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how to get there, but he looked completely in charge, even below me. Damn
him. “I hope those are comfortable shoes. We have a long walk.”
We got seats next to each other, facing forward. He let me in first so I
had the window.
The driver was a woman who laughed loudly with a regular passenger.
A guy in front had so many bags at his feet, he blocked three seats. The
couple standing nearby didn’t ask him to move them.
“This isn’t so terrible,” he said when he was settled and the bus lurched
forward.
“I don’t think Loranda’s going to lose her job any time soon.”
“See?” He put his arm around the back of my seat and leaned into me to
look out the window. “I employ people. I pay taxes. I’m not so bad.”
“No one said you were bad, and you better pay your taxes or the people
you employ won’t be able to get to work. On the bus. Which is partly paid
for with… da da da… you get it.”
His gaze was still out the window, but he was looking inward, as if I’d
put together pieces of a puzzle he’d thought was solved.
“Hey,” I said. “Do you want the window? Sunset’s pretty cool to watch
go by.”
“I wouldn’t have an excuse to lean over you.”
“True.” I twisted away from the boulevard lights. “Did I tell you about
the time I took the bus up to Griffith Park?”
“It couldn’t be more fun than this.”
I poked him. “No. It sucked.”
“Tell me, Ella.” As if he knew the importance of the story, he gave me
his full attention.
“I was fourteen, and it was my father’s wedding day.”
“To Bianca,” he confirmed.
“Duh. So. My mother was dead barely two years, and Daddy married
her. She worked at Papillion—in merchandising—so he’d known her
awhile. That was his excuse. Anyway, she ignored me at the office and the
house the same. I thought it would change after they were married, but I
realized on their wedding day that no, Bianca didn’t want to teach me
anything or know me at all.”
“Her loss.”
“Sure.” I turned to face him fully, and he leaned closer. “Dad stayed at
his best man’s house the night before the wedding so he wouldn’t see the