram comments.

And tried not to think about why her mom's love life was more active than hers.

3

It was lunchtime and Seth was hiding. Well, technically he was on the museum roof totally admiring the view of the streets and other museums. It wasn't like he was among the bushes.

But two new fresh-faced museum interns had showed up this morning, and he felt ridiculously old. He had been a college intern, trying to network and nail down contacts for later. Trying to get assigned some task he could leverage into his big break. His internship had ended. The copy editing team he'd worked with at the regional Pennsylvania paper had wished him the best of luck, and made him promise to email and let them know where he ended up.

So now, two years into this museum job, the sight of interns made him feel jaded.