“I blocked her number before the plane left Manhattan,” I said.

We ate lunch on the patio while the ocean wind moved through the pines along the fence.

Theo collected the plates and carried them inside to the kitchen sink.

“I’ll drop the signed partnership folder off at the courier office,” he said.

“I’m going to walk down to the park,” I said.

At half past four the afternoon tide was coming in along the stone seawall at La Jolla park.

I walked the upper path with a paper coffee cup in my right hand, watching the white gulls wheel over the ocean.