McAvoy was different. She drummed up another smile as she got to
her feet. He had saved her life. If seeing her father was the only
payment she could make, then she would make it.
"I'd like a ride, if it's not too much trouble."
"No big deal." He caught himself before he shifted his feet in the sand.
She probably thought he was a jerk.
"I'll just be a minute." She rushed off in the direction of the guards,
snatching up her beach wrap and bag on the way. "My friend is giving me
a ride home," she said in her most dismissive tone.
"Miss McAvoy." The guard named Masters cleared his throat. "It would be
better if you called your father."
"There's no need to bother him."
The second guard, Sweeney, mopped his sweaty forehead. "Your father
wouldn't like you taking rides from strangers."
"Michael's not a stranger." The haughty tone made her feel nasty inside,
but she would not, could not, be humiliated in front of Michael. "I
know him, and so does my father. Michael's father is a captain on the
police force here." She pulled the long, rainbow-colored T-shirt over
her suit. "You'll be following behind us, so what does it matter?" She
turned, and keeping her head up, walked back to where Michael waited
with their boards.
"Hold it." Sweeney put a hand on Masters's shoulder. "Let's give the
kid a break. She don't get many."
Michael's gas gauge was hovering dangerously close to empty when he
pulled up at the high iron gates in Beverly Hills. He saw the faint
surprise on the guard's face before the switch was thrown and the gates
swung inward. He was sorry as he drove down the tree-lip,-, drive that
he had nothing but scruffy sandals and his old track jer:,-.
to wear with his bathing trunks.
The house was all pink stone and white marble, four towering stories of
it that took up more than an acre of the trim green lawn. Double arched
doors of etched glass stood at the entrance. He wasn't sure if he
should be amused or impressed by the peacock that strutted across the
grass.
"Nice place."
"It's P.M."s really. Or P.M."s wife's." Emma found herself faintly
embarrassed by the life-sized marble lions that flanked the entrance.
"It used to belong to someone in the cinema-I can never remember who-but
Angie did it all over. Anyway, she's in Europe filming so we're staying
a few weeks. Have you got time to come in?"
"Ah, yeah, I got time." He frowned down at the sand clinging to his
feet. "If you're sure it's okay."
"Of course it is." She stepped out of the car, the same '68 Chevelle
that Lou had once driven to the rehearsal hall. She waited for Michael
to unstrap her board from the roof, then started up the steps. "I'll
have to tell Dad what happened. The guards will anyhow. I hope you
don't mind if I, well, make it sound minor. You know?"
"Sure." He grinned at her again, making her young heart flutter.
"Parents always overreact. I guess they can't help it."
He heard the music the moment she opened the door. A piano, a series of