Page 15 of Tonight's the Night
7
Joshua
I told EmilyI had to take care of some business out West, which is a fact: the business of setting things up for me and Angela. Angela had to leave for the beginning of the summer semester and I wanted our new place to be set up in time for her arrival, but not before she had a chance to spend adequate time with Emily and catch up with her the way she’d intended to at the close of the spring semester. They each had a rigorous course of study for the second semester of college and they needed time, I understand, to dig into the trenches to unearth everything they needed to catch upon.
I step out of my private jet and take in a deep breath of the fresh California air. The sun is beating down on me and it feels glorious. I close my eyes and take another breath, holding it in longer thistime.
Damn, that feels good. Feels like home.I laugh to myself.I never liked New York,anyway.
“Sir,” my valet says, rushing around me to grab my briefcase from me. I pause in the middle of handing it tohim.
“You know what? I’ve got it,” I say with a smile. “I’m a big boy. I can carry my ownthings.”
“Don’t take my job away from me,” he says, walking next to me and sliding on his aviators. I let him grab the back door of the Lincoln town car and I get in, pulling my phone out. I have real estate contacts outhere.
“I need an apartment in Los Angeles,” I tell my old college friend as my car takes off. I go through the specifics of what I’m looking for and he tells me he has something that he thinks I am going to love. He tells me he’ll text me thedetails.
After we hang up, I look out the window at the swaying palm trees and the sun as it sets over the ocean. My phone buzzes with the address of the house where I’m meeting my friend. We’re arriving at the house in no time and I meet him outside the big gates that separate the property from thestreet.
“You have a look on your face,” Matt says, offering his hand to shakemine.
“What look?” I pull off mysunglasses.
“You look happier than I’ve seen you in a very long time,friend.”
Despite living out here and our hang-outs dwindling to two or three dinners or parties a year, I know this to be true. Back in college I was the guy sulking in the corner, nursing a drink on my own and rejecting the advances of pretty much any woman who walked over or even, frankly, looked my way. I never liked to party and much preferred to study, but Matt and my other suitemates made me go out, practically forcing me into something nicer that a T-shirt on a regularbasis.
I didn’t like any of the women I met, though. There was no real challenge, no chase, and I never liked things that came too easily. They just fell into my lap. There was no mystery to any of it — and it was that same apathy and general despondency that made a good pool of candidates for me to drown my sorrows in after the divorce. But Angela is all mystery. And she’s allmine.
“Thanks,” I say to Matt, aware of the fact that he is very right in his assumption. “I amhappy.”
It feels good to saythat.
“Let me show you the property.” He claps his hands together once and puts a hand out for me to lead the way. He enters the combination for the gate and it swings open slowly, giving an unobstructed view of thehome.
“Damn.” I chuckle. “This place looksfantastic.”
“Wait until you seeit.”
He gives me a tour of the place. The wide driveway is flanked on one side with a plush green lawn and a modern fountain in the center. The entrance to the home is wide and lit up by wall sconces. The whole thing is sleek and modern, with tall glass windows on the left side of thehome.
Matt unlocks the door and opens it for me to step inside. My dress shoes click on the blond wood flooring as I take it all in, but the most stunning part is the infinity pool out back and, beyond it, theocean.
“Chef’s kitchen, five bedrooms, six bathrooms, and a priceless view,” Matt says in a tone that’s meant toentice.
“And apool.”
“Ofcourse.”
I smile and turn tohim.
“I’ll takeit.”
“Just like that?” Mattsays.
“Just likethat.”
I put my hand out and we shake on it. I know Angela is going to lovethis.
This is going to befun.
