How to Love Your Neighbour(7)
The kids turned, saw Rob, smiled. Their gazes landed on Noah, and though they looked nothing alike, their snarls were nearly identical.
“They don’t love newcomers,” Rob said under his breath. “Hey. I brought a friend. This is Noah. Noah, meet Leo and Danny.”
Danny gave a small wave, then pushed his hand up into his long blond bangs, tucking them behind his ear. “Hey.”
Leo grabbed the ball from Danny, started dribbling.
Rob grimaced. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Busy,” Leo answered, not looking at them as the ball sailed right through the hoop. Good shot. Bad attitude. He could relate.
Stretching out his shoulders, he let Rob take the lead, updating the kids on the event he was planning. Noah listened, seeing how Leo’s gaze kept landing on him, like he was just waiting for Noah to make a wrong move. He couldn’t help but wonder what the kid had gone through to be that distrustful at such a young age. He didn’t even look old enough to drive.
“We’ll play two on two. Leo, no cheap shots,” Rob said.
“Scared I’ll hurt your friend?” Leo’s smile was a little mean.
“Play fair or don’t play,” Rob returned easily, whipping the ball out of his hands and taking a jump shot. When it went in, he strutted around under the hoop. Danny laughed outright, grabbing the ball. Leo’s lips twitched but he didn’t crack.
“Come on, dude. Let’s whip their old asses,” Danny said.
“Whatever,” Leo said, taking Danny’s pass. “Nothing better to do.”
Noah pulled into a drive-through after the gym, surprised at how hard he’d had to work to keep up with a couple of kids. He and Rob had won, barely. Leo hadn’t spoken to him the entire time, but he didn’t cheap-shot.
After ordering a burger and large Coke, Noah headed for the freeway. The drive from San Verde to Harlow Beach was a good one. Gave him enough time to think. In New York, he’d rarely driven. Once Chris had pulled up stakes for good, leaving New York behind for the California sunshine and the love of a woman who, no shit, completed him, Noah’s restlessness had begun.
He thought a relationship was the answer and tried to make a serious go of it with a former flame who’d . . . well, flamed out. He realized a few weeks in that there was a reason they’d been on only two dates, both of them to high-profile events. Still, he’d worked at it, telling himself he wasn’t his father, who was on his sixth engagement.
While he’d been trying to find the good in his so-called relationship with Belle—short for Belinda—she’d been telling mutual friends that she wasn’t sure Noah had deep enough pockets for her liking. It’d been the final straw. He’d leased out his penthouse apartment, told his father he was headed west, ignored the laughter his old man had thrown at him, and cut his ties.
Tapping his fingers along to the music playing on the radio—96.2 SUN, the station he’d gone in on with Chris and their brother, Wes—he made a mental list.
A quick flash of Leo’s scowl reminded him he had lots to be grateful for in this life. He just needed to feel productive again. Then he’d feel like himself. Since he’d moved to a sweet corner lot by the beach, the little bungalow next to it had sat empty. The tiny shack was begging to be razed so Noah could use the land to make his dream property. The house he’d purchased needed work. It was a monster of a thing that took up most of the land it sat on. Which meant that he needed the property next door to truly turn the space into a place he could call home.
“Time to make things happen,” he ground out, turning off at the freeway exit for Harlow Beach. He could commit just fine. When it was warranted. He told Siri to phone his assistant, Josh.
“What’s up, boss?” Josh’s phone came through the Bluetooth.
“You hear back from the real estate agent?”
“Yes. He said he contacted the owner and it isn’t for sale.” Noah heard the sigh in his assistant’s voice. Noah was persistent. So what? It was what made him good at what he did. Or it used to.
“Bullshit.” Noah squeezed the steering wheel. “Everything is for sale when given the right price.”
“Maybe not this one,” Josh said tentatively.
“No one even lives in it.”
“Maybe we could find the owner, set up a meeting. You’re pretty convincing in person. When you turn on the charm anyway. I’m not basing that on your personality lately.”
Noah laughed. “Shouldn’t you be nice to me since I’m in charge of your paycheck?”
Josh’s chuckle answered. “Probably, but no one else applied to run your errands and buy your groceries. The mood you’re in lately, you couldn’t pay someone else to put up with you, so I think I’m safe.”
Jesus. What happened to the charming guy who had a packed social life? Had he completely forgotten how to be around people?
“Second time today someone has commented on my mood. Sorry, man.”
“I’m just giving you a hard time. You need to get out, go on a couple dates, go surfing, something. I’ll try setting up a meet with the owner. See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah. See ya.”
Noah hung up thinking about how he was turning into exactly what he didn’t want to be: his father. Unappreciative of his employees, always wanting more, not being grateful for what he had right at his feet. “It stops now.”