The Pregnancy Proposition

“Hello, Hoku,” Paige said in the high voice people reserved for babies and animals. “Are you a good boy?”

She was rewarded with Hoku’s heavy, happy panting. She was probably scratching his ears. He was a sucker for a good ear scratching.

“What does Hoku mean?”

Mano enjoyed the melodic quality of Paige’s voice, especially as she used some of his native Hawaiian language. It wasn’t too deep or too high, but he could hear the smile when she spoke. “It means ‘star’ in Hawaiian. Before navigation systems and maps, sailors used to guide their ships by the stars, and since I use him to guide me, I thought that was an appropriate choice.”

“That’s perfect.”

A cloud of her scent rose up as she stood. Paige had a unique fragrance, and yet it was somehow very familiar to him. Many women, especially those from the Aolani suite, nearly bathed in expensive perfumes or scented lotions. Most people wouldn’t even notice it, but Mano was overpowered by smells, good and bad. Paige’s scent was subtle but appealing, like a hint of baby powder and a touch of...hand sanitizer. That was a different combination.

The elevator chimed and the system announced that they were on the lobby level. He’d had the elevators updated several years back to include that feature for himself and any other visually impaired guests. The doors opened and he held out his hand for Paige to exit ahead of him. He expected her to rush out the door toward her destination. Most people were a little uncomfortable around him. She obviously was, but it didn’t repel her. Her scent lingered at his side as he exited.

“Are you eating dinner at the hotel tonight?” he asked.

“That’s where I was headed. I’m not sure where I’m going yet.”

“If you want your first meal to be an authentic one, I would recommend Lani. That is our traditional Polynesian restaurant, so you’ll get a great taste of what Honolulu has to offer in its culinary basket. There’s also a beautiful outdoor seating area. If you hurry, I believe you can still catch the sunset. It’s not to be missed. Just tell the hostess that I sent you and she’ll make sure you get the best seat available.”

“Thank you. I’ll do that. I hope we’ll see each other...er...run into each other again soon.”

Mano smiled as she stumbled over her words again. “Enjoy your evening, Paige. A hui hou kakou.”

“What does that mean?”

“Until we meet again,” he said.

“Oh. Thank you for your help. Good night.”

Mano waved casually and then listened as the slap of her sandals faded in the direction of the beach and hotel restaurants. Once she was gone, he turned toward the registration desks and let Hoku lead him through the guests. Hoku stopped just short of the counter where they went through the swinging door to enter the area behind the registration desk. The concierge station was just to his right.

“Aloha ahiahi, Mr. Bishop.”

“Good evening, Neil. How are things going tonight?”

“Fine. You’ve just missed the check-in rush from all the stateside flights arriving.”

Good. He did well to move about the hotel, but he tried to avoid the busiest times when he was most likely to run into an issue with people dragging roller bags or children running around.

Since it wasn’t busy at the moment, he also wondered if he could take advantage of his concierge’s eyes. He was curious about his new guest, Paige. “Did you happen to see the young woman that got off the elevator with me?”

“Briefly, sir. I didn’t get a good look at her.”

It amazed Mano sometimes how those with sight spent most of their time not taking full advantage of it. “What of her did you see?”

“Just a basic impression because I noticed her speaking with you. She was tall for a woman; with long, straight brown hair. Pale. Very thin. I didn’t really see her face since she was turned toward you.”

Mano nodded. That could’ve described a thousand women at the hotel, easily. It was a start, though. “Okay, thank you. Let me know if you have any issues. I’ll be in my office.”

“Yes, sir.”

Mano and Hoku continued down a hallway and through the area where hotel management worked to keep things flowing smoothly. They went down another hallway and turned to enter his office. He flipped on the light and made his way to his desk. Neither he nor Hoku needed the light, but he’d discovered that his employees found it strange that he would sit in a dark office and would think he didn’t want to be disturbed.

Mano settled into his chair and Hoku curled up to sleep at his feet. His dog always laid his head on his shoe, so Mano knew he was there. He leaned down to pat the dog on the head, hit a few keys on the keyboard to wake up his computer and slipped the headset he used to control it over his free ear. It allowed his system to read emails and files to him, and he could control it with voice commands. He wished he could tell his high school keyboarding teacher that no, he wouldn’t need that skill in the future.

As he checked his email, his attention was drawn to his other earpiece that was connected to the hotel security system. Mano knew everything that happened at his hotel even if he couldn’t see it occur. It had been a quiet day with a lot of idle chatter. That would change as the sun went down. The weekends got a little wilder at the resort with nightly luaus, fireworks shows and plenty of mai tais to go around.

At the moment, two members of his team were trying to determine if a gentleman at the outdoor bar needed to be cut off. He was getting loud. Mano didn’t worry about those kinds of issues. His staff could handle them easily.