Reality was loud and crude, a line at the counter where a single clerk tended to business. The customer presently enjoying attention was in a noisy snit about his car, bottling up everything until somebody cried out for a second clerk. One must have appeared because things quieted and we began to move. I had my head down, afraid to look out the window and see Tom gone.
Motel, shower, change, wedding, I said to myself over and over. Concentrate. Life. Live it. Three months, then he’ll be picking me up at the airport and I won’t be in this damned line.
Driving a little Kia, I knew the way to the motel, having grown up in the area. But it all looked different now, new in some way, everything changed even as I made familiar turns. Once cleaned up, I headed for Palos Verdes and a church chose
