Free Too Hot Four Hula: 4 (The Tiki Goddess Mystery Series) by Jill Marie Landis Page B

waiter was hovering again, so Em ordered the Manoa salad and the olive oil poached salmon with Big Island goat cheese, pistachios, and roasted beet root entree. Phillip decided on the lobster sampler with lobster bisque, lobster salad on a bun, Hirabara greens, and chips.
    When their entrees came the portions were substantially better than Em expected. She wasn’t especially fond of expensive little pyramids of food that wouldn’t fill a hummingbird beautifully displayed in the center of huge square plates. The Goddess was known for serving huge portions. No one ever left hungry.
    “We’re staying at the Moana,” Phillip informed her after he’d tasted his lobster salad. “It’s the hotel known as the First Lady of Waikiki. What about you?”
    “We’re at Hilton Hawaiian Village where the Shake Off contest is being held.”
    “Ah.” He finished his bourbon on the rocks. “That’s right. I told you how I read the article in the LA Times ?”
    “When you called a couple of days ago,” she said.
    He looked at her empty shot glass. “Would you like another drink?”
    “No, I’m good for now.”
    “Since when did you start drinking straight tequila?”
    Since the day you told me you’d be fishing off of Catalina with the guys, and I opened a text with a photo of you in the airport in Costa Rica with a Barbie doll hanging on your arm.
    “Oh, a while back,” she said. “But I rarely indulge. Not a good idea if you work in a bar.”
    A thought filtered through the mellow tranquility induced by the Patron. Em looked down at her empty plate, blinked, and then looked at Phillip again. “Did you say we’re staying at the Moana?”
    He signaled the waiter for another Maker’s Mark, and his confidence seemed to slip a notch.
    “My fiancée and I. I’m getting married.”
    “ Re -married.”
    “Right. It’s her first wedding, so it’s going to be a big one. Her name is Felicity. Felicity Duncan.”
    The minute he made the announcement, mixed feelings of euphoria and freedom came over her on a wave of surprise.
    Em smiled. “That’s great. Seriously. Congratulations.”
    “We met at a yoga class. It was love at first sight.”
    “Yoga? You’re into yoga?” She’d seen the young women going in and out of yoga classes. Tall, stick thin, bendable as pretzel dough.
    “It’s great. You should try it. Very relaxing.”
    So is the Patron , she thought.
    “Are we having dessert?” Em waved a waiter down. “I’d like a dessert.”
    She ordered the Halekulani’s Signature Coconut Cake and turned down another shot of tequila, though Phillip was pushing it. From where she sat Em had a side view of the entry. Phillip was going on about the benefits of stretching.
    “Felicity says you’re only as young as your back is flexible,” he said.
    “Oh, really?”
    Em knew the minute she looked over and saw a taller, thinner, much younger version of herself standing in the doorway that she was looking at Felicity the Flexible. The blonde was staring at Em, clutching shopping bags that announced she’d done a fair amount of damage on Luxury Row, the haute shopping block on Kalakaua Avenue that included eight international boutiques: Bottega Veneta, Chanel, Coach, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Tiffany & Co., Tod’s and Yves Saint Laurent.
    “There she is now. I told her I wanted to introduce you, but I’d about given up on her showing up.”
    Em couldn’t decide if Phillip looked more like a proud father than a man in love. He was beaming as he watched Felicity Duncan cross the room.
    Felicity, who couldn’t be a day over twenty-five, was sporting a perky pair of implants.
    “Darling,” she said as she lifted her face to give Phillip what amounted to some quick air kisses with fully enhanced lips. Then she slid into a chair and piled her shopping bags on the floor around her Gucci wedges. She adjusted the plunging neckline of her designer sundress.
    Then she finally looked Em’s way and gave a breathless,