“Thirty-eight,” he said with a grin.“My maternal grandmother was a singer and songwriter who was part of the Laurel Canyon scene back in the day.I got my education and my love of music from her.She made sure all her grandchildren understood the musical history of our home city.”
“Did she know any famous people?”
“She knewallthe people.Joni Mitchell, Cass Elliot, Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Zappa, Morrison.Her stories were the thing of legend.Sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll, and all of it right here in the Canyon.She lived up here her entire adult life and is the reason I bought up here.”
“That’s very cool.”
“You have no idea, but you will if you check out Laurel Canyon’s musical history.The LA music scene was basically founded right in this neighborhood.”
“I’ll definitely check it out.”
“Anyway, I didn’t mean to go on about it,” he said with a sexy grin.“But you’re staying inMama Cass’shouse.”
“Have a look around.”
His eyes glittered with unrestrained delight that sent a surge of something that might’ve been desire straight down her backbone.Holy shit.
“Do you mind?”he asked.
“Not at all.”
He took his wine with him as he wandered into the living room for a closer look at the framed images of legends that now made more sense to her after what he’d said.
“This is amazing,” he said of the painting depicting Cass Elliot.“That’s the rest of her band, the Mamas and the Papas.And look, you’ve got Frank Zappa, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, too.I have that same poster of Joni’sBluealbum at my place.”
“There’s another one of hers in the bedroom.Ladiessomething.”
“Ladies of the Canyon, another classic.”
“Do you have a degree in music or something?”
“Nah, just a grandmother who brought me up right.She taught me to play the guitar when I was five, and I’ve been playing ever since.She exposed me to all the best music.”
Isla curled up on the sofa with her drink, thrilled when he sat in one of the overstuffed easy chairs.“Is she still with us?”
“Nah, she died about ten years ago.I miss her every day.We were buddies.”
“That’s so sweet.”This is a man a girl could fall madly, deeply in love with,Isla thought, that was if she wasn’t about to file for divorce with him as her attorney.“What was her name?”
“Freida Lewis.Look her up.She’s got songwriting credits on a few songs that hit the charts at various times.She was friends with Joni and Cass and the other ladies of the canyon and had affairs with a few of the guys, too.She never would tell me which ones.”
“Gee, I wonder why not?”
He laughed.“I told her she’d become a prude in her old age, but she said her lips were zipped about who she slept with back in the day.But, she added with a twinkle in her eye, I’d be impressed with her taste in men.”
“I think I would’ve enjoyed hanging out with her.”
“Oh, you would have.My friends were crazy about her.She used to have us up for weekends when we were in high school and let us drink beer and smoke pot and swim in the pool at all hours.My mother would’ve flipped out if she’d known that.”
“She wasn’t like her mother?”
“God no.My grandmother was a hippie flower child, and my mom was all about conformity.When she announced her plans to go to law school, my grandmother almost sprained her eyes from rolling them.”
“Whereas most parents would’ve been thrilled if their kids took that path.”
“Freida wasn’t most parents.She was all about bucking the system, and my mother is all about working within it.”
“Which one are you more like?”
