“I’m going to miss you when you go off to Los Angeles,” she confessed.
“I want to talk to you about that.”
She noticed that his eyes were glowing and realized he’d been guarding a secret. “What about it?”
“I called my uncle and told him that as much as I appreciated his offer, I couldn’t come.”
“No, Luke—”
“Just listen. I told him that I couldn’t stand to be away from you, not even for a free month in California.”
She shook her head, thrilled in one way, sorry in another. “You call him back and tell him you’re coming.”
“Well, that’s just it.” Luke brushed her long blond hair off her bare shoulders. “He called me last night and said that if you were that important to me, then he’d send you a ticket also.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You mean he wants us to come together?”
“And to stay at his condo and to show us the time of our lives.” His face clouded momentarily. “Do you think you can come, Julie? I know you have a job and all, but if you can’t come with me I don’t want to go.”
She nibbled at her bottom lip, contemplating the situation. “The job’s nothing. Solena can take it over.”
“But your parents … what will they say?”
More than anything, Julie wanted to go with Luke. She wanted to spend as much time as possible with him. The need to do so felt compelling and urgent. She couldn’t be separated from him, not even for a month. Steely resolve stole through her. “I’m going, Luke,” she said. “And don’t worry, I’ll persuade my parents.”
“But your mother—”
“Leave my mother to me … I’ll handle her. I promise.” Julie was thinking about the way her mother had manipulated the job so that Julie could spend time with the librarian’s nephew. “Believe me, Mom owes me this one,” Julie added. She slipped into Luke’s arms and sealed her vow to him with a kiss.
15
The plane descended through a bank of thick white clouds tinged in pink, and aimed for the long runway of Los Angeles International Airport. Julie pressed her nose to the small, oblong window, peering down at the cityscape spread out below. She clutched Luke’s arm. “My gosh, look. There’s civilization as far as I can see.”
Luke craned his neck to peer past her shoulder. “It’s sure nothing like Indiana. And look at the expressways!” Superhighways looped like broad, flat ribbons through the concrete maze of buildings. In the far distance, foothills, looking brown and parched, rolled across arid stretches of ground.
They had left Chicago’s O’Hare Airport at 7 A.M. and chased the rising sun westward. Because of the time change, the plane would land close to the time it had departed Chicago. “How will you know your uncle?” Julie asked.
Luke extracted a photograph from the pocket of his shirt. “He sent Mom this last Christmas.” A tall man with brown hair, broad shoulders, and a winning smile stood beside a petite red-haired woman. Both were wearing hiking gear. “And of course, he has a picture of me.”
Once the plane landed, Luke grabbed up his backpack and Julie her satchel, and they deplaned, walked through a doorway, and found themselves in a throng of people. Julie caught her breath. She’d never seen such crowds.
“Luke! Over here!”
Julie and Luke turned to see a man waving from his position beside a round white pillar. A red-haired woman, who looked to be in her thirties, held his other hand. After hugs, Luke introduced Julie and Uncle Steve introduced the woman as Diedra O’Ryan, his “significant other.”
Steve insisted on first names and Julie liked the idea. She felt awkward calling him “Uncle” when he wasn’t kin to her. “Trip okay?” Steve asked.
“Perfect,” Luke said.
Steve studied him. “You look so much like my brother.”
“Mom’s showed me photos of Dad, but I don’t see the resemblance,” Luke replied.
“Trust me,” Steve said, still studying Luke’s face. “You’re the image of him at seventeen. It’s like seeing a ghost.”
“Are you tired?” Diedra asked, interrupting the bittersweet reminiscing.
“Not really. We got up at four to catch the limo bus to O’Hare,” Julie answered quickly. “But I’ve been so excited about the trip that I hadn’t slept all night anyway.”
“I’m glad your parents let you come,” Steve told her.
“After you called and talked to them, and after Luke’s mother assured them that I’d be safe with you in L.A., and after I whimpered and whined for a week, they had no choice,” Julie declared with a satisfied smile.
