Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 70607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
"It'll come." I try to encourage him, and he just rolls his eyes. I laugh at him. We both had different school years. I hit the books hard while he rode the party train until the bitter end.
"This from the guy who got his own team within a year." He chuckles, and I just look over at him, confused.
"I busted my ass." I sit up now. "Day in and day out, seven days a week." When I got chosen for my internship at one of the biggest merger and acquisition companies in the States, I was so excited. I worked eighty-hour weeks, and it paid off because when I graduated, they offered me a new branch they were opening in my hometown. It was a no-brainer that I would take the job, plus building my own team.
"Yeah, yeah," Joseph says, smiling at me, and the worry that was on his face before is gone. "This is probably why they started calling you Ace in elementary school." It started in sixth grade when one of the teachers called me that, and the other kids laughed and thought they were dissing me by calling me Ace, but at the end of the day, it's the coolest nickname. I thought I would grow out of it, but it stayed with me. Very few people call me Weston, and if they do, it's because they don't know me very well.
I shake my head. "It was probably the straight As," I joke with him and turn to look at him. "But I'm hoping it was because I was a cool kid."
He laughs, slapping his leg. "The only thing cool about you in high school was me." He points at himself.
"Fuck off." I shake my head. "I was the star quarterback."
"Only because I was sick with food poisoning," he counters, and I flip him the bird.
"You ready for tomorrow?" I ask as he takes a pull of his beer. He just looks over at me and shrugs.
"I guess." I start to laugh. "What do you mean if I'm ready for tomorrow?"
"Are you ready to get married tomorrow?" I shake my head, taking a pull of my beer. The baseball game on the television is playing in the background.
"Is anyone ever ready to get married?" he asks, and my head whips around to look at him. He chuckles and looks at me. "Are you ready to get married?"
I think about the question. "I'm not even engaged yet." I laugh. "But I'm excited to start another chapter in my life," I answer him honestly. "Becoming a husband is huge, and I'm ready for it and then hopefully a father soon after. But that is all in Sheila's court. She tells me when she's ready, and we can start." He just nods his head and takes another pull of his beer. Sheila and I have been together a little less than a year. We met while waiting in line for coffee one day. She smashed into me as she turned, and her iced coffee went all over us. One thing led to another, and we went on a date a couple of days later. Slowly, we just got into the groove of dating each other. It helped so much that she got along with my friends so easily, especially Shelby. It wasn't always easy, that is for sure. I had to cancel a couple of dates because of work, but she always understood. She is building her career as a graphic designer and knows how hard it takes to grow your business.
"Aren't you ready for all of that?" I watch the play on the screen before looking over at him and seeing him with a faraway look on his face.
"I guess," he says, pulling another sip of beer.
"Shelby is amazing," I say, and he looks at me. It's no lie that she's amazing. From the first day I met her during a business class, something with us just clicked. We had the same goals and studied the same way, so it was amazing to find someone like her. The more time we spent together, the more I liked her. When they started dating, I was definitely surprised. I never thought the two of them were a good fit. Especially since Shelby is a “straight and narrow” kind of person, and Joseph is a really “fly by the seat of your pants” kind of guy. But after spending time with them, I saw that opposites attract. "You're a lucky man."
He nods his head at me. "I'm not the only one who is lucky. Sheila," he says, shaking his head and pulling another sip from his beer. "She's perfect."
"That she is," I agree with him. "Look at us, man." I look over at him.
"I never thought I would see the day when you settled down." I look over at him. It was no secret the women loved Joseph, and Joseph loved the women. All through high school and college and then even when he moved here, but when he met Shelby, he stopped.