I wake early to birds and make my way to the kitchen where my friend is heading out the door to drive her teen daughter to school.

Drive? I raise my eyebrows. The weather is gorgeous. We’re in California, for heaven’s sake.

“Nobody walks in LA,” my friend laughs. It’s my first visit to her place, this home they rent in Hermosa Beach, with views of the Pacific if you look out the second floor window.

Nobody walks?

I lace up my shoes, the screen door slapping shut behind me.