Beach Blanket Bijou
A PB Mini: A short story from the world of Pajaro Bay
BARBARA COOL LEE
•••
http://www.BarbaraCoolLee.com
Dr. Quinn, the handsome dog expert on the evening news, is sought after by every woman in town — except the one he loves from afar: his boss, billionaire heiress Carmen Cordova. So when she suggests a new segment training her dog Bijou at the family's lavish estate on the coast, he's happy to oblige. But little Bijou's got a secret—and it just might get them all killed....
Also includes a sneak preview of the novel, Dashing Through the Surf .
•••
Copyright © 2015 Barbara Cool Lee
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
20150810a
•••
As always, for Mom, my co-writer.
Poor Little Rich Girl: Cordova Heiress Dumped at the Altar by Gold-Digger.
"Great," Carmen Cordova muttered. She stared down at the People magazine headline. It was a lousy picture of her, too, her face looking pale and startled in the camera flash.
She tossed the magazine on the lawn by the pool. Bijou, her bratty Pomeranian, immediately attacked it and started tearing the paper to shreds.
"Go for it, Girl!"
With a shake of her head, Bijou pulled off a chunk of the magazine, then pranced over to Carmen's chair to present it to her.
Carmen leaned over and took it, then patted the pup on the head. "Thanks, Bijou." She looked at the scrap. What poor reporting. That level of news writing would never be allowed on her TV station. Her staff knew better than to resort to innuendo to make a point. Facts, clear writing, and evenhanded reporting were the hallmark of KPB News. She had taken the little independent station from a refuge for old B-movies to the number one news channel on the coast. But to the gossip columns she would forever be the poor little crippled daughter of a billionaire inventor.
She crumpled the paper in her fist, then threw it back on the lawn. Oh, well. The gossips had a first amendment right to be stupid.
The breeze scattered the other pieces of the magazine across the emerald lawn of the Cordova estate. The day was glorious, warm and clear, with the same little breeze ruffling the tops of the Eucalyptus grove that sheltered the property from prying eyes.
Dad's computer lab was completely hidden off in those trees, but the house itself lay sleek and low in this little hillside above Pajaro Bay. Far below them lay the fishing pier, and the homes of the working people down in the picturesque squalor of Wharf Flats. But up here all was quiet and filled with fresh air and peace.
And lousy magazine headlines mocking her for trusting a man after her money. It had happened so many times. She'd trust, then get burned. It was harder and harder each time to believe that there could be people who loved her for herself. Nannies who used her to get to her dad, school mates who befriended her to play in the family pool, and men who claimed to care so they could get close to the money—each betrayal added a little more steel to the cage around her heart.
She rolled her chair over to the edge of the Olympic-sized infinity pool. The only sounds were the fall of the water off the pool's infinity edge onto the tiles below, and the distant echo of the ocean waves farther away. The pool lining was custom-colored to match the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean, so the edge of the pool seemed to blend into the sea to become one endless swath of clear, cool water reaching all the way to the horizon.
Carmen set the brake on the wheelchair, then leaned forward, letting gravity
A PB Mini: A short story from the world of Pajaro Bay
BARBARA COOL LEE
•••
http://www.BarbaraCoolLee.com
Dr. Quinn, the handsome dog expert on the evening news, is sought after by every woman in town — except the one he loves from afar: his boss, billionaire heiress Carmen Cordova. So when she suggests a new segment training her dog Bijou at the family's lavish estate on the coast, he's happy to oblige. But little Bijou's got a secret—and it just might get them all killed....
Also includes a sneak preview of the novel, Dashing Through the Surf .
•••
Copyright © 2015 Barbara Cool Lee
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
20150810a
•••
As always, for Mom, my co-writer.
Poor Little Rich Girl: Cordova Heiress Dumped at the Altar by Gold-Digger.
"Great," Carmen Cordova muttered. She stared down at the People magazine headline. It was a lousy picture of her, too, her face looking pale and startled in the camera flash.
She tossed the magazine on the lawn by the pool. Bijou, her bratty Pomeranian, immediately attacked it and started tearing the paper to shreds.
"Go for it, Girl!"
With a shake of her head, Bijou pulled off a chunk of the magazine, then pranced over to Carmen's chair to present it to her.
Carmen leaned over and took it, then patted the pup on the head. "Thanks, Bijou." She looked at the scrap. What poor reporting. That level of news writing would never be allowed on her TV station. Her staff knew better than to resort to innuendo to make a point. Facts, clear writing, and evenhanded reporting were the hallmark of KPB News. She had taken the little independent station from a refuge for old B-movies to the number one news channel on the coast. But to the gossip columns she would forever be the poor little crippled daughter of a billionaire inventor.
She crumpled the paper in her fist, then threw it back on the lawn. Oh, well. The gossips had a first amendment right to be stupid.
The breeze scattered the other pieces of the magazine across the emerald lawn of the Cordova estate. The day was glorious, warm and clear, with the same little breeze ruffling the tops of the Eucalyptus grove that sheltered the property from prying eyes.
Dad's computer lab was completely hidden off in those trees, but the house itself lay sleek and low in this little hillside above Pajaro Bay. Far below them lay the fishing pier, and the homes of the working people down in the picturesque squalor of Wharf Flats. But up here all was quiet and filled with fresh air and peace.
And lousy magazine headlines mocking her for trusting a man after her money. It had happened so many times. She'd trust, then get burned. It was harder and harder each time to believe that there could be people who loved her for herself. Nannies who used her to get to her dad, school mates who befriended her to play in the family pool, and men who claimed to care so they could get close to the money—each betrayal added a little more steel to the cage around her heart.
She rolled her chair over to the edge of the Olympic-sized infinity pool. The only sounds were the fall of the water off the pool's infinity edge onto the tiles below, and the distant echo of the ocean waves farther away. The pool lining was custom-colored to match the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean, so the edge of the pool seemed to blend into the sea to become one endless swath of clear, cool water reaching all the way to the horizon.
Carmen set the brake on the wheelchair, then leaned forward, letting gravity
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