My Kind of Town
Full meltdown
>> Honolulu Soap Co.
Against her will, at the mere sound of his voice, Lily Ah Sun's heart was in full meltdown. She had to put a stop to it.
"Listen, Quinn," she said, switching the phone from one hand to the other.
"I'm on long distance with Laird. Can we talk later?"
"Just two questions, Lily, and you never have to talk to me again if you don't want to. No, three questions. One, who's Bobo? Two, what does he have to do with you changing your mind about me? And three, how come you left only one photocopy?"
"One, I don't know. Questions two and three, what the hell're you talking about?"
"Fair enough," Quinn said, "to the first one. After that, we really gotta talk. Things are not making sense. Call me?"
"Sure," she said unconvincingly.
"And tell Laird congratulations for me."
Without saying goodbye, Lily hit the button for line one. "I'm back."
"So I hope you're coming up for the graduation," her brother Laird said from Palo Alto.
Actually, after their father confided to Lily that he was naming Laird president of the Soap Co., Lily had decided to boycott his graduation from Stanford Business. She'd use the time to do a hostile takeover of the company while her father was away. But now that Laird had confided in her that he didn't want to run the family company, that he wanted to set out on his own, starting with spending a year in Afghanistan teaching Muslims Christianity and capitalism, well ... She wanted to be there when Laird broke the news to their father.
"If you want me there."
"I need the support, Lily."
So did Lily. "Sure, it would be nice to see you. It's been a while."
"Nearly two years since I've been home."
"By the way, you'll never believe who I ran into the other day -- our long-lost cousin Quinn. I told him about you, he sends his congratulations."
"God, I almost forgot about him. What's he doing these days?"
"Motorcycle cop. Actually, he pulled me over for speeding."
And the meltdown began again. Lily remembered the electricity that passed between them when the handsome young cop pulled her over, the long gaze they'd shared before she handed him her license and they realized they were cousins. But by that time, it was too late. She'd already wanted him, and he wanted her.
Lily forced herself to remember walking into his hospital room just hours ago and finding him kissing and being fondled by some hoochie mama. A little ice to stop the meltdown.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin
with weekly summaries on Sunday.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com