Page 29 of The Summer Request
The hotel kept a smattering of cabanas and villas near the sand. The pool was tasteful, with a gradual sloped entry that gave it the feel of a beautiful lagoon. If the Hotel Lusso had been an electric yellow Lamborghini, the Henge Hotel was an eggshell Aston Martin with gold trim.
They didn’t have the penthouse suite this time, but only because there was no penthouse. Instead, they had an ocean view villa, with easy access to the Ocean Front Walk.
They were in the middle of the action, close to all of the best restaurants, and an easy drive from the hustle of Hollywood Boulevard. Zora had offered to arrange tickets for a show, but they opted instead to do one of Justine’s favorite activities: walk the Santa Monica Pier.
Their earlier spat was a distant memory. They walked, three across, sampling the various Justine-approved delicacies Lou had never liked: corn dogs, chocolate-covered popcorn, churros, and tamales.
Lisa managed to convince them to ride the Ferris wheel, and up they went, one hundred and thirty feet above the pier. The screams of children on the rides below faded into the wind and they watched revelers on the beach.
Afterwards, Val convinced them to make the walk from the pier to the Venice Beach Boardwalk. It was easy enough to do. The weather was a perfect seventy-three degrees, and there were hundreds of opportunities for people watching, another Justine favorite.
Lisa in particular liked the Muscle Beach Outdoor Gym. “This is just how it looks in the movies!” she gushed. “I can’t believe it’s real!”
A shirtless man with a particularly shiny chest winked at her. “Believe me, it’s real.”
She squealed, turning away from him with her mouth hanging open. “Let’s move,” she said, cheeks red.
“Why?” Val asked. “I like his muscles. Hey!” She waved. “How strong are you?”
He smiled. “How strong do you need me to be?”
Even Michelle giggled at that, and they rushed off like a gaggle of school girls.
It was fun to be with her high school friends again. Something about it made her feel young. They had known her way back when, and even with all the years between them, it felt like they still knew each other. They knew the parts that mattered, at least.
Further down the boardwalk, they stopped to admire some murals and enjoy a few street performances: tumblers, beat boxers, a skate boarding dog, and a man walking on broken glass. Michelle and Lisa were mesmerized.
Val loved bringing tourists here. It was so lively, so fun. She and Justine would sometimes meet up at the pier or along the boardwalk. Justine loved watching the people – she loved seeing them happy. People flocked to her, too. They couldn’t go to a restaurant without the waiter becoming her best friend. She was just that sort of person.
“Hey!” Val waved them away from a souvenir store. “One of Justine’s favorite bars is coming up. It’s a hole-in-the-wall type place. The bartender is this old sailor who tells tales about shipwrecks and gives out stern advice.”
“You had me at ‘Justine’s favorite,’” Lisa said.
Michelle smiled. She looked so much more relaxed. “And you had me at stern advice.”
Val laughed. It was good to get their fun out of the way now. Tomorrow, Chloe would arrive and they’d need to get down to business. “This way!”
Eleven
There was no stopping Val. Michelle was starting to understand that, and after their carefree romp at the seaside, she decided to take a page out of Justine’s book and just go with it.
If only she’d learned to go with the flow sooner. She might have come to visit LA before. Justine had invited her so many times. Why hadn’t she made the time? Why had she allowed herself to put her life on hold like that?
It still didn’t seem real that Justine was gone. How could she be here one moment, and the next moment just…disappear? She’d had so much life in her, so much energy and love. Where was it now? Where did it all go?
These thoughts plagued her as she drifted off to sleep and reappeared the moment she awoke in that luxurious hotel bed. She sat up and the smell of fresh coffee drifted in. She could hear Val trying to be quiet as she bumped around just outside her door.
Michelle stood and pulled the curtains open. The beach filled the frame of the window. Another beautiful day at a beautiful hotel, in this charming and lively city by the sea. It was all perfect, except for the cold, hard fact that Justine wasn’t there to enjoy it. She’d wanted them to experience all of this, the fun and the fights that made uptogetherness.
The urge to dissolve into tears and ruin the perfectly white fluffy towels with her leftover mascara rushed over her. She wanted this moment to actually be perfect. She wanted Justine to walk through the door so she could tell her about what they’d seen and done.
But it couldn’t happen. It would never happen again.
It was always in these quiet moments that grief snuck in, bubbling up, a bittersweet reminder of what could have been but was now forever lost. Grief was learning to live with forever, one moment at a time.
Michelle didn’t allow herself to break down. Not this time. She still had Val and Lisa. They had each other, and they had this moment.
Her phone went off with a message from Arthur. “Hope you’re not getting too cool for us out in LA. We’re getting some rain, which is nice. Everything at the cafe is running smoothly, so don’t worry about that, but we do miss you.”
