Next Move

DeSantos Bros. Auto Body - Downtown Las Vistas




Nico shot straight up as the loud blast of a car horn echoed in the garage beyond his office and the sharp pain in his neck that resulted sent his hand up to soothe it with a tight massaging grip. The buzz of an air drill and lug nuts clinking on the ground a few seconds later confirmed his assumption that Carlos, his service manager, had arrived at work, it also explained the horn. Groggy and irritated, he slowly turned to look up at the clock on the wall. It was 8:25am. Somewhere between berating himself about his fight with Bianca and going over the week’s profit sheet, now a crumpled heap of papers on the floor, he had managed to doze off.

Truth Hurts

10:00pm – DeSantos Residence – Sagebrush



Nico slammed the door to his car and stood outside looking up at the window of his daughter’s room. The light was on; she was still awake. He had left the house at the crack of dawn and stayed at the garage until well after dark. He had even taken the long, long way home: the scenic bypass around the city, back up through the foothills and down the coastline. No radio, no CDs, just dead silence and his thoughts. He was strategizing, trying to come up with the right way to handle this, but most of all he was stalling. The few days he had taken to let himself and Bianca calm down hadn’t given way to a solution to his dilemma. No matter how many ways he tried to get around it, he had no other choice but to tell his daughter the truth.

Reflection

Monacco Desert Cottage - Vista Hills




Nico stood on the familiar stone steps in front of Isabella’s house, sullen and paralyzed with apprehension. He had stood in that same spot not so long ago – his heart in his throat – wondering if she would let him in, hear him out, let him tell her how much he still felt for her. Miraculously, she did let him in and everything in his life after that moment had changed for what he wanted to believe was the better.