Page 107 of Son of Money
I gawked at him. “I can’t believe you even know the name of a soap opera. Is that what you do on the computer when I’m not around? I thought you were watching porn or something.”
“Funny.” Noah leaned closer and kissed my cheek. “I’m glad this is all done, babe. I only got to be with you carefree for a second before the shit hit the fan.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”
“No, don’t be. I wasn’t saying that.” Slipping from my arms, Noah stood up. “Wait right there. I’ve got something to show you.” He walked out of the room, the three dogs trailing behind him.
I walked around the couch and sat down, glancing over the article again. I never would have dreamed Dustin and I would be on the same side of things, much less that we were on our way to actually being friends. It almost made all the drama worth it.
Actually, maybe it did make all the drama worth it.
Noah and the dogs were back in a matter of moments. He held out a paper to me as he sat down. “I got this at work today. I know you and Dustin had a plan to help start your career again, and I hope it works. However, I had a plan of my own.”
I took the paper but continued to stare at him.
He nudged my knee. “Well, look at it.”
It was a contract with the Seattle Humane Society. I started to read through it, but there was so much legal jargon I gave up. “Maybe my brain is too fried, but can you just explain this to me?”
“Sure.” Noah grinned, and as he spoke, he grew more and more excited. “Well, you know that they use me as the face of the organization. The one the public recognizes. Obviously… I don’t know why I’m telling you that. Anyway, I convinced them that we also need a whole new marketing scheme, which I think we actually do. I wasn’t just doing this for you.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Noah, I still have no idea what you’re talking about. I guess about me taking pictures, right?”
“Yeah. Of course. That’s why I took the picture of Bailey and the dogs. I think, and the organization agrees, that you could do that same fantasy feel that you do with kids, but use our animals instead. Can’t you see those pictures on the side of a bus or something? I think it could be a lot more effective than just pictures of sad dogs and cats asking to be rescued. It would make them look exciting and wonderful, not pathetic.”
I stared to argue but then paused. I actually could see the image on the side of bus. And like the flip of a switch, the ideas started to flow. A dog in a suit of armor, on the edge of a cliff staring out to the sea. A cat soaring over the Seattle skyline on the back of a dragon. Puppies with fairy wings snuggled up in a bird’s nest. I felt my own excitement start to build. I beamed over at Noah. “You’re brilliant.”
God, he was beautiful when he smiled. “So that’s a yes?”
“Hell yes, it’s a yes! Where’s a goddamned pen?”
A mischievous twinkle sparked in his eyes. “I was also thinking that those images could make an awesome art book, don’t you?”
“You know, Noah, you’re even more wonderful than I dreamed you’d be.”
Epilogue
THERE WEREno lights on in Dad’s yacht.
Stars were bright in the crystalline winter sky. The water was still and dark. It was cold enough there were no night birds to be heard, though something was crunching through the leaves at the water’s edge.
My parents’ house had two windows glowing, and I could make out the twinkling of a Christmas tree. No doubt set up by the staff earlier in the day. Day after Thanksgiving. Just like clockwork.
Noah was spending the evening with his mother. She’d warmed up enough, but Lake Washington was calling to me. It was too long since I sat on my jetty and got lost in the magic of Northwest beauty. Noah understood. Didn’t he always?
I was a little nervous coming here. Afraid it would hurt to be so close to the family home. So close to my parents. That it might spoil the love I had for this place. For the memories I had saved inches above the water.
It didn’t.
There was some melancholy, to be sure, but even that wasn’t so bad. If anything, it added to the mystery of the place.
Truth be told, I had more family now than I ever had before, despite having no aspect of my parents in my life. Though I hadn’t realized it until the day before.
As cliché as it sounded, Thanksgiving woke me up even more to how much I had to be thankful for. After Noah and I joined Dustin, Kayla, and Bailey for a feast at their house—the last one we would have in their McMansion—we went to the humane society. Noah had to check on the animals, but that wasn’t why we all tagged along.
The realization of how much family I truly had hit me as I watched Noah take Bailey from kennel to kennel, introducing her to all the orphaned dogs and letting one of them pick her to be its family.
Proving she had more than an ounce of her uncle’s blood in her veins, she was chosen by a rather hideous mousey-looking terrier named Buster. I already had an idea floating around in my head for a Bailey-and-Buster photo shoot. Maybe this time at the fish market.
It was then, Bailey wrapping her arms around Buster’s neck while Kayla pointed at a lovely poodle across the hallway, and Noah and Dustin bursting out laughing, that I realized all I had.
Just look at my family.
There was no one richer in the entire world.
