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EPISODE 8, SCENE
4 Luanne walked around Starbuck's spacious kitchen looking for a cheese grater. She was wearing one of Richard's shirts and nothing else, and felt entirely comfortable. After their cozy candelit dinner at La Marmotte last week, she and Richard had found their way to her condo in Muscatel Flats where they stayed up half the night talking and drinking herbal tea and finally making love. The next night they spent together at Starbuck's doing more of the same. She started wearing a favorite sweatshirt of his and he gave it to her. Then he asked her to move into his house. It was a big step forward, but Luanne felt prepared to take it. Together they carried Luanne's things from the Muscatel Flats condo and loaded them into Richard's Landcruiser. Luanne had a few weeks rent paid on the condo and thought she'd let Money Banks crash there until the landlord came knocking. Richard lit the candles at the dining room table. He sat down across from Luanne for a romantic dinner. "I must say, you wear my shirt better than I do," Richard gleamed. "It smells like you," she replied. "Horrors!" he grinned. She leaned across the table and kissed him. After dinner, Luanne went upstairs to call her answering machine still installed in the Muscatel Flats condo. She checked her phone messages frequently, not wanting her parents to find out she was spending all her time at Richard's. She heard Eric's voice on her machine. "Hi, Luanne, it's Money. Either you're never home or you're not picking up. Sorry for that stunt I pulled up on the mountain. I just wanted you to know how I felt. Wish you had the same feeling but...whatever. I'm gonna go boarding up in the back country today. I'll try to call you when I get back. Hope you're home. See ya." Hearing his voice, Luanne felt a stab of regret. Did she really have to shut him down so hard? She knew he'd lost his job at Baked. She began to worry. How could she contact him? She called his best friend Nicky. "Haven't you heard?" Nicky said. "Heard what?" Luanne replied, her gut tightening at the urgency in Nicky's voice. "It's on the radio," he said. "The Marshal's office is reporting him lost up near Lizard Head. They're sending out search parties." "Oh no!" Luanne yelped. Her first thought was to get dressed. This was a story for the paper, and, more important, this was her friend. She had to help. |