Page 69 of My Kind of Trouble
‘Okay,’ she muttered.
‘Okay?’
‘Yes, okay. I’ll stay. I’ll take the job, and I’ll write. I don’t know how to thank you. Should we talk about hours?’
He smirked. ‘No, Noa. We can talk about that later. Whatever hours you want, you can have. But, right now, I can think of one way that you can thank me. I’m going to need you to crawl your little butt over here and sit yourself on my face before I fuck my new waitress for the rest of the night.’
Quickly crawling onto her knees and moving herself over, she did exactly what he’d told her to.
‘Yes, Boss.’
Chapter 41
Noa
Placing a pint of bitter down in front of Richard Morley, Noa wiped her sticky hands on her apron and rang it through the till. This job was exactly what Noa needed. Living at home had meant that she didn’t need for much and, after the small amount of rent that her mum asked for, the part-time wage was still plenty to cover what she needed it to.
She’d even been putting a little into savings for when she finally had a piece of work she was proud enough to publish. The price of that wouldn’t come cheap. She’d need to hire an editor, a cover designer, maybe get some marketing help. So, the more she could save, the better.The thought had her glancing at the tip jar on the corner of the bar and smiling at how generous this town was.
Working in the evenings gave her plenty of time every day to dedicate to writing. She’d made a conscious effort to get out the house too—going on walks, writing in the park, by the lake, or anywhere pretty that would inspire her and aid in her creativity like travelling had done. It had worked so far, and she was now around eighty percent through her first novel, which tackled subjects like loss of identity, mental health struggles, and starting over in your late twenties. Basically, everything these last few months had taught her.
She was trying to write the book she wished she’d been able to read when she was struggling with these things herself, and to create something that mattered. She wanted to make relatable characters that people could get lost in and be left feeling less alone by the end of it. Doing so felt cathartic and gave Noa a sense of purpose that she’d been lacking for the longest time.
Alex did everything he could to support her, too, and she couldn’t be more grateful for all his help. In the past, she had been so stubborn. She’d felt the need to prove that she could do everything on her own. Maybe because Lucas made her feel she had to and, maybe, because she didn’t want to be ‘that kind of girl’. The kind of girl who relied wholly on a man. The kind of girl who can’t be independent or stand on her own two feet.
But, along with the other things she had learnt and let go of recently, the negative stereotypes that society had put in her head of how women should act and behave had been one of them. She still wanted to be independent, but having someone to rely on and seek comfort and support from had been nice, and knowing she could do this on her own, but didn’t have to, warmed her from the inside out.
Sarah Kingsley walked up to the bar then, her warm smile on full display. She was the town’s local bookshop owner. Noa had always seen her as a motherly figure, probably because she was her mum’s age and had always gone out of her way to talk to Noa, checking in on her and taking a genuine interest in her life. She also had this friendly and dependable aura about her that made you want to spill all your secrets to her and let her give you her wise words of advice.
Noa fell into that again now, when Sarah pushed her wine glass onto the bar before asking, ‘How are you, Lovey? It’s nice to see your beautiful eyes for once instead of the top of your head as you frantically scribble into the pages of that book of yours.’
She knew Sarah was referring to the fact that Noa had been sitting on the bench outside her shop to write whenever she got chance. When the sun was out, from that bench she got a view of ‘The Next Chapter’, which was the name of Sarah’s shop, as well as the breathtaking backdrop of the mountains behind it. They rolled and fell for miles in the background, looking like a patchwork quilt of greens, browns, and yellows. The view filled her with inspiration, similarly to how the experiences on her travels had.
Deciding to be honest and say exactly that, Noa responded.
‘That bench has the best view in town. I’m surprised it’s not made it onto a post card yet,’ Noa giggled. ‘And there’s something poetic about writing a novel whilst sitting in front of a bookshop. It’s inspiring, looking up at the books and thinking, maybe, I could be there one day.’
This was the first time Noa had said those words to anyone outside her family, that she was writing a novel. But shedidn’t want to let fear dictate her life anymore, and it felt good to tell her.
Sarah’s grin spread even wider.
‘Oh, Noa, that’s so exiting! I can’t wait to see it on my shelves. You can count on me to have the biggest Noa Drake window display in the whole country.’
Her words warmed Noa, and she was reminded of what was so special about Freymoor. This community was more like one big family. She could travel the whole world, but she would never get this anywhere else.
The telltale sound of Albert clearing his throat told Noa that open mic night was about to start. She scurried over to the end of the bar where Tes sat waiting for her.
Tes had been coming to the bar to spend some time with Noa every Friday night. Open mic nights had always been their guilty pleasure, and she loved having her best friend there to keep her company as she worked.
Or, at least, made it look like she was working whilst she put the world to rights with her bestie. Although Alex hadn’t said anything about her lack of commitment on those nights, he had conveniently brought in an extra waitress to help out when Noa worked on Fridays, like he wanted to allow her that time with her friend. He really would do anything to make her happy.
It's true that it really does pay to date the boss. Because that’s what it seemed they were doing now—dating. Not in public, of course. But even so, the time they spent together still felt so perfect.
She knew her feelings for Alex were growing exponentially and, at some point, she was going to have to confront them. Alex didn’t deserve all the sneaking around and, truthfully, the way he made her feel about him, she didn’twant to sneak around, either. This didn’t feel like just a short term, casual fling anymore. She wasn’t entirely sure it ever had, but it felt easier to think of it that way at first. It felt like she could justify moving on from Lucas so quickly that way. Now, she was sure that she wanted everyone to know that they were together. Even if they hadn’t actually said that yet. In her head, they were exclusive, and, at some point, she would make sure Alex knew that, too.
It was a typical Friday. She and Tes chatted at the bar, like she wasn’t there to do a job.
‘Do we need to have a talk?’ Tes asked.
