Chapter 2 Carlifornia Vista

Three years ago.

Mr. Atty Griffin looked at the small crowd all dressed in black through a dark sunshade which concealed the tears that formed in his eyes. Most of them he recognized as family members he had not seen in a while. The others were close friends of Shane and Kane. They were also some of the neighbors from the smaller beach houses, who were under no obligation to be here. He was about to give his eulogy for his son.

"Shane, I love you with all my heart! I'm profoundly proud of you. You've been a gentle soul. You have been described by many as humble. You have been a man of infinite accomplishments, but I did look forward to watching you reach the pinnacle of success. I wanted to be there for you on your wedding day. I wanted to be a grandfather to your children. Today, I look forward to seeing you again in the afterlife...."

Kane felt an upwelling emotion of sadness that could lead to uncontrollable tears, and so he bolted away from the scene. Mrs. Jane Griffin, his mother, wanted to go after him, but her eulogy was next. She felt a soft hand gently pull her from her left shoulder, sideways.

"I'll go check on him," Stephanie said, half smiling. "Don't bother yourself, Mrs. Griffin."

Stephanie had never visited the Griffins. However, she occasionally saw them as they drove past the beach into their house. Before the burial, she had never spoken to any of them, save for Shane. She had seen Kane as he acted aloof and pretended not to notice her when Shane was alive. She did not care, though. She was a very independent young woman.

She had come to California from New York alone. She had found this spot in California suitable for her vacation. She found it ideal on the grounds of the privacy and view it offered. She lived her life with barely any emotional attachment. She had one friend, no pet, and a job as a school psychologist. As a psychologist, she tried not to be insensitive and tried to care for others, but it did not always come from the heart. However, when she did care with her heart which was rare, she did so genuinely.

Stephanie found Kane by the ocean shores, still teary. She sat down beside him. She felt the urge for a second to give him a comforting touch. Instead, she waited for him to pull himself together.

"Sorry," she whispered. "It's going to be all okay."

They both sat in silence and just stared at the ocean for a while.

"Thank you," Kane said, running his fingers through his hair. "I guess you're Steph."

"Yeah, I am."

"Yuuno, the pain was too much for him to bear," he said. "It's sad! Everyone suddenly remembers the dead! Where were they when the doc had said his cancer was inoperable? He had only months to live, and nobody except us was there for him. My dad was right about something."

"Hmm. What?"

"Shane had many accomplishments! The only thing I looked forward to was seeing him find love. Girls took him for granted, and that was a pain in the ass. I always told him he was too nice and softhearted. I wish someone had said yes to him, even once before he died."

"What's it with you Griffin brothers and cutting corners? Why can't you direct the question properly?" Stephanie said, barely able to control her tone. "I love your brother! And we had an affair. He is the only person that has ever remotely come close to me like that."

She got up and left angrily.

Kane looked flustered. He felt jealous! He knew Shane was leaving the house more often than usual. He had seen him with a charming girl. He thought he had artfully been spying on him. He only ever saw them talk and hold hands!

Stephanie was always so stern-looking! He did not consider her remotely in Shane's league. He nurtured his desire for her, but he kept his distance. His brother was dying, was he not? He felt Shane should have her! Then he thought, but of what use? Sympathy was only what stopped him from making his move, not guilt. When he asked Shane about her, he would always respond cordially, saying it was none of his business! He suddenly remembered Shane's last words, "Mind your own business. If you insist on knowing, then follow me, it won't change anything. Stupid!"

So it occurred to him now what those words had meant. Shane knew about the spying. He possibly knew of his hidden feelings too, which, when he thought about it, he considered would be too embarrassing. Shane also knew it would not amount to anything since he already got the girl, and so that was why he called him stupid.

A bit of rain had started to fall, so he got up and went back to the burial ground. His mom had finished giving her eulogy. He felt bummed out for missing it. They were rounding up. The crowd had lessened, and mostly family members remained now. He looked around for Stephanie, but she was not there.

"Kane, my dear boy!" Mrs. Jorja, his aunt from his mom part of the family, said. "I saw you leave earlier and figured we'd still see you later. It's such a sad day. He meant so much to us, too, but I know you feel sadder than the rest of us put together. Can I hug you? If it will make you feel better. I've missed you."

