5
Max flitted ahead of me in the dark, too angry to slow down. The breeze was heavy with Pacific scents I didn’t recognize. I worried I would break my ankle on the slope, or she would. A swimming pool, lit like a jewel, shimmered and undulated beneath a sky that was colored campfire orange. I could see the lights of other estates, and down the canyons, over the flanks of other hills, the glitter of ordinary city streets. From up here, it was difficult to imagine the parking lots and shopping centers we had passed that afternoon.
‘Wait up!’ I called. ‘Come on, baby.’
She stopped and bent her head forward, her fists clenched. I caught up to her and held her shoulders, trying to see her face, but she kept turning away. ‘What was I thinking?’ she said. ‘You know my plan before was to never
