“Mom, no. It’s the estate you and Mrs. Walker chose. It’s the same place as always. It’s beautiful. You’ve seen pictures—”
“Well, I didn’t know it was at the top of a mountain. How are our guests even going to get up here?”
I squint at her for a second waiting for her to realize that they will drive up here like we just did. She’s staring straight ahead.
“Here we are,” I say with forced enthusiasm as I turn into the long estate driveway. On the way, I point out the large parking lots at the adjacent museum that our guests can use.
“Why are you showing me that? I would expect our guests would have a place to park their cars.” She opens her door and gets out while I’m still pulling into the parking spot.
She heads toward the building where Connor’s standing. I stay in the car for a second trying to figure out how I can escape. I want to run away and never look back. She’s been in L.A. less than an hour and I already feel myself reverting to the girl I left behind in Georgia.
Mom walks past Connor into the house. He looks at me and motions frantically for me to get out of the car as he turns and follows her in.
When I walk through the doors, Mom’s frozen in the entrance. She’s looking at the stunning room before us. Connor’s decorated it perfectly to accent the natural beauty of the canyons framed by the floor-to-ceiling windows. There are tall cactuses lining the steps up to the makeshift altar. Each cactus is exploding with red blooms. It’s perfect. I smile and look at Mom.
She turns to Connor. “It’s all wrong. I’m glad I came in early because you obviously can’t follow the simplest instructions.”
* * *