Chapter 12

It was closer to six than five when I finally dropped my mother back home and then got on the road once more to head into Newport Beach. During our lunch, the rain had tapered off, and she'd wanted to take me shopping amongst the various boutiques and trendy little stores that filled Laguna's downtown area. Since garnets were my birthstone, she bought me a beautiful silver necklace and a pair of earrings set with the wine-colored gems as a belated present. I also spied a truly awesome embroidered black suede jacket in one of the stores, but I decided to pass it by, since I knew any gushing over it would have earned me another lecture about the cruelty of wearing real leather or suede. Maybe that was true, but my feet hated shoes made out of synthetics, and so far, comfort had won out over scruple every time.