The winter sky was gray, and out by Rockpile he saw a pelican tuck its wings and drop into the green wind-chopped water. A moment later the bird bobbed to the surface and raised its head and a fish tail disappeared down its beak. The waves were small and orderly.Juliet was older than him by two years, thirty-one, but she had no trouble keeping up with him. He pulled up closer to her and she looked at him flatly, as if he were either a slight annoyance or of minor interest—he couldn’t guess which. All he knew for sure was that he was both the personification of, and a remedy for, Juliet’s self-loathing.She was brown-skinned and brown-eyed and her body was strong and smooth. Her hair was blond and she wore it with impudent unstyle. Her smile was rare and subtle. She was beautiful. Draper had been with her for a year, and before that with two other women in Laguna very much like her, ever since he came north from Jacumba ten years earlier. To Draper she was a type easily attracted to pretty, forgiving little beach towns—women of great outward beauty and physical health that disguised serious inner damage.“It’s nice to be home with you,”
