Mob Blog: Languishing on Las Olas, February 7, 2014

 

[dcs_p]Mob Blog: Languishing on Las Olas, February 7, 2014[/dcs_p]

 

[dcs_p]I’m on Las Olas Boulevard. I had a closing at Wells Fargo at nine this morning. It’s now past noon, and I’m still here. But I’m not at the bank. The closing went off beautifully, thank you, and I’m a bit richer for selling a piece of prime Fort Lauderdale real estate.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

So why am I languishing on Las Olas?[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

It’s because I made the mistake of mentioning to my daughter that I was driving down for the closing. This was last night, at the dinner table. Right away Stella perked up, and said, “Daddy, let me go with you. I haven’t been to Las Olas in forever.”[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Hmm. I had planned to call on a lady friend today. She’s a great gal, but not exactly the type I would introduce to my baby. So my plans got reshuffled, and now I’m sitting in the cool shade beneath the overhang of the historic Riverside Hotel nursing a glass of grapefruit juice while Stella winds her way in and out of the boutiques and galleries that dominate this stretch of downtown.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Las Olas is hip and happening, transformed from the sleepy backwater street that used to cater to locals and aging snowbirds. Midday on a Friday in February the tourists are plentiful. It’s a perfect day, a little warm for this time of year, but I don’t mind.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Stella struts towards me. She doesn’t look anything like the tourists she’s bumping elbows with. She’s a head turner, wearing a cream-colored designer dress with red, high-heeled sandals. I can’t help thinking that she looks like an Italian fashion model.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Stella’s carrying a few bags. Nothing serious—I’ve seen worse. She gives me a big smile and says, “Daddy, look what I bought you,” showing me a blue, floral print tie she picked up for me at Maus and Hoffman’s.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Traffic on Las Olas is becoming congested, with cars parked parallel on both sides of the street. I want to go to Pan’e Dolci for gelato, but Stella has other things on her mind. “Daddy, come and look at this painting I want to buy,” she says.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Patricia Bellomo is the author of the crime and mob thriller books Louie Morelli’s Mistress, Stella di Mare, and Louie Morelli’s Daughter. Languishing on Las Olas was written in the voice of her main character, Louie Morelli.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

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