Ocean Beach Read Online Free PDF Page B

him, too surprised to speak.
    He lowered his arms and fiddled with the cigar.
    “You want me to try it again?” he asked the cameraman. “I can do it with or without the cigar. Or maybe I should take off the hat since it’ll be dark pretty soon?”
    Troy gave an almost imperceptible nod. Anthony repositioned the microphone. “Yes, sir,” he said crisply. “We’re still rolling.”
    Max Golden revved his smile back up to full throttle, opened his arms wide once more, and said, “Welcome to The Millicent! I’m your host, Max Golden!”
    “Got it,” Troy said.
    “That’s a keeper,” Anthony agreed.
    “Good,” Max Golden said, lowering his arms. “Because even now that the sun’s gone down, I’m really shvitzing in this jacket.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and began to mop his forehead. Sweat glistened in the hollows of his cheeks and on his upper lip.
    Avery stepped toward Max Golden. He was about her height and she stared him directly in the eye, which was a nice change from the usual cricked-neck conversation. “I’m Avery Lawford. I’ll be coordinating your ‘do-over.’”
    His grip was surprisingly strong. As she introduced the others, Max shook each person’s hand, making a specialshow of pumping Dustin’s tiny appendage up and down until the baby broke into a gummy smile. “I was about his age when I first started in vaudeville,” Max said. “I was more of a prop than a performer, of course, but I did learn to suck my thumb on cue.”
    “A useful talent, I’m sure.” Nicole’s tone was just the wee-est bit dry.
    “Yes,” Max said jovially. “Although it doesn’t come in as handy now as it did then.”
    Dustin couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the cigar Max waved around as he spoke. Kyra handed the baby to Madeline and lifted her video camera to her shoulder. The rest of them stayed close, doing their best to shield Dustin from the network camera.
    “I haven’t been around this many beautiful women since the last time we played Vegas,” Max said. “This is a perk I wasn’t expecting.”
    “You are going to be a little outnumbered,” Avery agreed. “Are you sure you have room for all of us?”
    Mentally, she was already putting Deirdre at the head of the list of things to move to another location. Maybe they could talk the network into arranging for the camera crew to join her.
    “Oh, there’s plenty of room,” Max said in a hearty tone with a glimpse toward the camera. “But it’s not in the best shape. We had to turn the upstairs into apartments back in the sixties. It was mostly just Millie and me for the last five or six years. And then…well…my wife passed away a little over a year ago just after the last tenants moved out of the pool house. I’m not much of a housekeeper. Or gardener.” That was his only acknowledgment of the chest-highgrass and junglelike overgrowth. “And I’m not too handy either.”
    “Well, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” Deirdre said, stepping forward and taking Max by one arm. Nicole took the other.
    “That’s right,” Nicole said as they began to move toward the front steps at a slightly accelerated pace, although Avery wasn’t certain if Deirdre and Nicole allowed Max’s feet to touch the ground.
    Dustin let out a whimper and burrowed his head beneath his grandmother’s chin.
    Max glanced at the baby and then at Maddie, who was stifling a yawn. “It’s getting a bit late,” he said gallantly. “Why don’t I show you to your rooms now and leave the tour for tomorrow morning.”
    Relieved, they agreed and Max changed direction, leading them back toward the garage and across garden pavers choked with weeds and tilted at unintended angles. Nicole and Deirdre tightened their hold on Max’s arms and Avery offered up a small prayer that he’d make it wherever he was taking them without falling and breaking his neck.
    “I absolutely love The Millicent’s nautical elements,” Avery said, looking up at