|26| Opportunities

It's been about a week since my sister and her family went home and life was back to normal. It was hard having them leave, I loved having them here. I mean I will see them again in a few weeks for Christmas. For now I've decided it's time to get serious about the job search. I grabbed my laptop off of my bed and walked out into the living room. I sit down on the couch and start looking on job websites. 'Dog walker'? No. I am not twelve. 'Park Ranger'? Sounds like a lot of bugs. I keep scrolling but none of them look like something I want to do. I keep scrolling past a few openings at the police department but I scroll past them faster then any of the other ones and I have to keep reminding myself I'm trying to get away from it.

"Hey." Everest says as he walks in the front door.

"Hey, you're home early."

"Slow day. Whatcha up too?" He asks as he walks into the kitchen. I hear the fridge open and bottles clinking.

"Looking for jobs."

"Any luck?"

"Not really. Hard to find a job that's not cop related when you have a degree in criminal justice."

"Okay, but you also have a bachelors degree." He says walking back into the living room with two longboard beers.

"That's true." He hands one to me and sits on the couch next to me.

"What about going to college?"

"For what?"

"Oh come on, Brook. We both know ever since you were little you wanted to do something with marine biology. Do something with that."

"I can't afford that...that's why I'm looking for jobs."

"Don't worry about that. Getting into any type of marine biology program for you will be easy and I'm sure you can get some sort of scholarship. And I will cover the rest."

"I can't ask you to do that. I mean I am already living here rent free. I need to contribute."

"First of all, you're not asking, I am offering. Second of all, you are contributing. I mean my house has never been this clean for this long, and that fridge has been stocked like 85% of time. I mean when it was just me, I usually had peanut butter and a couple beers."

"I don't know Everest...that's a big step."

"Just think about it. Just look into it, see what you find."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I've gotta go take a shower."

"I'm glad you said it." He just laughs and rolls his eyes. He gets up and walks to his room. I decide to open a new tab and start looking at marine biology programs. I get on University of Hawaii's website and look at all the options. I feel my phone start vibrating next to me and I pick it up and see that it's Steve.

"Hey you." I say answering the phone.

"Hey. What are you up too?"

"I was job hunting, now I'm looking at different degrees at University of Hawaii."

"You're going back to school?"

"Maybe. I haven't decided yet."

"Well, I think that's great. I'm about to close up a case, team and I are gonna go grab some dinner. Figured since I haven't seen you since the trip, I'd see if you want to join. Then after we can spend some time alone."

"Oh yeah?" I say with a smile growing on my face.

"Just you and me. The beach. Some wine."

"You had me at 'just you and me'."

"Good."

"When are you guys going?"

"I think we're gonna be heading out in the next hour. I will text you when we leave?"

"Sounds great."

"Great. I'll see you in a little bit." He hangs up and I go back to searching through all the options at U of H.

*45 minutes later*

"Where are you heading out too?" Everest asks as I grab my keys off the side table.

"Dinner with Steve and his team."

"See you tomorrow." He says with a devilish smile.

"Yeah yeah. Bye."

I drive about twenty minutes, thanks to traffic, and finally pull into the parking lot in front of Kamekona's.

STEVE'S POV

"Are we any closer to finding my mom?" I ask Danny as we all sit down at the picnic table.

"Not since the last time you asked, twenty minutes ago. She disappeared right after you left for Kaui, aka when we linked her to Shelborne."

"Just thought I'd ask man."

"Well stop. If we find something, we will let you know."

"Heeere ya go." Chin says setting a long board bottle in front of me.

"Thanks." I say looking at him as he sits down next to Kono across the table. "Food is ordered, knowing Kamekona, it will be out in the next hour or so." We all laugh in agreement. I see Brooklyn's car pull into the parking lot as I take a drink of my beer.

"Be right back." I stand up and walk over to her car. I walk over to the driver side window and smile at her as she turns her car off. She smiles back at me and gets out of her car. "Hello beautiful." I lean down to her and kiss her.

"Hi." She says with a smile and kisses me again. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." I lean down closer to her ear, "I'll make it up to you tonight." I say quietly. She smiles and I reach behind her and shut her car door. I wrap my arm around her shoulder and we walk back over to the group and sit down at the table.

"Hey Brook. Nice seeing you again." Chin says smiling  at her.

"You too." She says with a kind smile. I set my hand down on her leg and I see a small smile on her face out of the corner of my eye. Everyone  talking amongst themselves while we wait for our food so Brook and I decide to have our own conversation.

"So, looking into going back to school?"

"Considering it."

"What's holding you back?"

"I mean the money first of all, and the fact that I went through so much school already and I don't know if I want to do more of it."

"What are you gonna go to school for?"

"Marine Biology."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Been a passion of mine since I was little."

"Well, I mean I might be able to get you into a local marine place. Get your foot in the door, see if it's something you really want to do. Make some money before you decide you want to go back to school."

"Really?!"

"Yeah, of course." I smile watching her face light up like that.

"You're amazing."

"I know." I grin and she kisses my cheek.

"Yeah he's also very full of himself." Danny chimes in.

"Hey. Hey, was anyone talking to you?" I ask him. He smiles and rolls his eyes. All of us forget what we were talking about when we see Kamekona walking over with our food.

"Alriiiight. Dinner. Is. Served!" He practically shouts as he sets the food down on the table. "Dig in!" He smiles at us and walks back to his truck.

"How was your nephews birthday?" Kono asks me.

"It was really good. It was good to see them and for all of us to be back at my dads old house one more time."

"That sounds awesome. Where was your dads house again?"

"It's on Kaui. He built it from scratch. Little path right down to the beach from the front door. It really was amazing."

"Why didn't you and your brother move there?"

"Everest lived there for little while fixing it up and everything but he decided to sell it. As many good memories as there were there, it was just too hard to stay there."

"That's understandable. Well I'm glad you had a good time." She smiles at me.

"Thanks. Me too. What have you been up too? How's Adam?"

"Adam is good. After everything that went on last year, things couldn't be better."

"Oh yeah. The whole 'going into hiding' thing."

"Yeah that whole thing. But now we're back and he's doing great. We're doing great." We both smile and I feel Steve put his hand on my thigh.

"When is it you go back to Boise?" Danny asks me.

"Christmas. I'll probably only go for a week. See some family, do the whole christmas thing, then come back to the warmth."

"It is not supposed to be warm on Christmas. There is supposed to be snow."

"Danny, you're going back to Jersey for Christmas. What are you complaining about?" Steve asks him.

"This is the first time I'm going back to Jersey since I moved here. That's what I'm complaining about."

"You're such a baby." Danny just glares at Steve as he takes a drink of his beer and smiles.

We all finish our food and talk a little for about 30 minutes until Steve leans over to me. "Wanna get out of here?" He whispers.

"Lead the way." I say back.

"Alright guys, I think we're gonna call it a night. It's been a long day. I'll see you all tomorrow?" Steve says and him and I stand up.

"Sounds good boss man." Chin says.

"Have a good night, guys." Kono says as she smiles at us. I just smile back at her and Steve and I walk back towards the parking lot.

"I'll meet you at your house?" I ask him as he opens my car door.

"Of course." He smiles and leans down and presses his lips against mine. He starts to pull away, but I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer, keeping our lips together. I feel him smile as he deepens the kiss. "I'll see you in a couple minutes." He says as he breaks the kiss. I kiss him once more and slide into my car...