They laughed. Julie didn’t add how tough the sell had been or how she’d brazenly pitted her parents against one another to get her way. In the end, her father had come over to her side, and although her mother hadn’t been happy, she had resigned herself to Julie’s making the trip.
“We’ve got a ton of things planned to do while you’re here,” Steve said.
“We want to do it all,” Julie said.
By now they’d entered the baggage claim area, and Steve and Luke went to retrieve his and Julie’s luggage. Diedra asked, “How’s Luke feeling?”
“Really good. Planning this trip was fun and gave him lots to think about besides cancer.”
Diedra nodded. “Steve’s been worried sick ever since he found out. We would have come to Indiana, but Steve didn’t want Luke to think that the family had been called in for a bedside vigil.”
“Luke wouldn’t have wanted Steve to see him following chemo anyway. He lost all his hair and got really ill. And then the radiation made him so tired, he wouldn’t have wanted his uncle to visit then either.”
“Steve figured a vacation in L.A. would be much more healthy than a race to Luke’s bedside.”
“Good choice. Luke’s over the worst of it now, and this is the way he wants his uncle to see him—not sick with cancer.”
“I understand.” Diedra’s green eyes clouded. “My mother died from cancer five years ago. It was hard watching her suffer.”
Julie tossed her long blond hair. “Well, that’s not going to happen to Luke. His last checkup was perfect, and now all he wants is to get on with his life.”
“And with you cheering him on, I’m sure his life will be interesting.” Diedra’s eyes sparkled mischievously, and Julie blushed. “I told Steve that the time to go east for a visit is when Luke’s healthy and playing football again.”
Julie nodded. “Good idea. With Luke, our high school has a great shot at going to the playoffs. At least that’s what my father says.”
“You make Luke sound like a true hero.”
“Okay, so I’m his biggest fan.”
“Good for you.” Julie’s gaze connected with Diedra’s, and she knew she had made a friend.
The ride to Steve’s condo community took them down expressways with names on exit ramps that Julie had only read about or seen in movies and music videos. At one point, high on a hill, she saw the tall white letters of “Hollywood” spelled out. Steve promised them a day of touring the famous area.
Steve’s neighborhood contained rows of town houses that looked alike—white stucco walls, red barrel-tile roofs, and red-painted doors. Some homes had wrought-iron grillwork over windows and Spanish-tile walkways. Clumps of hibiscus bushes and vines of bright fuchsia bougainvillea lined medians and gateways.
Steve’s three-story town house was spacious, built so that all the downstairs rooms looked out onto an inner courtyard with a tiled garden and a bubbling fountain. “Beautiful,” Julie cried.
Upstairs, Julie’s and Luke’s room each had its own bathroom. “I saw a place like this once in a magazine,” Julie told Luke when they were alone. “What’s your uncle do for a job, anyway?”
“He’s a cinematographer. Far cry from the steel mills, don’t you think?”
Julie recalled the cornfields of her home area, the towering grain silos, the smoke-belching stacks of the mills. “It’s different, all right. M
aybe some college out here will want you.”
Luke shrugged. “This is a long way from Indiana.”
“Thanks for bringing me, Luke.”
He pulled her into his arms. “I couldn’t have come without you.”
Diedra called to them from the bottom of the stairs. “You two want some chow?”
In response, Luke’s stomach growled, sending Julie into a fit of laughter. They bolted down the stairs and Diedra took them through sliding glass doors and into the courtyard, where a table set with platters of fresh fruit and sandwiches stood waiting. Steve was on a portable phone, but he signaled them to sit down. Julie sat facing the fountain, a large concrete pedestal holding a boy riding a dolphin, studded with colorful tile. Water bubbled into a basin where lily pads and pale pink lotus flowers floated. Sunlight dazzled Julie’s eyes and flecked off the dancing water.
“Do you want to rest?” Steve asked as soon as he was off the phone.
