loud,” I said, leaning forward in my seat to turn the volume down. “Better?”
“Sorry, Lizzie. I didn’t mean to diss your music. But it’s hard when I can’t understand what they’re saying.”
“That’s because they were singing in Spanish.”
“Yeah, that much I gathered.”
“It’s actually one of the things I like best about being here, to be honest.”
“Spanish music?”
“No. I mean, kind of. It’s just nice to turn on the radio and hear something so familiar. They play it on, like, a dozen channels. It’s the kind of stuff my parents always listened to. I miss it.”
He smiled over at me. “But I bet you totally rebelled against it when you were younger, didn’t you?”
“Oh, God, yes. We couldn’t imagine anything more embarrassing when we were kids. The worst was when they’d play it while we had friends over.” I smiled. “There was this one time Maria brought a boy home. My mom had said they could watch movies in the den so long as the door was open. Well, my dad thought she was way too young to be dating. She was, what, fifteen at the time? So he decided to blast Mariachi music from the garage for the entire afternoon.” I laughed. “You could hear it all up and down the street. Maria was so mad, you should have seen her face. And my dad just kept saying, ‘What?’ like he had no idea why it would bother her.”
My laughter trailed off as the memory hit me like a punch to the gut. My dad’s face, so casually innocent. Maria red with fury.
Thomas reached over the dash and took my hand. “They’ll come around, Lizzie.”
“Whatever.” I turned away from him, not wanting him to see the wetness in my eyes. “So. Griffith Park. What’s so great about it?”
I could feel his eyes on me, like he wasn’t sure we should change the subject, but eventually he went on, in his brightest voice, “Well, it’s supposed to be really cool. There’s all kind of stuff to do there, apparently. Picnicking and hiking. There’s even a swimming pool in the summer.”
I laughed. “It’s crazy to think that it’s winter right now.”
“Right? Seventy-three and sunny is so very winter-like. I saw a man in a wool jumper out on the street yesterday.”
“This would be shorts weather in Detroit.”
His eyes flicked down to my bare legs. “A fact I am very much appreciative of.”
“I could say the same for you, mister. You’re rocking those shorts.”
He laughed. “Rocking them, eh?”
I squeezed his hand. “Yup. I’ll have to fight off the female competitors with a stick.”
He nodded gravely. “Most likely. Maybe you’ll find one on the trails.”
I grinned, my momentary sadness at the thought of Maria and my dad reduced to a dull ache. “So we’re hiking, right?”
“I thought we could try it out, yeah. And there’s an observatory, too, if we wanted to check that out.” His voice took on an overly casual note, which cracked me up. Thomas is a total science geek but tries to hide it.
“We could do that.”
“The observatory is up in the hills, and there’s supposed to be amazing views of the entire area. Oh, and of the Hollywood sign.”
“Sweet. We can get some good pictures then.”
The ride to the observatory was nice. We drove along a winding road up into the hills, the neat spacious houses of the neighborhood eventually giving way to trees and steep drop-offs.
“Jenner said parking could be a bitch up here,” Thomas said. The sides of the road were filled bumper-to-bumper with parked cars. “We should probably just park at the first spot we see and walk the rest of the way.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Thomas parallel parked easily between a BMW and a Range Rover and we began the trek up the rest of the hill toward the observatory. My legs were burning within minutes. “Crap,” I muttered. “I might not be so good at this hiking thing.”
“Come on, love. Get a move on. No lollygagging.”
I made a face at him. “I can do without the
“Sorry, Lizzie. I didn’t mean to diss your music. But it’s hard when I can’t understand what they’re saying.”
“That’s because they were singing in Spanish.”
“Yeah, that much I gathered.”
“It’s actually one of the things I like best about being here, to be honest.”
“Spanish music?”
“No. I mean, kind of. It’s just nice to turn on the radio and hear something so familiar. They play it on, like, a dozen channels. It’s the kind of stuff my parents always listened to. I miss it.”
He smiled over at me. “But I bet you totally rebelled against it when you were younger, didn’t you?”
“Oh, God, yes. We couldn’t imagine anything more embarrassing when we were kids. The worst was when they’d play it while we had friends over.” I smiled. “There was this one time Maria brought a boy home. My mom had said they could watch movies in the den so long as the door was open. Well, my dad thought she was way too young to be dating. She was, what, fifteen at the time? So he decided to blast Mariachi music from the garage for the entire afternoon.” I laughed. “You could hear it all up and down the street. Maria was so mad, you should have seen her face. And my dad just kept saying, ‘What?’ like he had no idea why it would bother her.”
My laughter trailed off as the memory hit me like a punch to the gut. My dad’s face, so casually innocent. Maria red with fury.
Thomas reached over the dash and took my hand. “They’ll come around, Lizzie.”
“Whatever.” I turned away from him, not wanting him to see the wetness in my eyes. “So. Griffith Park. What’s so great about it?”
I could feel his eyes on me, like he wasn’t sure we should change the subject, but eventually he went on, in his brightest voice, “Well, it’s supposed to be really cool. There’s all kind of stuff to do there, apparently. Picnicking and hiking. There’s even a swimming pool in the summer.”
I laughed. “It’s crazy to think that it’s winter right now.”
“Right? Seventy-three and sunny is so very winter-like. I saw a man in a wool jumper out on the street yesterday.”
“This would be shorts weather in Detroit.”
His eyes flicked down to my bare legs. “A fact I am very much appreciative of.”
“I could say the same for you, mister. You’re rocking those shorts.”
He laughed. “Rocking them, eh?”
I squeezed his hand. “Yup. I’ll have to fight off the female competitors with a stick.”
He nodded gravely. “Most likely. Maybe you’ll find one on the trails.”
I grinned, my momentary sadness at the thought of Maria and my dad reduced to a dull ache. “So we’re hiking, right?”
“I thought we could try it out, yeah. And there’s an observatory, too, if we wanted to check that out.” His voice took on an overly casual note, which cracked me up. Thomas is a total science geek but tries to hide it.
“We could do that.”
“The observatory is up in the hills, and there’s supposed to be amazing views of the entire area. Oh, and of the Hollywood sign.”
“Sweet. We can get some good pictures then.”
The ride to the observatory was nice. We drove along a winding road up into the hills, the neat spacious houses of the neighborhood eventually giving way to trees and steep drop-offs.
“Jenner said parking could be a bitch up here,” Thomas said. The sides of the road were filled bumper-to-bumper with parked cars. “We should probably just park at the first spot we see and walk the rest of the way.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Thomas parallel parked easily between a BMW and a Range Rover and we began the trek up the rest of the hill toward the observatory. My legs were burning within minutes. “Crap,” I muttered. “I might not be so good at this hiking thing.”
“Come on, love. Get a move on. No lollygagging.”
I made a face at him. “I can do without the
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