Heather finally invites Rebecca to her house: it's the same address in Topanga Canyon, but the house has changed completely since the last time she was here. A whole second floor has been added, and the yard & garden are in a very un-Heather like state of order. Rebecca was invited for an afternoon visit: the cop-husband is not at home, of course, so it's just her & Heather. Rebecca looks closely at everything as Heather leads her through the house, though she has no idea what she's looking for exactly. Any evidence that Heather is hiding something....

Heather even takes her upstairs & shows her around, her bedroom, typical Heather hippie fest with butterflies everywhere. Rebecca couldn't sleep in this room every night: how does the cop do it? she wonders. "What's that," Rebecca asks pointing to a door Heather left unopened on this little tour. "Nothing," Heather replies with a shrug as she heads toward the stairs, "Are you hungry or anything?" Whatever it is, it must be in there, Rebecca thinks, and heads toward the door. She opens it to find a room with walls painted in crazy Heather designs, nearly empty, with just an old futon tossed in the corner, stray bits of furniture & cat toys. "I told you, it's nothing," Heather says, joining Rebecca. "What's with the empty room?" Rebecca asks, unable to shed the idea that it was somehow significant that Heather didn't show it to her in the first place. Heather's brow knits deeply, "I haven't thought much about what to do with it right now, It's here if we need it, that's all." "Need it for what?" Rebecca asks, trying to imagine. Heather just shrugs & heads back out toward the stairs, clearly finished with the tour of the second floor.

Heather asks her what she's going to do while she's here. "I've got a job interview tomorrow: some pretentious new actor has opened an art gallery, imagine that," Rebecca answers with a sneering laugh. "So you're going to stay awhile?" Heather asks. Now Rebecca shrugs vaguely and decides to change the subject. "Heather, I'm worried about you & this cop you married..." Heather slaps her hands hard against her thighs & sighs, "He's not 'this cop I married', he's a man I fell in love with. I have to deal with the cop thing the way he has to deal with me...being me. We love each other & we make it work. I wish you could just accept that." Rebecca shakes her head, "He's LAPD, Heather, c'mon, you know what they are, you can't expect me to believe in your 'true love' story..." Heather's face twists in agony, "Shut up!" she says in quick burst & rises suddenly. Rebecca prepares to continue her assault, break Heather down & get her to admit the cop is holding something over head, but Coby walks in at that moment & Heather's face lights into a smile as she greets her brother, asks him to sit and hang out. Of course Heather's happy to see him, she's escaped Rebecca's interrogation. It does leave them with a few moments of uncomfortable silence, the women unable to continue their former conversation, and Coby sitting there like an obedient puppy with nothing to say. Heather finally breaks the silence by asking Rebecca about San Fransisco's mayor. "I thought the Green Party candidate really had a shot, I was following it closely," she says. Rebecca easily puts aside her concerns to talk about her involvement in that campaign.

Heather pushes Rebecca & Coby both out the door shortly after her daughter Amber arrived home: Rebecca is not being allowed to meet the cop, even. As she walks with Coby out toward their cars parked on the street, she invites him out for a drink. The way he looks at her...he clearly would like to ask her out himself. Maybe she will, she thinks, maybe she won't...if nothing else she'll have a drink with him & see what she can get from him about his brother-in-law. But when she sits down with Coby & asks what the deal is with cop, like Heather he insists it's 'love'. He's even more defensive about it, it seems. Rebecca would be suspicious, if she wasn't sure Coby is as completely guileless as he seems. He says Heather's cop is a 'great guy' because he fixes his ex-girlfriend's car for him, and he probably believes it's all that simple. Rebecca knows better, there's just something not right about the situation. Coby points out that unlike him, Rebecca hasn't been around Heather & her cop to be the judge. "Exactly," she replies triumphantly, "She's avoiding letting me meet him. She knows I'll see through him." "Or maybe she knows you've already made up your mind about him, Becca." Coby replies. Shannon used to say that to her, in exactly that tone, always accusing her of being obstinate & judgemental. Rebecca is getting tired of thinking about Shannon all the time: that's in the past. "You live around here, don't you?" she says to Coby, "Why don't we go back to your place?"

Coby has a stupid annoying surfer roommate, but Rebecca gets stoned enough to tolerate him, even while he's griping about never having gotten a date with Heather before she married her cop. She may have stooped to this cop she's with, Rebecca thinks, at least Heather never stooped to this guy. When the roommate clears out & heads for his own room, Coby & Rebecca are left alone. She watches her friend's younger brother try to make his mind up to come onto her, and she decides to make that move herself. Why not? Coby was always a player, only in it for sex, and that's exactly all she needs right now, someone to hang with while she's in L.A., no pressure. Rebecca & Shannon never made any promises to be monogamous, just to be honest about anything else they got up to, but nothing else ever really happened for either of them. Everything they did, every protest, rally, meeting, action group, whatever, they were together. They had the same friends & always socialized together, and when they went hoome, it was with each other. It's been so long since she's been with anyone else Shannon, it just doesn't seem right. Sure it feels good, it hits the spot, but it's like getting vanilla when you were craving chocolate. Rebecca smiles to herself at the thought: Shannon hated being referred to as 'chocolate'. When it's done, Rebecca realizes she's still thinking about Shannon, for all her attempts to forget him. She tells Coby she's got a job interview tomorrow as pulls herself out of the bed with a sigh: it's a long drive to Hollywood. Like his sister, Coby immediately assumes the job interview is an indication that Rebecca intends to stay her. She doesn't. But she'll need an income for the time she is here, and she won't leave until she finds out what is up with Heather. "If I get a job, I'll be staying for a little while anyway," is what she tells Coby. "I don't really know what my plans are yet, long-term. I'll give you a call, okay?" Next time, she thinks, it won't feel so strange. Sooner or later, she'll forget Shannon & be able to move on.

The gallery where Rebecca has her job interview is called 'Cicatrice', in Santa Monica: they used to call it 'the People's Republic of Santa Monica', but lately it has become a Beverly Hills by the beach. The fancy French name of the gallery is the perfect tone for the area, but it means 'scar', which intrigues Rebecca. One the one hand, she prepares herself for the worst kind of Beverly Hills art hag experience, but there is some room for hope. Before she enters the gallery, Rebecca checks out the art displayed in the window: the heavily manipulated photo at first appears completely abstract, until it becomes clear, it's man's hand, pinning a woman's wrists together. When she sees it, it's like a punch to the stomach, and that's the kind of art Rebecca likes. So she enters the gallery with a brightened outlook.

Her interview isn't with the actor himself of course, but his partner in this venture, Eleanor. They've only just had their first opening, and they've decided they need more than just themselves to run it. Gavin, the actor, is busy shooting his movie & Eleanor tells her she's the assistant editor of Livin' Large magazine, so of course can't be around to fully manage a gallery full time. Rebecca hands over her impressive resume filled with scholastic achievement and long term involvement with the arts. Back in Berkley, she & Shannon ran an alternative gallery, and Rebecca's photographs have shown in galleries around the bay area. And she does job interviews really well, she's sharp, she thinks quickly on her feet & always comes up with brilliant replies to all those probing questions they lob at you. When Eleanor shakes her hand & tells Rebecca she'll call, Becca is sure she will. She nailed this. As she leaves the gallery, she sees her neighbor Xtina coming in, and Rebecca wonders if she's applied for the same job. As if, Rebecca thinks with a laugh.