Luthecker by Keith Domingue

took his sister to one of his favorite lunch spots, Cora’s Café on the corner of Ocean and Pico Boulevard. Less than five hundred feet from the roll of the ocean surf, the small fixture of Southern California beach culture had a quaint back patio with a faux plant canopy, vines and leaves structured to form walls and overhead cover that was just enough to provide adequate shade from the strong afternoon sun.
    The two of them sat across from one another at a corner table, Ben waiting for his Margherita Pizza, Nikki her salad.
    “You should stay in L.A.” Ben offered, as a waiter brought over water.
    “It would be nice to have you closer.” He continued.
    “I know. It would. But I don’t know.” She replied.
    “Can’t you find something similar here to what you did in New York?” He asked.
    “Maybe.”
    A cool breeze blew through the patio, and he watched her as she looked off towards the beach.
    “But you’re not sure if you want to go back to all that.”
    She looked back at him, and gave him a weak smile.
    “I don’t know what I want Ben.”
    “I thought you wanted to go the tech route. Work for Apple or something. You were the best programmer out there. I never understood why you did the Wall Street thing.”
    “They’re good at sucking you in. It’s easy money, and after being broke for so long...”
    She trailed off, feeling no need to explain the history they both shared.
    “But then I stood there and watched them carting away charred corpses on TV before my own boyfriend took me into his office and told me how we could have been up billions had we been on the right side of this.”
    “I hate to tell you this, but he was always kind of an asshole. I’m really sorry, Nik.”
    “It was all wrong. And I was part of it.”
    “It’s not your fault. You’re being too hard on yourself. You always have been. And I think you’re better off without the guy.”
    “Maybe.” She trailed off. “The only thing I know right now is I can’t go back to that.”
    “So don’t.”
    “But then what?”
    “Whatever you want.”
    “It’s not that easy.”
    “Yes it is.”
    “You don’t understand. I feel awful. And empty.”
    “Nik, you have no reason to feel bad for this. No reason at all. You did nothing wrong.”
    Ben tried to think of a more elaborate, more comforting response. After a moment, he spoke.
    “Let me tell you who you are. You’re my big sister. And you’re amazing, and you can do anything you set your mind to. Look - your whole life, you’ve always had a plan. One that’s been air tight, rock solid, whatever. So you got side tracked for a minute. You can still do anything you set your mind to. Lord knows it wasn’t in me to have the kind of discipline you have. Hell, you’re my hero. But maybe the lesson here is…not to plan. Maybe it’s time to have the courage to let things come to you.”
    The waiter arrived with their food.
    “Better yet, let me do the planning.” He added, the excitement of an idea suddenly dawning on him noticeable in his voice.
    “And what exactly do you have in mind?” She asked, wary, knowing already that “comfort zone” wasn’t exactly in her brother’s vocabulary.
    “Okay - and hear me out - first, we get a bigger place.”
    “I don’t know if I’m staying in Los Angeles -- “
    “Hear me out.”
    “And you love your place. It’s right on the beach.”
    “I said hear me out. Stop interrupting. Okay- we get a bigger place. We get you a gym membership. You get in the best shape of your life, you hike, you read, you let me teach you how to surf-”
    “Ben…”
    “You let me teach you how to surf. You work with me at the bar. You come with me to some of my favorite Jazz clubs. You meet some new people that are nothing like the stuffed shirts in New York. You think, you feel, you smile, you take it all in, you have fun, and most important, you learn to be patient with yourself. And I promise you my sister, the answers about the next