Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I was there to see my dad. Noah snapped a picture of the two of us. Neither of us realized it was happening, but a week later, Noah came by Lawtons again with two framed prints of that image.
It captures our relationship perfectly. I’m standing behind the bar with my dad by my side. He was trying to teach me how to make the perfect martini. At the exact moment the picture was taken, we were both laughing. My dad’s hand is on my shoulder, and I’m looking at him with all the pride I always felt for everything he accomplished.
After his death, I moved all his belongings into my place, along with his copy of the picture. When I moved to California, it took the trip with me and hangs in the living room of my apartment there.
A sound behind me spins me around abruptly.
“Daniel?” Dominick asks as he appears in the open doorway of my office. “What the hell are you doing here this late?”
“Working,” I half-lie.
I did spend some time looking over the proposed contract I had the legal department draw up for my deal with Everest.
It contains some of the amendments he’s requesting after the verbal agreement we came to in Las Vegas. I suspected Everest would want to revise once he returned to Manhattan, and I was right.
I’ll take another swing at him later this week with the modified contract in hand.
Until then I plan on spending time with my wife, and a few of my New York based clients.
Dominick glances past my shoulder to the window. “How does it feel being back in the city?”
My best friend never asked what drove me out of New York. He assumed the sheer weight of the memories of my father made me get on the plane and never look back. That played a part, but once I realized that my feelings for his sister were complicating my life, I created an opportunity to expand our business to the West Coast.
“Like home,” I say honestly. “New York will always be my home.”
That draws him into my office. He’s dressed in jeans and a black sweater. Before he fell in love with Arietta, Dominick was almost always in a suit. Work was his life, with the sporadic random hookup thrown in the mix.
His gaze scans my face. “Are you considering moving back full-time?”
I look toward the window again, weighing the question.
Before I can answer, he makes it clear how he feels on the subject. “I want you back here, Daniel. You’re my best friend. I miss having you around, and we both know that Maeve is killing it in California.”
I hate to admit it, but he’s right. I hired the best of the best to work with me when I launched our office in Los Angeles. Maeve Robbins is a powerhouse when it comes to building a client base. Her monthly revenue is already a third of what I’m bringing in. She attributes that to working in entertainment for years before going back to school to study finance.
“Maeve is a force of nature.” I laugh. “I called her a couple of hours ago. She brushed me off because she was heading to a meeting with a tech billionaire who stays as far out of the public eye as possible.”
“But Maeve got a meeting with him?” Dominick chuckles. “Why am I not surprised?”
“With her,” I correct him. “They went to college together. Connections are everything in California.”
“I think she’s ready to take the reins there.”
I shake my head. “Not yet. She needs guidance.”
“Which we can offer from here.” He taps the corner of my desk with his fingertip. “Or you can do bi-coastal. Spend half the month there and the other half here.”
This Dominick is a far cry from the guy who sent me off to Los Angeles with a pat on the back and all the encouragement I needed to hit the ground running when I arrived there.
“What’s going on?” I shove my hands in the front pockets of my pants. “Why are you pitching to get me back here full-time?”
He rakes a hand through his dark brown hair. “Arietta has changed my outlook on life. It’s short, Daniel. Time doesn’t slow because we want it to. We all think we have plenty of it, but that’s not guaranteed to anyone.”
I glance at the framed photo of my dad and me. “I know.”
“You must miss this city.” He chuckles. “I know you had a lot of memorable moments here.”
I can’t deny that, so I nod. “Too many to count.”
His gaze drops to his watch. “I need to get home. I just ran in to pick up a gift I had delivered here.”
“For me?” I joke. “You shouldn’t have.”
He barks out a laugh. “It’s for Arietta. One of the gifts I got her for our wedding.”