Delight Me by J. Kenner

Author:J. Kenner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949925593
Publisher: Martini & Olive

Chapter 4

It’s a gorgeous December morning, the sun shining down on the stunning homes that dot the hills of the Pacific Palisades. The ocean glitters behind us, and as we go over hills and around turns, we catch small glimpses of those deep blue waters.

I glance into the Range Rover’s back. Lara is absorbed with reading her current favorite book, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, while Anne draws furiously with crayons in her new Christmas-themed coloring book. Neither is car sick or whining or complaining about her sibling.

Truly, the holiday season is a miraculous time.

I resettle myself in the passenger seat as Damien turns onto Jackson and Sylvia’s street. When we’d first met Jackson Steele, he was living on a houseboat he keeps docked in Marina del Rey. After he and Syl got married and Jackson built this house, he’d kept the boat as an office for a while. Now, the entire operation has moved its base from New York to Los Angeles, and it’s far too big a company for a boat. Instead, Steele Development is in its own building at The Domino, a retail and office complex in Santa Monica that was designed by Jackson and co-developed with Stark Real Estate.

As for the houseboat, he currently rents that to my lifelong friend, Ollie McKee. A former lawyer, Ollie recently transitioned to the FBI. More important to me, he’s once again living permanently in Los Angeles, and I’ll see him in just a few hours at The Domino’s Winter Wonderland event.

We round a bend, and the stunning contemporary that Jackson built for Sylvia rises in front of us. Elegantly minimal, the house seems to be part of the landscape, not something plunked down onto it. The lines flow, some to the sea, some to the heavens, and the front door of glass and steel offers the only view to the driveway and the street beyond. All the other windows face the ocean.

It’s unique and lovely, and I’m pretty sure it’s been featured in every major architectural magazine, as have most of Jackson’s designs.

Damien maneuvers into the drive and parks behind the sleek black two-seater Ferrari that he gave to Jamie years ago. I frown, wondering if that means that Ryan’s sister, Moira, cancelled. I hope not. I know she’s busy finishing up her Masters in marketing, but it would be a shame if she missed out on the holidays. Not to mention the fact that the girls adore her, and always beg for Moira to babysit when Gregory can’t watch them.

Since Damien and I have kid-transport down to a science, it doesn’t take long to get the girls unstrapped and out of the car. Immediately, they scamper to the open door and race inside to find their cousins.

Damien and I move more slowly, enjoying what has become increasingly rare alone time. “I was thinking this morning that it’s a shame I didn’t know Jackson when I designed the house. Ours is good. His is better.”

“Ours is amazing,” I counter, stating what I consider an empirical truth.

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