“I’m really good with shit actually, ask Rose. I helped her build a fort in the living room; she loved it.”
“Fort building is an outstanding skill, it has to be noted, but not quite what I was getting at. Organizational skill is not your strong suit. Hell if I know how you manage doctoring.”
“I agree, and he manages because his administrator, nurse, and mother do the organizing for him.” Paul Newman wandered in with his girl, Hope Lawrence.
Thankfully the topic of Lani was forgotten by everyone but Noah. He’d have something to say to her the next time they met, and she wouldn’t like it. The hell of it was, he wanted there to be a next time.
“No one asked you into this conversation, pretty boy,” Jake said.
Dressed immaculately as he always was in perfectly ironed chinos and a crisp button-down navy shirt, Paul Theodore Newman was a man who stepped out of bed looking like he did now. Even scruffy, he was neater than Noah. A shrewd businessman, he had blond curls that he never tamed and a smile that could get most people to do what he wanted.
His partner, Hope, however, was the exact opposite. She wore a sundress in red with huge yellow flowers, a denim jacket, black knee-high socks, and black leather lace-up boots, which her man referred to as shit kickers. She never matched, was usually rumpled, and had a scowl that could scare anyone off if you didn’t know that under the threatening facade was a sweet, gentle woman.
“He iron your dress again, sweetheart?” Noah said, leaning over for a high five from Newman and to kiss her cheek.
She sighed, looking pissed off. “I can’t stop him. He goes into my closet and gets my clothes out. Irons them and puts them back.” She lifted a boot up for them to inspect. “He polished these too, and yesterday he tidied my dressing table and got me all these hair ties that match.”
Newman looked unrepentant. “What can I say? I love her; it’s my way of showing it.”
Hope laughed and then placed a loud kiss on his cheek. “It’s okay, I’ll sleep in this dress. That’ll give you something to do tomorrow.”
Newman gave her a special smile that suggested she wouldn’t be wearing it for long.
“Stop making bedroom eyes,” Jake said. “It disgusts me.”
“Jealous, big boy?” Newman elbowed him in the ribs.
“Hell, no. Branna wears one of my T-shirts—”
“Stop!” Noah raised a hand. “I have no wish to discuss your love life, and especially not without a beer in my hand. Now go, sit, and leave me to work.”
“He’s just pissed he doesn’t get it regularly.” Newman smiled. “Plus, there’s that new lone wolf vibe about him.”
Noah pinched his nose. “You have no idea how regularly I get it, and this discussion is over. Now go away.”
“He’s grumpy,” Hope said.
Noah eyeballed his friends. “Did you all wake up this morning and decide it was time to list my faults or something? First I’m gruff and grouchy, then I sleep around, and now I’m a lone wolf and grumpy.”
“To be fair, I never said you slept around,” Jake added. “I said you went for companionship… brief companionship with no strings.”
“And maybe we think it’s time you snapped out of it,” Newman said.
“Out of what? There is nothing happening with me, nor am I different.” Noah felt a tightness in the back of his head that suggested he had a headache coming on.
“You go on believing that if it makes you happy.” Branna patted his hand. “But we’re your friends and are just saying that since Samantha, you’re going through some things.”
“Okay, this conversation is done.” Noah turned his back on them. Not that he thought for a minute that would deter them.
“It’s only just beginning,” Jake said.
When he’d turned back, they were walking away, and he had a really bad feeling that suddenly his friends had decided he was their project, and not in a “let’s go paint his house or get him a haircut” kind of way. This was about meddling, plain and simple, and he’d be putting them straight on that matter tomorrow. He didn’t need any help; he was fine just the way he was.
Just because they were all loved up and smiling didn’t mean the world had to be.
He’d tried that once, believing he’d found his happily ever after with Samantha. Turns out he’d got that wrong, and now he didn’t want a repeat performance, deciding it was better to keep his heart in one piece.
Okay, maybe that experience had changed him but he was still Noah, just a little more guarded and a lot less gullible.
