Page 49

I love it when a plan comes together.

But nothing is going to plan. It’s like I’m having a really bad hair day.

Driving Ned’s Lamborghini has been anything but fun. I’m rusty with a stick shift, have no clue what half the gazillion buttons on the dashboard are for, and the temperamental car has a mind of its own. I narrowly miss getting into several major accidents.

My nerves on edge, I find a parking spot and dash through The Grove, the popular outdoor shopping mall. First to Pottery Barn Kids to pick up a compact all-in-one stroller that I can push through the airport and allows me to convert the carriage into a child seat I can use on the plane. Then a quick stop at the Gap, where I luckily find some colder-weather baby clothes on sale. Using Ava’s credit card, the only one that works, I also buy myself an all-weather parka.

One last quick thing… I mail the letter in my bag at the adjacent Farmer’s Market post office. It’s going to someone at the Serenity Mental Health Facility in Fresno. Overnight express. They need to know.

The sky darkening, the wind picking up, I leave the mall and make a stop at Whole Foods up the street on Fairfax to pick up some extra formula, diapers, and snacks. I’ve never seen the place so crowded. It takes forty-five I’m-going-to-kill-someone minutes until I’m at last next in line.

“What’s going on?” I ask the whippet-thin, yoga-clad woman in front of me, whose cart is so full it looks like Santa’s sleigh.

“Oh, didn’t you hear?” she says, laying her wares on the conveyor belt one by one, inspecting each item as she does. There are a dozen annoyed people standing behind me. Maybe we can lynch her.

“Hear what?”

“LA’s getting a Category 4 hurricane! It’s expected to hit early this evening.”

Shit.

She prattles on, still unloading her cart. I listen with all ears.

They’re expecting flooding and closures. What if I can’t get down to the airport in time for my flight? And even if I do, the flight might get cancelled.

I glance down at the few items in my cart. Forget it. I need to get out of here. Get to Ava’s as fast as I can. Then get to the airport before the storm hits.

Leaving my cart behind, I sprint out of the store. I get behind the wheel of Ned’s ridiculously expensive car and wait in line to exit the parking lot when his phone pings. It’s Ava again. Wanting to know where he is.

Should I tell her?

On impulse, I text her back.

I’ll be home in twenty minutes. And explain everything.

She needs to know the truth.

And to pay…