Chapter 54

• Her late dinner is sinfully good. Annabelle's date, Nicholas, takes her to a small surf-shack type restaurant on Highway 1 slightly north of Santa Monica. Despite the busy Saturday night crowd, when the hostess sees Nicholas, she greets him by name and whisks them out to a rather private table on the patio that overlooks the water. The crash of waves serves as a soft background music to their evening.
• “Come here much?” Annabelle asks wryly, “or do you just use the fact that the hostess is in love with you to get the primo table?”
• He flashes a heart-stopping grin at her. “Rachel’s a sweet girl. Her dad owns the place. He has a ladder up to the rooftop. Sometimes him and I go up there and throw back a few beers. Shoot the shit. Escape the madness.” He leans over and taps the top of her nose with his finger. “I hope this is okay?” he asks.