“No way,” Luke said, biting into a thick sandwich. “I spent months resting. All I want to do now is go.” He paused. “But what about your work?” At the mills back home everyone worked shifts.
“I’m taking some time off,” Steve said. “I’ve earned it. And besides, how often does my brother’s kid come to visit me?”
“What about you, Diedra?”
“I work with Steve,” she said. “We have a two-month hiatus before we start our next film. So, I’m coming along for the fun.”
Julie was glad. And very impressed by Steve and Diedra’s glamorous profession. All at once, she began to get a glimmer of what her mother kept harping about when she said that the world was a big place and that Julie owed it to herself to check it out. Still, for right now, her world was high school. And Luke. Always Luke. She couldn’t forget that. But perhaps, together, the two of them could discover the rest of the world and find a place in it for themselves, the way Steve and Diedra had.
“So what would you like to see first?” Steve wanted to know.
“Hollywood,” Luke said without hesitation.
“And that sidewalk with all the movie stars’ handprints,” Julie added.
Steve grinned. “I figured you’d want to go there, so that’ll be our first stop. I’ve made reservations for dinner at Planet Hollywood … unless you’d rather go to the Hard Rock Cafe.”
“Let’s go to both,” Luke said quickly, making them laugh.
“You do have a whole month out here,” Diedra teased.
“We’ll go to Universal Studios, Disneyland, visit a movie production set, take a hike up in the hills—”
“How about Rodeo Drive?” Julie blurted out the name of the most famous shopping area in Beverly Hills. “I promised Solena I’d buy her something from there.”
“What?” Luke asked. “A pack of chewing gum? That place is expensive.”
“I know a few stores we can shop at,” Diedra assured them. She glanced at Steve, who cleared his throat.
“But before we take off, there is something very special I want you to plan on doing with me and Diedra while you’re here.”
“Name it.” Luke tilted his head, his expression curious.
“It’s a big favor,” Steve said. “And we need both of you to help.”
“Count me in,” Julie said, also curious as to what she could possibly do for them.
Steve reached over and laced his large fingers through Diedra’s small, delicate ones. “While you’re here, Diedra and I want to get married. And we want you two to be our best man and maid of honor. What do you say?”
16
“Married?” Luke’s face broke into a grin. “That’s cool. You bet I’ll be your best man.”
Julie felt less enthusiastic. She’d only just met them and didn’t feel qualified to be a maid of honor. “But what about your family? And how about your best friends? Won’t any of them want to be in your wedding?” Personally, she couldn’t imagine getting married without Solena standing with her.
“I’m the only one left in my family,” Diedra said. “And Steve’s my best friend.” She patted his hand affectionately. “And we made up our mind that we want the wedding to be very small and very intimate. We just want the two of you there.”
“And I was the best man at your parents’ wedding,” Steve said. “If my brother were still alive, I’d ask him, but you’re his son and that’s the next best thing to his being there.”
“When are we going to do this?” Luke wanted to know.
“We were thinking about the week right before you go home. There’s this little chapel up the coast and that’s were we want to do the deed.”
“The chapel’s beautiful,” Diedra added. “And quite old. The Spanish settlers built it in the 1700s and monks still take care of the place.”
By now, Julie too was caught up in the excitement. It all seemed so romantic. “I didn’t bring anything very dressy.”
“Rodeo Drive, remember? My treat,” Diedra said with a wink.
Steve groaned. “Dress shopping?” He glanced at Luke. “While they shop, we’ll knock some golf balls around.”
“Suits me,” Luke said.
After more discussion, more food, and two quick phone calls to Indiana so that Luke and Julie could tell their parents they’d arrived safely, the four of them headed for Hollywood. On the way to the car, Luke plucked a bright red hibiscus flower and tucked it behind Julie’s ear.
“Pretty,” he said gazing into her eyes, and she caught the double implication of his compliment.
