Little did she know that the beach was in Montecito, ninety miles north of LA, an idyllic town with a large contingent of Hollywood’s brightest, which included her new employers. The wife was the writer and director and the husband was the producer. Together they were power players. The gig would last a decade. But within weeks of arriving at the modern house that was both the couple’s home and their office, Alexa was making her impact felt. She was savvy, smart, and knew her way around technology. Plus, she was a whiz with numbers and had strong organizational skills after a lifetime of working for her parents’ business. Once the kids were in school, Alexa would assume a senior role at the film company in operations, which meant more travel, accounting, and hiring and firing. She was well suited for the round-the-clock schedule of the film business, and the film business loved her European upbringing and British-tinged accent. For a while, it was a love match.

But the real draw for Alexa was Montecito. She felt at home in the seaside town the minute she arrived with her backpack and her Walkman. It reminded her of any Mediterranean island, with stunning houses built up the hillside, rocky sandy beaches, sunny days and cool nights, spectacular sunsets, and so many beautiful people. But Montecito had a touch of magic, an earthiness overlaid with sophistication. It was the perfect blend of beach and brains, taste and twist. It was star-kissed well before the biggest stars even moved into the neighborhood. And being in California meant that she could reinvent herself as needed, to hide the scars of her loss. She became a better, more confident version of herself, fueled by California’s sunshine and optimism. Alexa was smitten and she never wanted to leave.

So she didn’t. When the couple asked Alexa, then in her thirties, to move to LA proper and run their film company, she declined. She was ready to put down real roots, to stop living on movie sets and airplanes and maybe have a baby. She bid farewell to the biz and marched into a local travel agency she’d had her eye on. The older gentleman who owned the business, Addison Kent, knew everything about travel but was struggling to transition to a digital world. Alexa promised him that she would double his profits in less than a year if he gave her the opportunity to update his systems, streamline his process, and bring the company into the computer age. Plus, she wanted to add luxury tours of Greece to his offerings, executed with her insider knowledge of the country. For all that, she wanted a percentage of the company. She had grown up as a nonconsensual participant in the world of hospitality, thanks to her family’s businesses. Now she wanted back in.