Putting on a brave face, I follow with a smile. “I’m fine. I’m ready for new things, anyway.”
“Good.” She hesitates, turning her indicator on and driving up the ramp to another freeway. “You have Lex. He’s going to enjoy having you around.”
“Is he into sports, specifically basketball?”
“Uh… yes.” She laughs. “He has courtside seats to all the Lakers games.”
“Sweet. Maybe living out here ain’t gonna be so bad,” I mumble to myself.
And just for a moment, when things look bleak, the promise of courtside tickets perks me right up.
Then, I remember my golden tickets—the one sitting in the pocket of my pants and the one sitting in the pocket of my shirt.
To fresh starts.
To a new career.
To California babes.
Life is starting to look sweet—again.
NOAH
There’s nothing worse than being woken up to the sound of a crying child, a sound so irritating you wish you could grab one of those heavy-duty headphones to block the noise, similar to those used on an airport runway.
Comparing a crying baby to a plane should tell you how much I dislike children. Okay, maybe dislike is too strong of a word to use, considering it’s my niece screaming down the house. Annoying? Yeah, that seems more fitting.
But who would’ve thought there’s something more annoying than the sound of a crying child at five in the morning? There is—the constant movement of your bed from two kids jumping up and down relentlessly.
“Uncle Noah, wake up!”
I let out a frustrated moan, turning my back to them as the mattress moves underneath me. For fuck’s sake, the girls have a trampoline outside. A massive one, at that. To think of how many times I annoyed my mom in the same way when I was a kid, karma is really late on delivering. She’s found me, stuck with me, and, of course, I’m a sexist, assuming karma is a she.
Pulling the covers over my head to block out the noise, my niece, Amelia, pulls it back off immediately. “You’re going to be late to work. Daddy says people who are late to work slow your business down and therefore create less productivity.”
For her age, this kid has way too many brain cells. However, Daddy does have a point, probably why he runs one of the top empires in the United States.
“Girls, as much as I love your morning wake-up calls, how about you give me five more minutes?” I ask nicely.
“That’s what you said yesterday, Uncle Noah,” Amelia reminds me, placing her hands on her hips.
How can I resist their cute faces? It doesn’t help that I’m massively hungover from a club I hit last night with Erika and Ivana. Yes, I fucked both of them. Yes, I do believe my dick is also hungover. I think I’ve only gotten two hours sleep if that. I’ve only been here three nights, and all of them resulted in not much sleep.
“I promise only five more minutes,” I beg kindly.
“Okay,” Ava, the youngest, says in her broken toddler speech. “I’m watching cock!”
“Clock, Ava,” Amelia corrects her. “Cock is a rooster. Daddy always says to Mommy that she likes big roosters, remember?”
I snicker, realizing the girls are standing beside me watching me with confused expressions on their faces as I laugh. Amelia leans over, whispering into Ava’s ear, then pulls away as both of them stare at me sternly.
“Five minutes, Uncle Noah. If you’re not up, watch out,” Amelia warns me.
They both jump off the bed and run out of the room, finally leaving me alone. I throw my head back into the pillow, drowning out a persistent headache.
Today, of all days, is the first day of my new job. Lex is a stakeholder in a publishing house in downtown LA. We spent most of yesterday discussing the role, what it entails, and how the business has grown over the last twelve months, not to mention several video calls with the CEO before I left Boston.
I haven’t worked in publishing, most of my career has focused on marketing online stores, but he has an opening which seems like a good opportunity and should be a breeze once I understand how the industry operates. It’s not like I’m strapped for cash, but idle hands are the devil’s playthings. I like money, and not working makes me anxious. In ways, spending time with Lex and Charlie is refreshing. Intellectual and business-minded talk only drives me to want to work harder.