Hollywood’s Walk of Fame was a long sidewalk teeming with tourists, where star shapes had been set in granite and concrete, each bearing the name of some famous screen personage. At Grauman’s Chinese Theater, signatures were scrawled in the cement, accompanied by handprints. Julie and Luke shouldered their way through throngs of tourists, exclaiming over names they recognized, pausing to ask about names they didn’t. Steve knew a great deal about the silver screen and kept up a running commentary. “He’s better than a tour guide,” Diedra confided.
The names rolled past Julie’s vision, and sometimes she hesitated even to step on a particular slab, as if it might desecrate the person’s memory. The sun beat down on her back and shoulders, but she was so immersed in stargazing that she barely felt its heat. All of a sudden, Luke stopped and pointed down.
There in the concrete was the signature of Marilyn Monroe, her handprints above her name. He whipped off his baseball cap and placed it over his heart. “A moment of reverence, please.”
“You an MM fan?” Steve asked.
“She’s the other woman in his life,” Julie explained. “But I’ve learned to live with it.”
Luke paced around the square bearing Marilyn’s name and handprints. Tourists streamed by them, snapping pictures and exclaiming over other names. “You know what, Julie? I’ll bet your hands are the same size.”
“I’ll bet not.”
“Only one way to find out.”
She glanced at all the foot traffic. “I’ll get stepped on.”
“We’ll protect you,” Steve said. He and Diedra and Luke formed a circle around her.
“Are you kidding?” But a glance at their faces told her they weren’t.
“Come on,” Luke urged. “What can it hurt? Don’t you want to know?”
She sighed, dropped to her knees on the hot concrete, and carefully placed her hands into the mold of Marilyn’s. To her astonishment, it was a perfect fit. “I don’t believe it.”
Luke whooped and his face split into a grin. “I knew it! I knew your hands would be the same size. This is so cool.”
Julie stood. “That’s about all of me that’s the same size.”
Luke seized her around the waist and lifted her off the ground, laughing. “I have a living duplicate of Marilyn. Does life get much better than this?”
Julie blushed furiously. He was causing a scene and a small crowd was looking on with curiosity. “He’s crazy,” she mouthed apologetically to the onlookers. “Heat
stroke.”
Luke bent her backward and kissed her soundly on the mouth. The crowd broke into applause.
“Luke! This is so embarrassing,” Julie hissed.
“So what? We’ll never see these people again. Besides, life is short.”
Steve and Diedra stood to one side and laughed. When Julie was finally able to regain her composure, they headed off to other attractions. She pretended to be in a huff, but of course she wasn’t. If anything, she was more in love with Luke than ever. Not because he’d kissed her in public, but because he wasn’t afraid to show his feelings for her to the whole world.
Yet his statement, “Life is short,” haunted her the rest of the day. She’d heard the phrase many times, but when Luke said it, it took on a deeper, more profound meaning. Life was short. And only a person who had looked death in the face could understand how very short it really could be.
The days passed in a whirlwind of activity and blended into one another like colors flowing across the sky at sunset. Julie fell in love with California. Steve took them on some great driving tours. Julie thought the city of Los Angeles too large, too busy, too filled with smog and exhaust fumes. But in the valleys, where farmers grew lush green crops, and in the foothills, where cactus and jagged rock formations looked wild and untamed, and on the beaches, where ocean waves rolled in timeless swirls, she lost her heart. And because she could share it all with Luke, the beauty and grandeur of the state took on an almost hallowed meaning for her.
“Promise me you’ll bring me back here someday,” she said to him one starry night when they were alone by Steve’s courtyard fountain.
“You mean leave Indiana?” His eyes danced mischievously.
“I could be persuaded.” She dipped her hand into the cool water, where golden fish swam lazily beneath lily pads.
“But remember the smell of autumn—of woodsmoke, and how the leaves change colors. Can you leave all that for this?”
Memories of chilly nights and football games and the thrill of the year’s first snowfall came to her. She felt a twinge of homesickness. “But don’t forget there aren’t any flowers half the year. And you know how much I like flowers.”