He bought a house in La Jolla, she told herself. Okay…now he wants to show off everything.

Ivan realized the cat was out of the bag once they began to pass the expensive homes that were spaced out to the left and right of the winding road up the hills of La Jolla.

However, he was pleased that she held her thoughts to herself until they arrived. And as they got closer and closer, Ivan had to restrain himself again from reaching out to hold her hand.

I must have gotten too comfortable with Jacari, he thought. Her affectionate personality has rubbed off on me.

On Lucina’s end, all she could think about was how high they were rising.

Oh, my God, I don’t know if I like this, she admitted to herself. I guess it’s easier to look up here than to be up here. Or maybe I just feel that way because this car is so big. I feel like we are too close to the edge of the road.

She had driven on high mountainous roads in small cars before. Just not any recently. So she forced herself to remember those times and countries, in order to relax. There were plenty of high roads back home in Brazil.

When the Rolls-Royce finally turned in to an extrawide driveway to the right, Lucina was indeed impressed. There was a four-car garage in front of them, and the home above it had a southern view looking back into the downtown skyline of San Diego with no obstructions. The view looked past SeaWorld, past Mission Bay Park, past the San Diego airport, and right into her own Coronado Bridge to the right of downtown.

Oh, my God, this view is heavenly! she admitted to herself.

The driver walked over to open her door and help her out of the car.

“Welcome home, madam,” he had been instructed to tell her.

Lucina’s side of the car placed her directly in front of the view. She’d heard what the driver had said to her, but it hadn’t registered yet. She just wanted to see it all.

Ivan paced over to join her as Lucina walked toward the large, oval-shaped landing beside the garage. The oval, paved with smooth California stone, was big enough to land a helicopter. A three-foot-high stone wall surrounded it.

Lucina stood there by the edge and looked out at the view. To the right was the Pacific Ocean and three of San Diego’s beaches: Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, and Ocean Beach. To the left were the homes on the hills across Interstate 5 in Clairemont. There was a perfect view of the highway traffic below, directly across from where Ivan used to drive to the offices of Hutch & Mitchell Accounting. It was the view he had dreamed about for years.