Loneliness is the human condition.

And so on a morning already surrendered to the scourging wind and punishing heat, Camille Barren, Susan D. Valeris’s assistant, came for Astrid at the Hollywood portalocity hub, and they took the long drive out to Corona. In the visitors yard, they sat at an orange picnic table under the shade structure, drinking cold cans of soda from the pop machine, wiping them across their foreheads, pressing them to their cheeks. Waiting for Ingrid. Sweat dripped between Astrid's breasts, down her back, far more accustomed now to the milder Maryland temperatures. Camille looked wilted but stoic in her beige sheath, her fashionable short haircut limp and sweaty around the edges. She didn’t bother to talk to Astrid, she was only the errand girl.

“Here she comes,” Camille said.

( Parents' Weekend: Magnussen Style. CW for UGH, Ingrid. )


[[ taken and altered slightly from Chapter 31 of White Oleander by Janet Fitch. I hav ebeen dying to get to this scene for ages now! NFI, NFB, but OOC is always love ]]