Page 10

“Bonus. I like you already.”

It had been a nice welcome to what would beher home for the foreseeable weeks. The complex was perfect, she’d flirted witha woman on the street, and she’d even made friends with one of her neighbors.Bolstered by the relief that this had been the right move, Kate headed insideto unpack, pop a beer, and catch her breath for the first time in a long while.

* * *

Autumn had been sitting at La Palmita, thelittle Mexican restaurant she and her mother had been coming to for, well, herwhole life, for just over forty-five minutes. Alone. She smiled at Esperanza,the owner, and did her best to project fine, happy, and not at all stood up bythe very woman who gave birth to her.

“I’ll bring more chips,” Esperanza said, andtook the bowl Autumn had singlehandedly mainlined as she waited. And waited.And did some more waiting.

“I’m sure she’ll be here soon,” Autumn calledafter her to not seem like a total loser. “Probably just stuck in traffic. Youknow LA at this time of day.”

Esperanza smiled but exchanged a disappointedlook with the bartender. This woman knew her life too damn well. Autumn hadalways admired Esperanza, her restaurant and sense for business. In fact, she’dbeen a big part of Autumn’s inspiration when she’d opened Pajamas. Thecustomers at La Palmita looked up to Esperanza. Liked her, respected her, andshe took time with each one of them. Autumn had wanted that for herself andhoped she’d achieved at least a little bit of what Esperanza had. Autumn smiledat her friend and mentor as she approached.

“Here you go,” Esperanza said, and placedanother bowl of freshly made chips on the table. She seemed to have personallytaken over for the waiter Autumn began with.

“Thanks, Ez, but you don’t have to wait onme.”

“I do what I want,” Esperanza said in asassy, authoritative tone.

It made Autumn laugh despite the awkwardwait.

This was to be her birthday dinner, which wasalready weeks late. Her mother, who had asked Autumn to call her Vicky whenshe’d entered the second grade, hadn’t had time to get together with her beforethat night. Why? Autumn had no idea. Vicky didn’t work and instead floated fromone wealthy male companion to another, expecting them to support herfinancially, until the inevitable breakup when she came to Autumn for money.Though she couldn’t count on Vicky herself, she could certainly depend upon herpattern. Suffice it to say, she and Vicky didn’t share many of the same values,and definitely not the same work ethic. She tried Vicky’s phone again.

“I’m here! I’m here!” Vicky yelled, uponanswering. “Just slipping into some sassy heels in the parking lot, and then Iwill scoot my patootie inside to kiss my baby girl on her birthday.”

“It’s not actually my birthday,” Autumn said.“That was a while ago.”

“Close enough. See you in a sec!”

It wasn’t that close at all, but Autumn letthat fact slide.

Ten minutes later, Vicky walked into LaPalmita as if she were the queen herself, waving and smiling at the patrons andkissing Esperanza on the cheek like they were long-lost best friends.Esperanza, to her credit, seemed to tolerate, if not return, the affection.Vicky sure knew how to draw attention to herself. That part wasn’t new. Ithadn’t been easy being known as the one with the “sexy mom” when Autumn was inhigh school.

“There’s my baby doll,” Vicky said, andkissed Autumn on the cheek. She wore a brightly colored pink and yellow dress,as always showcasing enough cleavage to draw stares. Her bleached blond hairlooked like it had been professionally blown out recently, as in an hour ago.“This girl needs a cocktail. You feeling like a cocktail?”

“Sure. Why not?” Autumn said, conservatively.

Vicky didn’t happen to mention that she wasclose to an hour late. No apology. No explanation. That’s just how Vickyrolled. Autumn knew better than to push the issue or she’d wind up apologizingherself when her mother flipped the whole thing and made herself the victim inthe story. Their dysfunctional pattern wasn’t hard to learn and sidestep. Lifewas too short to try and reason with her. She’d learned that lesson a long timeago. These days, Autumn strived for self-preservation.

Vicky tossed a glance behind her. “Esperanza,we’re going to need some strong margaritas over here! We’re celebratingtonight!”

Autumn winced at Vicky’s loud mouth andprivileged demeanor. “Hey, maybe don’t yell. She’ll get around to us soon. Theplace is busy tonight.”

“Well, I’m thirsty. I don’t know about you.”And there it was.I’mthirsty. It was the perfect example of how Vicky approached anygiven situation. It was always what she needed, or wanted, or was deprived ofthat mattered most. Screw everyone else. The rest of the world was made up ofmerely supporting actors on Vicky’s self-involved stage. In her mind, Autumnshould be content waiting over an hour for Vicky as long as she arrivedeventually. Esperanza should rush off and bring her drink immediately upon herarrival. It was simply how she approached life.

The rest of Autumn’s “birthday dinner” wentmuch the same way. Vicky talked all about her newest guy, Rocco, a financierfrom back east. By the time Autumn had polished off her plate of flautas,because honestly, she hadn’t gotten a word in, she could have told you Rocco’sfavorite television show, his shoe size, and what kind of women he was drawnto.

When the bill arrived, Vicky finally shiftedher focus. “So, tell me about you! What’s new?”

Autumn opened her mouth to answer. She’dwanted to share her plans to become a mother, which was a huge step, but hadn’timagined she’d be cramming the information into their last few momentstogether. Still, this was the only real family she had in her life, and shewanted to share her news. Cue her nerves. “Well, there is something, actually.”

“Oh, my God! Did you see Olivia’s weddingphotos?” Vicky exclaimed, and tossed her napkin onto the table. “I saw them onFacebook this week and just about died. She was absolutely the most beautifulbride! And those flowers!”

Autumn took a second to recover from the gutpunch. “I did see them. Olivia had a wonderful wedding. What I was going to saya minute ago, though—”

“It makes me sad, though, too,” Vicky said,plowing right ahead. “I want to be the mother of the bride at a wedding likethat. I wonder if I’ll ever have that chance. Are you dating at all?” Again,right back to her needs. “Rocco has some nice men that work for him. I couldarrange an introduction.”

“Men? Vicky, I haven’t dated men since theClinton administration. You know that. Why are we doing this again?”