The Friends We Keep

She glanced at the clock and saw it was a little after eleven. She had only been in the office two hours and she was on her third cup of coffee. That couldn’t be good. Plus next week she had meetings three of her five days, which meant she would need to do the rest of her work at home.

She reminded herself that working at a full-time job in a big law firm would mean eighty-to-ninety-hour weeks. The concept daunted her. How did people do that? She missed her kids. Funny how when she got home, she was fine. She knew the twins were happy with their teacher and their new friends, but here in the office, she worried. She also found herself wondering about Makayla. The teen hadn’t said much about school the whole week. She’d been sleeping a lot. Gabby worried she was depressed.

But the most startling part of working was more personal, and kind of sad. Peeing alone was not the thrill she’d thought it was going to be. Honestly, she missed Jasmine’s little paw poking under the door and Boomer whining his displeasure if the door was closed.

Gabby got up to get another cup of coffee. As she walked down the hallway, she smiled at her new coworkers and told herself things would get better. That she’d argued about how she needed to get back to work. That she couldn’t possibly continue to stay home.

Only, she’d thought it would be more fun. Or at least more interesting. Had working as a lawyer always been so dry?

“A first-world problem,” she murmured to herself as she made her way back to her desk in her tiny office. She was making a difference. Helping people. Her brain would remember how to focus for more than thirty seconds at a time and she would make new friends. This was everything she wanted and by God, she was going to figure out how to enjoy it.





Chapter Twenty-Four

Jairus’s place was not that far from Nicole’s house. She was careful to take a more complicated route than necessary so that Tyler didn’t figure out his hero was a short three-quarters of a mile away. Tyler’s love of all things Brad had only increased since meeting the author and Nicole didn’t want him stalking Jairus for the next few years.

Jairus was back from his book tour and had invited Nicole and Tyler to lunch at his house. Nicole told herself he was just being, you know, nice. After all, she’d had him over. But all the logic in the world didn’t stop her palms from sweating as she made two more turns before going up to Pacific Coast Highway before going north for three blocks and then headed back toward the water.

“Do you think Jairus sold a lot of books?” Tyler asked.

“I’m sure he did.”

“I’d go to a signing every day.”

“I don’t know. When you do something every day, it’s not special anymore.”

Tyler grinned. “Presents every day would be very special.”

“Your room isn’t that big. Where would you sleep? On the roof? In the car?”

“On the roof!”

She turned onto Jairus’s street and found the address, then pulled into the driveway.

The house wasn’t all that different from hers, she thought with some surprise. It was an old-fashioned Spanish-style bungalow. Many of the older, smaller homes in the neighborhood had been torn down and replaced with big houses that filled the entire lot, with only minimal clearance on each side. But Jairus’s place didn’t stand out at all. She thought maybe the windows were newer and the yard looked well kept. Still, there was nothing about it to distinguish it from others on the street. No flashing neon signing proclaiming A number one New York Times bestselling author lives here.

Tyler was already unbuckling his seat belt. Her son opened his door and took off for the front of the house. Nicole reached for her purse and the cake she’d made as her contribution for their lunch and followed him.

Jairus opened the front door before Tyler got there. He knelt and hugged the boy.

“Hey, sport. How are you?”

“Good. Did you have fun on tour? Did you sign lots of books? Did everyone want to talk about Brad?”

Jairus laughed. “Everyone did. Come on in.” He rose and smiled at Nicole before taking the cake she offered. “You can come in, too.”

“Thanks.”

She walked into the house. The living room was big and open, with arched windows and large, comfortable furniture done in earth tones. The tables were wood, as was the floor. There was a fireplace at the far end of the room. Seeing as this was Southern California, she knew it rarely got used, but it was still pretty to look at. She guessed the house was a few hundred square feet bigger than hers, but built at the same time.

“I thought we’d hang out in the backyard,” he said, motioning for her to lead the way.

They went through the kitchen where he put the cake on the counter. The space was large and open, obviously remodeled. She took a second to envy the stainless steel appliances and the smooth granite countertops.

“Where does Brad sleep?” Tyler asked.

Nicole turned to him and smiled. “Honey, you know Brad’s not real.”

“I know, but Jairus thought up Brad. He has to live here.”

Jairus ruffled Tyler’s hair. “You’re a smart kid. You know that, don’t you?”

Tyler grinned. “I’m smart sometimes.”