Last Night Read Online Free PDF Page A

tourist and you ' re in court. It ' s politics. "
    " True, " she agreed with a weary sigh.
    " You ' re not perfect. No judge is. Expect criticism. " Garth took a deep breath. " Forget what Rob said in his column. Remember, he gets paid to assassinate people in print. Call Rob. I ' d trust him with my life. "

 
     
     
     
     
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    R ob Tagett sat on his sofa, his long legs propped up on the glass coffee table, the receiver cradled against his shoulder as he listened to his son. He could almost see the defiant thrust of Zach's chin. How similar he'd been at fifteen. Rebellious as hell. You were either hungry or horny. Usually both.
    " Listen to me. " He gestured with both hands as if Zach were in the room with him instead of a thou sand miles away.
    " Yeah? "
    How could you discuss something like this over the telephone? " Your mother says she found you and your girlfriend naked in the hot tub. " Two beats of dead silence. " If you ' re having sex with a girl you need protection. "
    " Puh-leeze. "
    How in hell was he supposed to supervise a son who lived in L.A.? For the millionth time he cursed Ellen. If she ' d believed in him, in their marriage … but she hadn ' t. He didn ' t miss Ellen so much anymore, but he missed Zach terribly. He hated having these intimate father-son discussions via Ma Bell, but Ellen made it impossible for Zach to visit him very often.
    Yet Ellen expected him to be the one to administer discipline, to control a teenager whose hormones had staged a coup. It was really just a way of getting back at Rob, torturing him for what Ellen saw as his betrayal. Didn ' t she care that he was the one who ' d suffered? He ' d been the one accused, his name, his career ruined—not Ellen ' s.
    " Da-ad, " Zach said, his tone insolent as usual, " I can ' t just pull out a life jacket. The babe will think I planned to screw her. That would be, like, totally nerd city. "
    Life jacket? Jesus, was that what kids were calling condoms these days? Fitting, but depressing as hell. " Here ' s how you handle it. Explain that you really care for her and want to protect her. "
    Silence, then, " Awesome. Totally awesome. That ' s it. Dad… thanks. Gotta go. "
    " Put your mother on, Zach. I'll call you next week. " Rob waited while Ellen came on the line. " I expect Zach this summer. I don ' t want any bullshit about parties, ball camps—anything. I want to see my son. "
    Ellen reluctantly agreed and he hung up but stayed on the sofa, too upset to trek into the kitchen to see if there were any egg burritos in the freezer. The only light in the room came from the aquarium, where dozens of tropical fish as colorful as a Hawaiian sunrise swam in slow circles. His life was like th is aquarium, he realized, moving in endless circles and going nowhere.
    " Oh, crap. What ' s the matter with you?" He vaulted to his feet and st rode out onto the deck over looking Sunset Beach. " You don ' t have a damn thing to complain about. "
    It was true; his private security company earned a bundle without him spending much time at it. His weekly column, " Exposed, " made him a local celebrity. He was doing all right for a kid from Galves ton ' s back bay who ' d come to Hawaii almost twenty years ago.
    He gazed out at the sea, heeding the call of the ocean as the surf broke on the shore. A hunter ' s moon rode across a cloudless sky, spilling blue- white light on the waves. The menehune claimed their spirits became the wind on the north shore, their presence creating the pipeline waves that marched in from the sea like an invading army.
    Not that he believed in the legendary dwarfs the way the natives did. Even on a night like tonight, when the wind was nothing more than a fickle breeze, the waves formed perfect tubes. Still, the ocean had an almost hypnotic effect on him, as if something magical was at work. At dawn the surfers would be back—not as many here as farther down the beach at the Banzai Pipeline—and the quiet beauty of the