Young women flirt with complete strangers.
We got back into the car for the final leg of my journey and headed down I-405 to Newport Beach. From the highway, it looked just like the city before it, and the one before that, a phenomenon Dad called “the urban sprawl of Orange County.” I expected to see the ocean as we got closer, but Dad said Newport Beach was the name of the city.
“That’s the name of the beach too, of course, but it’s a city first. Our house is a few miles inland, where the real estate is newer and not so expensive. And where the beachgoers and surfers don’t park their cars. It’s crazy here in the summer.”
We took an exit that ascended into a hilly area filled with row after row after row of large but lookalike houses.
“The ocean is back that way,” Dad said, motioning with his head to what lay in the rearview mirror. “Brady can show you where if you care to see it while you’re here. The water’s too cold to swim in right now, even for an Easterner like you, but at least the crowds are gone, so it won’t take you hours on end just to get down there or to find a parking place.”
After a few turns on residential streets, we pulled up to a cream-stucco, two-story house with white trim and a red tile roof. It looked really nice. Skinny palms in the front yard swayed on their impossibly slender trunks. Flowering shrubs and sand-colored boulders edged the manicured lawn. He turned into the driveway and pulled to a stop on the left, just outside the garage.
I got out of the car and followed Dad on a tiled walkway that led from the driveway to a covered entrance and a heavy wooden door. I could hear the yips of an agitated little dog inside.
“Well, here we are.” He put his key in the lock and swung open the door.
TEN
I expected Liz and Brady to be home to greet me and was actually relieved that we arrived to an empty house. I had forgotten for a moment that Liz was already away on her humanitarian trip and Brady was still at school. It was after three o’clock, but my brother had football practice every day.
The sole welcome I received was from a wiry gray terrier. The little dog seemed happy enough that I was there. It was hard to tell. He ran around barking fiercely, but his little stub of a tail wiggled the entire time.
“That’s Frisco,” Dad said. “I forgot to mention we have a dog now. He’s not too much trouble, though. He likes walks. And there’s a dog park not too far from here. Liz says he likes playing with the other dogs.”
“Sounds good.”
“Brady can help take care of him too.”
I bent down to pat the dog. Frisco licked my hands and then spun around me, barking and jumping. He was nothing like Timber, either in size or temperament. I had a hard time imagining myself walking the yapping little thing. I’d never walked a dog on a leash. Timber had free rein on our farm and never left it.
“Okay, so let me show you the house,” Dad continued.
“Looks like a really nice place.”
“Thanks. We like it. And Liz has a way with decorating, especially now that our income has gone up a few notches.” He must have realized how prideful his words sounded, because he seemed to blush as he added, “Now that I’m in the private sector, I’m earning a good income on top of my military retirement pay, which is also quite generous.”
“I see,” I told him, not knowing what else to say.
We moved past the flagstone entry and into the main part of the house. The living room on our right boasted high ceilings, a white leather sectional couch positioned at an angle, a massive stone fireplace, glass-topped tables, and brown accent rugs on the tiled floor. It looked like a room no one spent much time in. We then turned left into an expansive kitchen lit by fist-sized, recessed lights in the ceiling. Forest-green granite counter tops and mahogany cabinetry with pewter hardware gleamed. The kitchen was twice the size of Mammi’s and sparkling clean, as though no one had ever cooked or eaten in there. Dad dropped his keys and cell phone on a counter-height table of sturdy wood and led me to the open formal dining room containing a long table and high-backed chairs. Add that one to the notebook.