Not in the first year of doing the program. Good call. The fantasy of finding someone has to wait until I know who I am.”
“Now granted, I’m not inside your head, and for all I know, you could be blowing smoke rings up my ass, but from my perspective, you’re doing great. And I know it hasn’t always been easy. Really proud of you, Stan.”
He thumped him on the back and offered words of encouragement. “One step at a time, right? Let’s get you rocking and rolling, and then we’ll have Milo create you a sure-fire dating profile guaranteed to flood the online dating pools.”
“Ah ha ha,” Stan bellowed. “Speaking of Gadgetman, he’s got a project. A side gig.”
“Excuse me, what?” Arnie laughed. “A side gig? Does NIGHTWIND not keep the little shit busy enough?”
“I think pride and competition are fueling this endeavor.”
“Jade?”
Stan chuckled. “One hundred. Anyway, he’s writing a virtual game from the ground floor up, and he’s at the avatar stage of development. You might want to have a look at yours.”
“Stop.” Arnie held his hand up. “This virtual game, is it NIGHTWIND?”
“Knight, with a K. It’s got a warrior vibe. Your avatar wears a gargantuan codpiece.”
“I’m okay with that.” He sniggered.
“I’m not finished,” his brother drawled. “Your guy is also what you might call a Viking drag queen, hence the crotch pouch.”
Hmph. He considered what his brother was telling him. So fucking Milo was trying to impress gamer pro Jade. It wasn’t Arnie’s style, but he had to hand it to the guy. A video game was a creative maneuver.
“How do you know about this?”
Stan grinned like the town idiot. “I’m getting my own avatar!”
There was way too much for Arnie to mentally unpack and make sense of, so he shelved the matter for now and changed the subject.
“What’s happening with the renovation?”
Stan perked up. “I hired a general contractor to run the show. Miguel Ramirez. The dude is a renovating savant. The way he visualizes ideas is extraordinary.”
Arnie flipped through the rolling file in his brain, found Miguel, and brought up what he knew.
The guy was young, maybe thirty. His Mexican grandfather was a master carpenter, and he learned a lot from being his grandson sidekick. Stan was right about his remarkable abilities. He was a good choice to run things.
“And guess what? He’s not tied to Southern California.”
Hearing the interest in Stan’s voice, Arnie asked, “What are you thinking?”
“I think this is what I want to do. Now that I’m a grown-up.” He chuckled. “Find, renovate, and flip houses.” Stan met his gaze and added, “Home base for Aloha Designs will be wherever you and Dad end up. Just waiting on you to decide, bro.”
“I told Summer about the Connecticut house.”
“She’d be a great influence on Rose Hill.”
“You wanna live in the cottage?” Arnie made the offer on the fly.
“Are you cereal?” Stan asked, using a quip from their youth.
“Totally Froot Loops, I know, but I figure, why the fuck not? The cottage would be perfect for you. Freestanding, separate, and tucked away behind the manor.”
“You’ll have to put in a basketball hoop.”
“Deal.” He chortled and stuck out his hand.
They shook on it. The spur-of-the-moment, life-changing idea was the right thing to do.
“I better get back inside. I’m trying to find a balance between hovering and giving her space. How do you think I’m doing?”
“Well, she smiled when I said hello.” Stan shrugged. “I didn’t sense a battlefield, and except for the shade she threw your way when you sounded like a cop directing traffic, everything seemed sort of calm. I guess.”
He peered over his shoulder, looking through the patio doors to where Summer and his dad sat on the floor with Ari.
Stan followed his lead, looked at the cozy scene, and said, “Dad’s happier than I’ve ever seen him.”
“Summer has a way with people. She genuinely likes everyone. It’s her superpower.”
“Can I make an unsolicited suggestion?”
“Of course.”
“Get her up to Montecito as quickly as you can. Bend the knee for Granddad and then seal the deal. Put a ring on it and move on.”
“I have an idea,” he admitted in a hushed tone.
“Wanna share?”
“There’s a little more than three weeks until Valentine’s Day. That’s enough time to throw the Wanamaker name and money around to pull off a coastal wedding, right?”
“Is this your way of telling me we aren’t heading back to New York anytime soon?”
They shared a laugh. Stan looked very pleased with the pie-in-the-sky wedding plan.