She opened her arm for an embrace.

"Thanks, aunt J," Kane said, leaning into her outstretched arms.

After his grandparents had died, he seldom saw any extended family. He was appalled by the fake love that could simply erupt in these dying moments. He prepared himself mentally and emotionally, too, for every other family eye service sympathy. He shook his head, disgusted, and shrugged.

Before the rain started to fall heavier, everyone had taken their leave. His parents had gone with Aunt Jorja to the airport. He sat on the rocking chair just thinking about what Stephanie had told him earlier on. The wind chimes were ringing. Shane's cat meowing startled him. That's strange, he thought. The cat never talked! Now it was meowing, licking its paws, and rubbing its eyes. He snatched his umbrella, shooed at the cat, and fled into the rain.

He knocked at Stephanie's beach house door. No response. He hit harder, and he heard her unlocking the door.

"Are you gonna let me in, or do you prefer I stand under the rain?" Kane asked wryly.

"You can come in!" said Stephanie, rolling her eyes and leaving the door ajar.

This was the first time he was visiting any of the beach houses since they were erected. It had a small living room in which he now stood. The living room walls were painted turquoise blue, but the wall on which a flat-screen TV rested on was a floral wallpaper design of turquoise blue, ash, and black. It had three single-seater chairs and one double-seater. The chairs had the same floral design as the wallpaper. The center rug was blue with gold lines along the edges, and it had the design of different schools of fish in the ocean.

"Nice place," Kane said and sat down on one of the single chairs.

"Why have you come here, Kane?" Stephanie was lying on her back in the two-seater chair, staring at the white pop ceiling. She knew the cutting edge of her nightwear was revealing the top part of her breasts but did nothing.

Kane was staring like a child and was surprised at her nonchalance. The chandelier that hung on the ceiling illuminated her beautiful body, and her skin glowed.

"I came to apologize," he said and

Stephanie scoffed!

"Go on."

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, then added,

"Didn't know there was anything going on between the both of you. Have you heard about the recent development?"

"Which?"

"For a while now, my family have been thinking of relocating from the beach house into the major city. Well, not California anyways. We are relocating to New York. I won't be staying with my parents any longer, though. I'm going to be working as an architect. So since we're moving out, we've sold the beach to the government. It's no longer a private property for the Griffins. Refunds have been made to those whose vacation was cut short on such short notice. I guess since you were not informed, then it must mean your vacation didn't extend to the one-month time frame all this is expected to take place in."

Holy crap! Stephanie thought. The Griffin redhead is coming to the city she lived in. She already knew about the hair and artificial dye, and they just loved colored hairs. Each sibling chose to dye their hair with their favorite color.

"Noted!" she said. "Well, yes, my break will be over in a week."

She offered no long talk. She already knew what Shane's profession would have been. He would have chosen to be an author. He had a substantial amount of passion for telling stories. He might have worked in the movie industry, too, both as an actor and a movie writer.

"So, where to from here, Stephanie?"

"It doesn't matter! Forget about me!" she replied tersely. "I don't carry memories of other people with me. Everything ends here! It's getting late. I would need some privacy now to eat, watch TV, and sleep."

She sat up, took the remote on the stool, and turned on the TV.

"Would you at least tell me what your profession is?" Kane said.

He felt suddenly uncomfortable as he got up. He had barely spent five minutes. She had just asked him to take his leave without even caring if he was going to get hurt.

She sighed.

"Well, I'm a School psychologist."

He wanted to talk to her more, and he even tried to hold her but felt some guilt and shame. By the time he was leaving, he had expected her to get up and lock the door behind him, but she did not. She did not offer any goodbye either. He reassured himself he would see her on the beach within the week before she traveled. He told himself he would check in on her once more. He tried to say that she was only acting that way towards him because she was going through grief. If she was grieving, she did nothing to show it. At the burial, she shed no tears. She was watching TV.

So he sensed the lie. He began to tell himself that he did not need her. He would not check on her. He had a lot of girls who wanted him to date them.

The rain had stopped falling, and he was halfway home when he realized he had forgotten his umbrella at the corner where he sat. He would not see her over that. He wondered if she would bring it to him, though.