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“I hate that expression. Pretending something’s real doesn’t make it a
fact. It’s like Anthony Hopkins didn’t become a cannibal when he played
Hannibal Lecter.”
“Maybe he started liking fava beans though.” She made the toothsucking
noise the actor made in the movie, and we laughed.
“Go on,” she said. “Get out of here before you change your mind.”
I’d hoped to go to dinner with my parents while my lawyer adjusted the
agreement I’d had drafted for Mandy.
So much for that.
Ella was right. She was the wrong girl to marry, but in selling her on the
idea, I’d sold myself. There was a very small number of women I could
approach, and none of them were perfect. I ran down a list of possibilities
as I drove to Bel-Air, and they all came up short. Most weren’t desperate
enough or were looking for a real husband in LA’s circle of eligible
bachelors.
My parents had just about moved into their new Bel-Air place. It was
too big for two people. Too big for ten. But it was the last spec house Byron
had built, so when they wanted to move back to LA, they bought it and put
the staff in the westernmost wing, then planned the party of the century.
Taking the back entrance on Stradella Rd, I waved off the valet, pulled
into the underground lot, and took the back elevator up to dinner. When the
doors closed, I saw my reflection in the polished steel and straightened my
hair. I was still Logan Crowne. Same guy with the same problems.
I took a deep breath. The doors slid open as I exhaled.
Dad had made dinner sound like a social gathering, but I knew him
better than that. My tendency to overwork didn’t come from nowhere.
I stepped into the house. Every possible exterior wall was made of glass
to take advantage of the three-hundred-sixty-degree views, and the huge
interior rooms were made intimate with the use of half-walls and shapes
that increased the number of corners.
Following the sounds of voices, I found my father making a drink at a
side bar. My mother, brother, sister in-law, and their baby were on the patio
overlooking Stone Canyon.