Helen of Pasadena by Dolan Lian

Author:Dolan, Lian [Dolan, Lian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780984410248
Publisher: SCB Distributors
Published: 2013-09-11T06:00:00+00:00

I’ve never liked convertibles with the wind, the noise and the constant need to replenish sunscreen on my Oregonian skin. But I enjoyed the ride to Laguna Beach with Patrick in his rented Pontiac Solstice. It was the most spontaneous thing I’d done since the latter days of the Clinton administration. And it involved bikini waxing, which I discovered was quite painful.

After the shocker at school, Patrick declared that we had to get “back to work immediately.” Candy was suspicious, I could tell by her stink eye. And by the text she sent immediately after I left the scene. Short and elegant: WTF?

WTF was right. WTF was I doing in a convertible, speeding along Pacific Coast Highway with Nubby Sweater? I was somebody’s mother, a recent widow. A member of Save the Deodars. This wasn’t me.

Patrick had pulled the bait-and-switch in the parking lot, after commenting that my friends were “a little intense” and “we needed a breather” after the success of the presentation. He tossed me a black baseball cap with a big orange “P,” the only reference he had ever made to his prestigious academic background, and declared, “Put this on. We’re going to the beach.”

I took the hat and hopped in the car. He was my ride and my boss. I had no choice, right?

“Why Laguna?” I shouted above the music, Elvis Costello circa 1985. Laguna Beach was a wealthy, artsy town tucked away on the coast of Orange County. Its charm was genuine, protected by an isolated location and incredibly high real estate costs. Sometimes the high cliffs collapsed under mudslides and fires, sending zillion-dollar homes into the ocean, but when the weather was good, it was hard to beat. Like today.

“It reminds me of home,” Patrick shouted back. He even looked good in a worn Arsenal cap. “What home?” He did live in several places: Athens in the winter and Troy in the summer.

“All of them.”

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