Hollywood Hills

Chapter Twenty-Six

They spent another hour talking and inspecting the property. Everything they saw, she liked. She would need to contact an appraiser and a property lawyer, but she was confident what Leona Munson had told her was true. As they returned to the truck to leave, they discussed their return route and decided to take a drive through Solvang, a small tourist town nearly as close to her property as was Lompoc. The town was on the way back to LA, and by the time they reached there Kate was feeling chipper. Eli was amused by the place.

"I don't think that's a real windmill."

"Of course, it's not," she replied. "This is California. Nothing is real."

"Still brooding about your windfall?"

"No, on the contrary." She looked over with a smile. Something that had been growing in her since meeting Leona Munson abruptly came to fruition. "You're going to call me crazy, but I'm not going to sell. I'm going to move there."

"Seriously? What brought this on? I mean, it's lovely, but that apartment is small, really small ... and the place is sort of isolated."

The notion of being alone so far from her neighbors was shocking to her—no, it was frightening—but it was also exhilarating. And to be away from LA? Away from her former step-kids and all they represented? Her stomach twisted several times at the thought. Just a month or two before, doing such a thing would have been unthinkable.

Even the prospect that she might now be in a financial position to keep the beach house didn't sway her. As lovely as her second home was, it was just another reminder of the past, another bone over which she'd again, sooner or later, have to wrestle the ever-rapacious Cyrils. She was done with that.

"Everything brought this on. I need a place to live after I sell the houses and wasn't really counting on the money from this property for anything. Hell, I wasn't even sure I would find a buyer given Otto's luck with it. At most, I thought I might net a few hundred thousand."

"Still, do you think you can scale down?" he wondered. "That apartment is smaller than the cottage I'm staying in. Look ... I'm not trying to talk you out of it. In fact, I think it's a smashing idea."

"Eli, buddy, I'm not jumping into anything. I'll run all the numbers before I decide, but I can't imagine why this won't work. I'm already in the process of ... what was it, scaling back? Yep. That's what I'm doing." She turned to face him, a sense of excitement caressing her gently. "As angry and disappointed as I've been in recent months, I've found myself wanting to purge the last sixteen years, to forget it ever happened, and to try and start again right back where I was before I met Otto. I know I can't do that, and I shouldn't try. It wouldn't be fair to Otto or to me. He wasn't a terrible guy. He just wasn't the person I should have been with. I can't just pick up where I left off sixteen years ago, but I can start again."

"And I don't have a single thing tying me to LA," she continued. "I know I told you this, but most of the people I thought were my friends, weren't. Those few people I can still call friend ... people I met outside of Otto's circle of cronies and hangers-on ... aren't the type I feel I can ever depend on, not if push comes to shove." She reached out and affectionately flicked the lock of hair over his ear. "And I am so, so sorry for inflicting Ellen and Thorne on you. I had no idea they would go primal on you like that." They never acted that way around Otto, she thought. Oh, go figure.

Eli's only reaction was to smile.

"Not even work is keeping me there." It occurred to her she was talking more to convince herself than to persuade Eli, but she went on anyway. "Most filming nowadays is done on location or someplace cheaper than LA, like the job I just got offered. It's filming in Vancouver. If I do need to be in LA on a regular basis, I can just rent a small pied-a-terre. You know what? The only reason to be in the city is eat at the right places and to see and be seen. It's what Otto was all about," she said with a wrinkle in her nose, "and I guess I was just Otto with tits. Well ... he had tits, too, at least that last ten years ... yuck. What I should've said was, 'I was just Otto with nice tits.'"

Eli's smile had turned to a slight twisting and pursing of his lips.

"If you're going to laugh, laugh," she scolded as she poked his ribs, "otherwise I'll think you're making fun of me."

He laughed. "I thought you were being serious," was his excuse.

"About the tits?"

"I've seen pictures of your husband. He had quite a rack ... maybe he should've done porn."

"That was not funny," Kate scolded, but only after she had finished laughing.

"I'm sorry. It really wasn't. But I think moving is a good idea. You should get a fresh start. But you'll be living miles from your nearest neighbor."

"I know. But if I can survive the Flying Guy, I can handle El Chupacabra."

"Let me know if I can help."

His statement surprised her. He'd been helpful several times already, especially at the beach house, but it was the first he'd voiced such an offer. It took a moment to choke down a tiny knot of emotion.

"I've already gotten enough free labor out of you, buddy. But I do appreciate the offer." Something seized her. "You're probably not going to feel so generous after I finish making fun of you."

"What?"

"I downloaded a copy of your master's thesis from the Georgetown online library," she ssaid a sheepish grin. "It's going to be my light reading for the next few weeks."

"Oh ... no. Please don't do that. It really isn't ... it's semiliterate."

"I'm only teasing. I won't make fun. In any event, if you wrote it, it must be good."

He let out a defeated sigh.