but wow, the timing’s bad.”
“Tell me about it.”
Thea slipped into the left turn lane. “Can’t your instructor stay a bit longer?”
“She’s got a two-year-old and a four-year-old. They’ve all got to move at the same time and that’s got to be soon.”
“I guess that’s a ‘no.” ’
“That’s a no,” Robyn agreed.
“And you can’t find anyone?”
“No one I want to leave with my business, lock, stock and barrel immediately after they start, anyway.”
Thea turned with the yellow light, zipping across just ahead of a speeding Nissan Maxima. “I guess I can kind of see your point.”
“I leave next Friday. If you can get up here in a day or two, we’d have time to get you up to speed. You can stay at my place. Darlene will keep you company while I’m gone.” Darlene, Robyn’s irrepressible pug. She and Thea had become fast friends on earlier visits.
“You’ll have my car to get around.” Robyn paused. “Thea, I really need you. I know it’s a lot to ask, but will you do it?”
To get my life in gear. A chance to get out of L.A., a chance to teach dance instead of potting plants for a living. A chance to help Robyn out at a crucial time, Robyn, who’d been there for her once, long ago. A chance for…who knew?
“I won’t need your car. I’ll drive up,” Thea said.
“You’ll drive up?” Robyn stopped. “Does that mean…”
“Give me two days so I can stop and see my sister in Sacramento. I’ll be up Thursday.”
“That gives us almost a week. That’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
“Well, I’m glad you’ve finally realized that,” Thea said.
2
“WHY DO I FEEL LIKE I should have a hall pass?” Thea asked Robyn as they walked down the broad hallway of the Lincoln School. Eighteen years had passed since she’d graduated from sixth grade, but the black-and-white-tiled floor and the glassed-in display cases on the walls brought it all back. All she needed was the beaded metal chain from her I.D. tag to use as her hopscotch marker and she’d be set.
“Just wait,” Robyn said.
“Tell me you’re not going to take me to the principal’s office.”
“Nope. Someplace better.” She stopped before a wooden door with Cafeteria emblazoned on its frosted glass insert.
“Let me guess. You’re taking me out for sloppy joes?”
“If you’re good,” Robyn promised and swung the door open.
It reminded her of her elementary school cafeteria, only homier, friendlier. Butter yellow walls, black-and-white tile and polished chrome, in a room buzzing with conversation and laughter. Straight ahead lay the counter with its row of stools. Waitresses in thirties-style diner uniforms circulated with laden trays. Behind the counter lay not only the window to the kitchen but a full bar with a dizzying array of taps; on the far wall, copper-clad brewing tanks gleamed.
Thea turned around with a broad grin. “This is the coolest place I’ve ever seen.”
Robyn laughed. “I knew you’d love it. Wait until you see the bathrooms. It’s just like you remember from being a kid, only better.”
They threaded their way to a table that overlooked a playground mostly occupied by the staked green rows of a kitchen garden, but still boasting a swing set and slide off to one side, and yes, a hopscotch grid on which a trio of animated girls hotly contested the lead.
“They grow a lot of their own vegetables right here,” Robyn explained, taking the menu the hostess handed her. “About the best salads you’ll get in town, even at the farmers’ market. Although you can also get a sloppy joe.”
Thea shook her head. “It’s brilliant.”
“It’s the McMillans. Brilliance is their specialty.”
“A chain?”
“Brothers,” Robyn explained. “They’ve got a string of places. Some of them are just brewpubs, some are pub hotels, or even spas. But they pick up these quirky themes—one of the places is a decommissioned jail, and they converted the old county work farm. Oh, and then there’s Suds n’ Celluloid. It shows old movies. You kick back on sofas and old chairs and waiters bring you beer and food.”
“Now, that’s what I call civilization,” Thea commented. “They’d clean up in L.A.”
Robyn grinned. “Sorry, they’re pretty much a Portland-only gig. When everything you touch turns to gold, you don’t have to go far. I should be so lucky,” she trailed off.
“Business tough?” Thea asked sympathetically, after they’d ordered.
Robyn moved her water glass around. “It’s going well, just not fast enough. It’s always hard the first couple of years, I knew that getting into it. I’m hanging in there.” She squared her shoulders and rearranged the cutlery.
“You know, if you needed a loan—” Thea began.
“Yeah, I know,” Robyn said and gave her hand a brief squeeze. “I don’t want to go there, though. I’m already asking enough of you by hauling you up here on zero notice. You walked away from your job.”
“My McJob,” Thea pointed out. “I’ll find a new one.”
“Even so.”
“Robyn, you were there for me, remember? There’s no way I can ever pay you back for that.”
“That’s what friends do.”
“Exactly,” Thea said. “You have to go. You’ve been talking about going to Australia someday for as long as I’ve known you. Besides, you need time to yourself, time to recharge. Just think, in a week you’ll be flying off to do just that.”
“What about you? When do you recharge?”
Thea grinned as the waitress brought their beer. “Shoot, I’ve spent the last eight years recharging. I’m powered up, now.”
“Yeah, I buy that.” Robyn raised her glass. “To being powered up.”
“To being powered up,” Thea echoed, and the ring of their toast echoed out. A moment later, Thea blinked. “Wow, that is some seriously wonderful beer,” she said. “Maybe that’s what you need to do, set up a microbrewery in your dance studio. Robyn’s Tango Ale. Just like the McMillans.”
“Honey, there’s nobody like the McMillans. They’re a force unto themselves.”
BRADY AND MICHAEL STOOD on the threadbare
