Page 68 of Just Beachy

“How on earth did you get so wise?” I throw my arms around her and sob uncontrollably as the full reality of what could have happened to both of us grabs hold of me yet again.

“Shhh…it’s all right.” Grand holds me until I finally sniff to a stop.

“I’m not ‘wise,’ sweetheart. I’ve just been around for a really, really long time. And I’ve learned to keep an open mind. And to appreciate how lucky I am to have family and friends who love me.”

I sleep through the night for the first time since Grand was abducted, and I wake up refreshed. When I glance out the bedroom window, there are fewer reporters, which makes me believe that sometime soon Grand and I will be able to leave the house without an audience. We’re lounging in the living room with our coffee when Stan, the policeman currently out front, calls me on my cell phone. “Someone named Kyra is here to see you,” he says quietly. “She says she’s a friend of yours.”

“She is. Please send her in. But don’t say her name out loud again.”

“Are you sure?” He lowers his voice even further. “I’m pretty sure she’s wearing a disguise. And, um, she’s been handing out sunflowers to everyone in the crowd.”

I smile, eager to see what kind of disguise Kyra’s got going this time. “Then that’s definitely Kyra. Please let her in.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Moments later a pregnant flower child steps off the stairs and into the living room. A large straw hat shadows her face while long blond hair falls almost to her waist. She’s wearing a gauzy off-the-shoulder top, long flowing skirt, and Birkenstock sandals. Her hands are clasped around a bunch of sunflowers, and she has a shit-eating grin on her face, which even without makeup is beautiful.

As the mother of megastar Daniel Deranian’s “love child,” Kyra has received more than anyone’s fair share of attention, much of it negative. Like Daniel, who has often shown up in disguise to see his son without alerting the media, Kyra has learned that sometimes, in order to fly under the radar, it’s best to become someone less paparazzi-worthy.

“Wow!” I say. “If I didn’t know you, I wouldn’t have known you.”

“That’s good. I didn’t want to give the vultures out there anything else to pounce on,” she says as she removes the hat.

“That’s very thoughtful of you. But I kind of wish you’d come as a sumo wrestler or the Jolly Green Giant so you could mow down at least a few of them on your way in.”

“I hear you.” She gives Grand and me big hugs and a sunflower. Then she kicks off the Birkenstocks, turns her back to reach under her skirt to remove the pillow stuffed under it, and drops into a chair. “I’m beyond thrilled to see you both alive. Now tell me all about your ‘adventure.’ ”

“Oh, I don’t know if Grand wants—” I begin.

“It’s all right,” Grand interrupts. “Sometimes it’s better to talk about it than to keep it in.”

Once again, I’m shocked that my grandmother has it so “together.” I only hope some of her philosophy of life rubs off on me. Surely there must be a chance, given that we share the same DNA.

“All right, then,” I say. “CliffsNotes: These people who wanted a painting of Grand’s took her hostage and demanded that I bring them the painting. They said that if I didn’t bring the painting, they were going to kill her.”

Kyra’s eyes grow big.

“Only I couldn’t find the painting they wanted, so I went in with a blank rolled-up canvas and hoped that I could hand it over and bluff our way out of there before they discovered it wasn’t the painting they wanted.”

“And you were able to do that? Bluff your way out?” Kyra asks.

“Not exactly,” I admit.

“So why did they let you go?”

“They didn’t,” Grand replies. “But Sydney managed to smuggle in a pistol in her boot, and quick as a flash, she wounded and disarmed the kidnappersbeforethey could even unroll it.”

“Holy shit! No wonder the media is after you.”

“Yeah. We’ve been trapped in here ever since. But I have to admit that shooting our way out of there was really empowering. I discovered that I’d learned a lot more from playing Cassie all those years than I realized.”

“Interesting.” Kyra smiles.

“Yeah.” I smile back. “Now, tell us what’s going on in your world. It would be a lovely break from ours at the moment.”

“Well, let’s see. Troy and I are editing the video of the Y’s grand opening. We’re going to work it into an episode ofDo Over.”

“Cool!”

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