Caffrey Aloha

Chapter 13

Wednesday morning. January 5, 2005.

As it sank in that it was their last full day in Hawaii, everyone had one more thing they wanted to fit in – something they wanted to do, a place to visit or revisit. They went their separate ways for lunch and the afternoon, and agreed to meet as a group for dinner.

Graham and Julia Winslow planned to take the yacht out one last time, and naturally Henry wanted to join them. He loved being on the water; he was more relaxed on a boat than anyplace else. Neal realized that Henry had sacrificed time on the yacht in order to look after him when he was sick. So when Henry asked Neal to spend the afternoon on the boat, it was a no-brainer, especially when he sounded stressed. A tour of Iolani Palace could wait for another vacation.

After a quiet lunch with his grandparents, Neal headed to the dock. On the boat, Henry seemed to be meditating, probably part of the mindfulness technique he'd studied that fall in India. Henry and Graham had spent a few months there after Robert – Henry's father and Graham's son – had died in a showdown with the FBI and U.S. Marshals.

For a moment Neal wondered if Henry intended to return to India, perhaps permanently. He'd found peace there, so Neal should support the move if that's what he needed, but it would be hard to sound happy for him when it meant seeing each other much less frequently.

Graham – he'd told Neal months ago to call him Pops – welcomed Neal aboard. "The missus and I are going to be with the captain." He pointed up to a glassed-in area from which the boat was piloted. "You boys will have the deck to yourselves." He ruffled Henry's hair and added, "Let me know if you need help."

"You remember where –" Henry started.

"Yes, the course is set for exactly where you want to go," Graham promised, and then he left them.

Henry grabbed a soft drink from a cooler. "Want anything?"

Neal selected a ginger ale and then joined Henry in a seating area. Soon the yacht was pulling away from the dock. He sensed that there was something Henry was working up to saying, so he patiently waited rather than kicking off a conversation.

"Remember when we were talking about The Wizard of Oz when we first got here, and I said I was the lion?"

Neal nodded. "Closest thing to a tiger, you said. Was there another reason?"

"Yeah. Because I've been a coward."

Neal found that hard to believe. Henry had walked into a warehouse and exchanged places with Robert's hostage, knowing a gun battle was imminent. It didn't get much braver than that. "Afraid to admit I'm the smarter brother?"

Henry's grin only lasted a moment. "Back when you ran away and I found you, in those next few years of traveling and avoiding my dad, there were a couple of things we never talked about."

"My flashbacks," Neal said, remembering how he'd refused to discuss the events he'd been repressing. "And..." He thought he knew now what this was about.

"Yeah."

"You have to say it," Neal said, remembering what Joe had told him. Saying things out loud had a power. It made them real.

"You already know. When we hang out a lot we can almost read each other's minds."

They were often on the same wavelength, but not always. There was one time in particular, Neal wished he'd been quicker on the uptake. It was a few months after they'd started performing as Urban Legend. Neal had been eighteen, and Henry was twenty...

They were at a music festival. It was a perfect summer day and they'd just finished a performance. A girl approached them when they left the stage. She said she and her friend were big fans and would really like to get to know the Legend brothers better. Groupies. Neal couldn't believe they actually had groupies now. He had a drink with them at the concession stand and then said he'd see what was taking his brother so long. Henry should have returned by then.