Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“Perfect,” Doc says. “Can you swing by tomorrow and go over it with me?”
“Tomorrow’s great. I don’t have to work until six at night.”
Doc turns to Cody. “I like this kid.”
“Told you he was a good guy,” Cody says.
I blush. That needs to stop happening.
I shake it off.
Cody and I head over to Newk’s for lunch.
It’s a sandwich shop down the street.
We sit in a booth, eating our sandwiches when Cody says, “Thanks for helping Doc out. That accountant he hired has seriously screwed him over this past year. He accidentally waited too long to file his quarterly taxes, and Doc ended up having to pay a fine over it. He got the guy from a referral, so he figured he’d be good for him, but it hasn’t worked out that way. You’d be doing him a real solid by offering him some advice.”
“I’m happy to do it. I’m like the go-to guy for my friends. Hell, I’m even helping Derek with his taxes this year.”
“So, you’ve gotta be like a math whiz or something.”
“I’m really good with numbers. Always have been. I was on the math team in high school. I only got out of it because it interfered with the plays I was doing at the time. But that was fine since I was taking AP Calculus, so I basically became my peers’ full-time tutor.”
Cody looks interested in what I’m saying. “That’s incredible. You don’t really hear that too often.”
“Part of it was that I had a terrible teacher in the third grade. We were learning fractions, and I just wasn’t getting it. So I kept doing problems online until I finally figured it out. And it was exciting. Made me feel smart and it felt like playing a game. After a while, I got bored with what we were doing in class, so I started looking stuff up to challenge myself. By the time I was in high school, I was helping correct some of my teachers’ mistakes.”
“They must’ve hated you.”
“With a face like this?” I say, flashing a charming smile. “It’s like solving a puzzle. I’m part of a few discussion forums, and I’ll stay up all night trying to help someone with a problem they’re having. It’s exciting to find a solution. Like having an orgasm.”
“You did not just compare math to having an orgasm.”
I grin. “I can’t help it if that’s what it feels like.”
“So you’ve never considered going into some related field?” Cody asks. “Sorry, I don’t want to sound like Hot Yoga Asshole.”
“No, no. I get what you mean. I considered it for a while, but every job in the field requires a degree. That’s what you get when you skip out on college.”
“I hear ya. I’m damn lucky that my talent with tattoos is enough to set me up with a good life.”
“I kind of wish I’d been smart and gone to school. Not so much because I need that, but I’d like to be doing something more in line with what I love doing.”
“Why don’t you do it, then?”
I shrug. “I don’t have time with the restaurant, and I don’t know, I wouldn’t be able to compete with the young guys coming right out of school. Who’s going to be interested in hiring some thirty-year-old college grad?”
“Why’d you have to go and do this to me?” Cody asks.
“What?”
“Tell me that you want to do something. Now I’m gonna be making it my mission to encourage you to follow your passion.”
Which is so Cody that it doesn’t surprise me. He genuinely likes helping people. “Not such a great idea with me,” I add.
“Why do you say that?”
“Mom did that with acting, and look where it got me.”
“Was that something you were passionate about, though?”
“Not really. I mean, I liked that I had success in it. But when I went out to Los Angeles, I think I realized if I wanted it, I was going to have to fight. And it wasn’t something I was really interested in fighting for.”
“But you could fight for this,” Cody says. “You know I’m not saying it for any of the bullshit reasons other people might. I genuinely see that you like this, and I can tell you, as someone who’s doing something he loves, there’s nothing better in the world. Don’t let anything stop you. Just go for it.”
“Not something Lance would have ever said.”
“Why not?”
“He was never impressed with anything I did. I did our taxes and all that, but if I mentioned even trying to get a different job, he said I should ‘stick to what I was good at.’”
“The more you talk about him, the more I hate his guts.”
“No, I don’t want that. He’s a good guy. He just didn’t get me with stuff like that.”
“Sounds like he was trying to hold you back so someone else wouldn’t come along and snatch you up.”