Read Online Esme and the Money Grab: (A Very Dark Romantic Comedy) by Paloma Meir - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Paloma Meir
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their daily terrorist activities. They fled.
Still, the customs carried on in our small apartment. They would speak wistfully of the country they could never return to. And believe me I was eating quinoa decades before he it had crept into the hipster vegan culture.
But, did you know that Colombia was second in biodiversity on EARTH? It followed Brazil on that list, and Brazil was like ten times larger. It was number one in bird species too. Can you believe that?
I couldn’t have been more excited as he told all of these facts.
And do you know why he had spent the summer of his senior year in high school in Colombia? To watch the birds. Landon was a bird watcher. I really thought that had fallen out fashion somewhere in the mid-twentieth century.
I held my hand against his cheek at one point at dinner. I couldn’t believe he was real. Landon Aldridge, the perfect man.
…
Have you ever seen a romance movie? You know how those films cut to a montage of the couple falling in love? It almost always happens in New York, and they always take a carriage ride through Central Park. When I was a little girl, I worried that I would never fall in love because we didn’t have carriage rides in Los Angeles. I shouldn’t have worried.
The following week with Landon reached highs higher than any film I had ever seen. We snorkeled, we surfed, the two of us lay on the beach hand in hand, talking. Every night we would get dressed up and go to dinner. One night we even drove into Honolulu.
On Christmas morning, we took leis down to the beach and threw them into the ocean in honor of my sainted parents. I broke down in tears as I recited a prayer in Spanish. Landon held me tight, while stroking my hair and telling me everything would be okay. And in his strong arms, it was all right again.
I pretended I had left something behind on the beach as we walked back to the hotel. I ran back to the shore and tossed a single Plumeria in for Mr. Galloway. I didn’t have time to say a prayer for him, but I don’t he would have minded.
He was an atheist, one of those long-winded ones too. He might as well have been an evangelical with the way he spoke about his lack of faith. He was more of a zealot about his lack of belief, than I was in my belief.
At the end of our days and nights together Landon would walk me back to my cottage and kiss me tenderly at the door. And no, I didn’t let him come inside. This is not that kind of story. I’m a nice Catholic Colombian girl.
All too soon, the vacation was over. He changed his airline ticket, and we flew home together on the same flight. We drank Champagne on the redeye flight and quickly fell asleep.
Chapter Ten
You know what happens in those romance films after the montage? Strife. We were walking right into it.
The driver dropped us off a little after sunrise. The two of us were sleepy, and Mila was meowing. I worried her ears ached from the flight’s descent. She clawed at her case, fighting to get out.
Landon wanted to carry my luggage into the house. I said no. He was insistent. I was too tired to shoo him away. My stomach clenched as we trudged up the driveway to the front door.
The odds of there having been a problem with the air-conditioning while we were away were low. Still, it wasn’t a chance I wanted to take. Having Landon, or anybody in the house seemed like a bad idea to me.
I opened the door and turned to Landon, ‘Well, thank you. I can take it from here.” I put Mila’s carrier down and tried to take my suitcase from his hand.
“I’ll bring it in. You have your hands full with Mila and your handbag.” He walked past me. I felt like I was going to vomit. I walked in behind him resigned to my fate.
I took a deep breath as if I were tired, not searching for noxious scents. The room stunk, but not of a dead body. I had been around
Still, the customs carried on in our small apartment. They would speak wistfully of the country they could never return to. And believe me I was eating quinoa decades before he it had crept into the hipster vegan culture.
But, did you know that Colombia was second in biodiversity on EARTH? It followed Brazil on that list, and Brazil was like ten times larger. It was number one in bird species too. Can you believe that?
I couldn’t have been more excited as he told all of these facts.
And do you know why he had spent the summer of his senior year in high school in Colombia? To watch the birds. Landon was a bird watcher. I really thought that had fallen out fashion somewhere in the mid-twentieth century.
I held my hand against his cheek at one point at dinner. I couldn’t believe he was real. Landon Aldridge, the perfect man.
…
Have you ever seen a romance movie? You know how those films cut to a montage of the couple falling in love? It almost always happens in New York, and they always take a carriage ride through Central Park. When I was a little girl, I worried that I would never fall in love because we didn’t have carriage rides in Los Angeles. I shouldn’t have worried.
The following week with Landon reached highs higher than any film I had ever seen. We snorkeled, we surfed, the two of us lay on the beach hand in hand, talking. Every night we would get dressed up and go to dinner. One night we even drove into Honolulu.
On Christmas morning, we took leis down to the beach and threw them into the ocean in honor of my sainted parents. I broke down in tears as I recited a prayer in Spanish. Landon held me tight, while stroking my hair and telling me everything would be okay. And in his strong arms, it was all right again.
I pretended I had left something behind on the beach as we walked back to the hotel. I ran back to the shore and tossed a single Plumeria in for Mr. Galloway. I didn’t have time to say a prayer for him, but I don’t he would have minded.
He was an atheist, one of those long-winded ones too. He might as well have been an evangelical with the way he spoke about his lack of faith. He was more of a zealot about his lack of belief, than I was in my belief.
At the end of our days and nights together Landon would walk me back to my cottage and kiss me tenderly at the door. And no, I didn’t let him come inside. This is not that kind of story. I’m a nice Catholic Colombian girl.
All too soon, the vacation was over. He changed his airline ticket, and we flew home together on the same flight. We drank Champagne on the redeye flight and quickly fell asleep.
Chapter Ten
You know what happens in those romance films after the montage? Strife. We were walking right into it.
The driver dropped us off a little after sunrise. The two of us were sleepy, and Mila was meowing. I worried her ears ached from the flight’s descent. She clawed at her case, fighting to get out.
Landon wanted to carry my luggage into the house. I said no. He was insistent. I was too tired to shoo him away. My stomach clenched as we trudged up the driveway to the front door.
The odds of there having been a problem with the air-conditioning while we were away were low. Still, it wasn’t a chance I wanted to take. Having Landon, or anybody in the house seemed like a bad idea to me.
I opened the door and turned to Landon, ‘Well, thank you. I can take it from here.” I put Mila’s carrier down and tried to take my suitcase from his hand.
“I’ll bring it in. You have your hands full with Mila and your handbag.” He walked past me. I felt like I was going to vomit. I walked in behind him resigned to my fate.
I took a deep breath as if I were tired, not searching for noxious scents. The room stunk, but not of a dead body. I had been around
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