She’s lovely, clever and compassionate. However was she into me?

It was Sunday morning. I shivered from the rain and entered John O’Groats on Pico Boulevard. The proprietor greeted me as I headed for a seat on the crowded counter. Just a few of the regulars nodded in my course.

I used to be 4 months previous the bruising crash of a long-distance romance, armed with a brand new vow: No extra cross-country heartbreak. While the ex-love of my life was again along with her ex-beau in Michigan having fun with Mackinac Island fudge, I used to be able to bury all remorse and rethink my vow over a fruitless bowl of steel-cut oats.

I had met Renée the earlier month throughout a three-week consulting challenge in Washington, D.C. The all-consuming emotion of being swept away by an attractive, clever and compassionate individual collided with my self-inflicted vow. In the throes of cognitive dissonance, I ignored the vow and fell in love with Renée. I returned to L.A. however solely after securing a promise she would go to quickly.

Thankfully Renée got here to L.A. for a week-long work project. Our plan was easy: After breakfast, I’d meet her at her lodge, and collectively we might spend the day exploring the sights and experiences that L.A. needed to provide.

I scanned close by tables for pals however was distracted by a lady quickening her tempo towards the one obtainable stool on the counter. Renée? What is she doing right here? A person with a cane, a couple of steps forward of her, tapped a gradual declare to the prize. She slowed her stroll, resigned to a second-place end and nowhere to take a seat. Her lips pressed in a rueful grin.

The man subsequent to me dropped a $5 tip on the counter and walked away. I waved to get Renée’s consideration and gestured to the empty seat. We exchanged stunned smiles as she approached, hugged me, and mentioned, “I missed you. The concierge recommended O’Groats. I’m ready to explore L.A.”

“I missed you too. What’s on your must-see list?” I replied.

“I’d like to see Malibu, the Sunset Strip and … here, the concierge gave me this.” I examined the handwritten sightseeing record. I mentioned it was a very good record, nevertheless it missed a couple of of my favourite locations. Our ultimate record included the Petersen Automotive Museum — we each had fathers who handed on to us their love of basic vehicles — Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Malibu and dinner at Geoffrey’s.

“If you can still put up with me,” I mentioned, “we can cruise the Sunset Strip and Hollywood Boulevard tonight.”

We completed breakfast and drove to the Petersen. Upon coming into, we have been met by a fleet of classic Corvettes and a row of charcuterie boards. We barely touched the hors d’oeuvres whereas drooling over the vehicles. When we walked throughout the road towards LACMA, it was almost 3 p.m.

Amid intermittent raindrops, we have been speaking about vehicles from the ’60s when Renée stopped strolling. Standing 10 yards in entrance of us on a nook of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue was a shivering aged girl who appeared misplaced. Renée quickened her tempo and approached the girl. “Are you all right?”

“I don’t … I’m not sure this is … ” Her speech was hesitant, halting. Renée coaxed an entire sentence. “I want to go home.” She whispered an deal with.

Renée checked out me and mentioned, “Let’s bring her home.”

We drove a brief distance to the deal with, the place an anxious man guided the confused girl by way of the entrance door. “Mom, where did you go?” He thanked us profusely, and Renée and I walked again to my automobile.

I drove east on Wilshire towards LACMA. We discovered parking on Fairfax and walked towards the nook the place we had approached the misplaced girl.

“That was a beautiful thing you did,” I mentioned.

“We did,” she replied.

“Still, it was you who … ”

“Well, once I saw her, I knew we weren’t here just to eat canapés and see Corvettes. We had to help her.”

Until this second, standing on the nook of one of many busiest intersections within the metropolis, falling in love had at all times been for me an arduous course of.

This, nonetheless, was fireworks with dazzling explosions. Time to be daring, I believed. “Let’s skip the art exhibits and drive to Malibu,” I mentioned. “I want to be with you, the ocean and the setting sun. I know the perfect place.”

It was almost 5 p.m. once we parked at El Matador State Beach. As we hiked the quick distance from Pacific Coast Highway on the rocky switchback path, she caught glimpses of the sculpted sea stacks rising 50 meters from the sand and shallow waters.

When we reached the seaside, Renée was silent. “These towers always take my breath away too,” I mentioned.

She took off her footwear, rolled up her pants and waded into the water. I joined her. The wind and waves whipped round us. At my urging, she closed her eyes. Uneven sandbars lifted after which dropped us in a slow-motion, repetitive dance on the sediment ground. The salty seawater splashed our faces beneath a salmon-colored sky.

We skipped Geoffrey’s, Hollywood and the Sunset Strip. I drove again to her lodge. We kissed goodnight and made plans to go to these locations the following night with out the ocean-soaked garments.

Confession: All of this occurred greater than 30 years in the past. Renée and I are fortunately married and stay in L.A. The iconic landmarks we visited all these years in the past are, fortunately, nonetheless right here. We have carried out our greatest to revisit them every year on our wedding ceremony anniversary with one modification — we carry bathing fits and towels.

The writer, who was born and raised in L.A., is a retired HR guide and govt coach. His debut novel, “Coyote Time,” printed by Guernica Editions, shall be obtainable in April.

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