“Sure, I’ll hook you up,” I answered casually as I tapped directions to Abbot Kinney into the car’s system. I noted silence from her so I looked at her, and saw her perplexed look.

“Sorry,” I stammered, “I meant, of course I’ll give you the agency’s details and give them a call also, to make sure they’ll take care of you. Hook you up.”

She laughed again. “Forgive this old woman’s ignorance of all the lingo you kids use nowadays, would you?”

“Hardly a kid,” I riposted as I drove carefully down the quiet streets of the Venice Canal area. After we cleared the next four-way stop, I asked, “so when do you expect Mr. Morris back, Sheryl?”

“Call him Aidan when you meet, him, Aerin, or he might think you’d be referring to his father,” she answered with a chuckle. “On Sunday night. He’s in DC, giving some advice to some Senators about some issue, I think.”

I nodded. The GPS flashed that we were five minutes from our destination.

I flicked my turning light on and slowed as we approached the turning lane into AK, as the banners decorating the meridian of the main avenues of the place called it. But Sheryl exclaimed, “No, no, don’t turn here. Drive past the light and then turn into the commercial area at the next break in the road.”

I glanced quickly at her, saw her finger pointing at something down the street, and then followed her directions.

We waited for the incoming traffic to thin before I turned into the parking lot of the commercial area, as Sheryl had suggested. Instead of parking there, though, she pointed towards the alley abutting this commercial area. “You can park in one of the spaces left over there,” she explained.

She smiled at me as I eased the car into one of the remaining open, but tight, spaces in the alley. “Good job, Aerin. Parking’s really hard to come by here.”

“Just like New York. No problem,” I answered, faux breezily.

We walked the short distance to the corner of AK and Venice Blvd, and then she turned to ask, “Do you want to walk and explore a bit or grab a bite to eat first?”

It looked like an interesting place all around but, suddenly, I felt hungry again. “Absolutely starving, Sheryl. Would you mind if we got something to eat first?”