Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
I raised my beer to her in a mock toast and grinned back.
I’d just buy him another for his thirtieth if this one disappeared.
It was another two hours or so before I got to talk to Jake alone again. His mom and his friends had missed him, and they stuck to him like paparazzi on a scandal. I was thinking about heading out when he found me on the porch, flicking through work emails on my phone.
“What’s the verdict?” I asked, nodding toward the shining black beauty in the driveway. “Is she staying or going?”
“She hasn’t said,” Jake said. His eyes settled wistfully on the sleek outlines of the car. “I’m taking that as a positive sign.”
“Seems like one.” I sent Jake a sideways look. He had that familiar combination of love and frustration warring across his face. I was seeing it more and more as he was getting older. He knew why his mom was as overprotective as she was, but it was getting harder for him to deal with. Maybe I shouldn’t have bought the damn car, but maybe they needed it.
“Listen, I can’t believe I’m asking you for a favor after you got me a Ferrari, but I am.” Jake squared his shoulders and turned to look at me.
I didn’t grin at the overly serious look on his face, even though I wanted to. Jake was a man now, and it wasn’t his fault that he had the exact same earnest expression he’d had since he was ten. I nodded my head gravely instead and slid my phone back into my pocket. “I’m listening.”
He took a deep breath. “I don’t know if you remember my friend, Selena Sinclair. She majored in finance, and she’s been working in New York since we graduated.”
“Your ex-girlfriend,” I said, remembering the gorgeous girl with golden brown hair and eyes who Jake had been besotted with. I’d met her a few times when I visited Jake at college.
“Yeah, but now we’re just friends. Anyway, she’s from LA, and she needs to move back. It’s a family thing.”
I nodded, trying to figure out what the hell any of this had to do with me.
“An interview,” Jake corrected quickly. “She can get the job on her own, but she needs a foot in the door.”
If she wanted to work at Marks Wealth Management she did. We had our pick of the talent, and almost no one got hired without knowing someone. I felt my mouth pull down in a frown. I’d give this girl an interview, but I wouldn’t hire her unless she was the best candidate.
“You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” Jake said, seeing the shift in my expression.
“An interview is no guarantee,” I warned him. “I don’t want her to think she has a job waiting for her here.”
“Absolutely, Uncle Dom. Just an interview. But I wouldn’t even ask for that if I didn’t think she could get the job. She’s great at what she does. Her other job promoted her three times in two years.”
I eyed my nephew. He had the same shine in his eyes that he had when he first saw the Ferrari. “Okay,” I said reluctantly. “I’ll get her the interview.”
But after that, she was on her own.
2
SELENA
I hated flying, but as soon as the wheels lifted off the runway and NYC shrank outside the small oval window, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. Tension I didn’t even recognize had been bunching up the muscles around my neck suddenly released, and for the first time since I moved here two years ago, I let myself realize how much I hated the city.
I’d tried to make it my home, I really had. I’d found a small apartment that wasn’t so bad. I made a few friends. I dated a few guys. But just like the Glade plug in couldn’t cover up the smell of damp rot in my apartment, all the friends and boyfriends in the world couldn’t cover up the fact that I hated my job. I didn’t know if the entire Financial District was as soul sucking and cutthroat as my former company, but I was willing to bet they were. New York City just had that vibe. LA would be better.
I hoped.
A cold, unsettled feeling disturbed the pit of my stomach. For once, it had nothing to do with the earth falling steadily away and the white fluffy clouds enveloping the airplane. It had everything to do with the job I was leaving behind and the one I was potentially heading toward. I was grateful for Jake’s connection, I really was. I needed the job at his uncle’s company, but I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that this job wouldn’t really be different than the one I’d just left. That it didn’t have anything to do with New York and everything to do with the fact I just didn’t like the work.