Ten
TEN
Noble
I filled my belly with Ms. Elsie’s delicious golden-fried fish, homemade coleslaw, tartar sauce, and sweet tea and said my goodbyes. As I jogged down her steps, I noticed someone at my front door.
“Can I help you?” I asked, wondering who decided to come by unannounced.
“Noble Washington?” a young redhead with a face full of freckles asked.
“Who’s asking?”
“Oh!” He shoved a hand in his backpack and retrieved a card. “I’m Bill Halperin from—”
I took the card from him. He worked for Enterprise Insider , a weekly business journal that prided itself on bringing readers behind the scenes of the most prominent businesses and professionals.
He nodded at me as if my taking the card was enough of an answer. Tim would have said “Control the narrative.” I could hear his voice in my head.
“How can I help you?” I asked again, wondering why he was evading my question.
“Mr. Washington?”
I sucked in an annoyed breath. “What do you want?”
“Your side of the story,” the guy said, pulling out a small microphone. “There’s a lot of speculation out there about you leaving Push—or being pushed out.” The tail end of his statement sounded more like a question. “This is your chance to get your version out there.”
“My version?” I was confused. What speculation? He was baiting me. I took a deep breath to swallow the anger.
“No comment,” I said, stepping around him. I shoved my key in the door and paused. Turning back to him, I asked. “How did you know where I live?”
I didn’t like the way he smiled.
“I can’t reveal my sources, sir. This is your chance, Mr. Washington. I can help you,” he said, insinuating I should be grateful that he showed up on my doorstep, unwelcomed and unannounced.
I felt my lip curl in disgust. He flipped a switch on his microphone.
“Was it your performance that caused them to fire you? A situation with an employee? You can tell me.”
I respected his audacity, but he needed to go.
“Get off my porch.” I pushed the door open, stepped inside, and shut it behind me.
The heat followed me in. Despite leaving the air conditioner on, sweat beaded on my forehead. Adrenaline rushed through my veins, making it impossible for me to stand still. I marched back and forth from the front of the house to the back. Who gave that guy my home address? What speculation was he referring to?
I tapped my way to the internet on my cell phone and searched my name. I shouldn’t have. Tim said not to pay attention to the media. My curiosity didn’t care what Tim said. I kept scrolling. Today, the media had focused on why I had been ousted, drawing their own conclusions ranging from performance issues, rumors of mergers, and possible workplace scandals. The more I read, the harder I marched through the house.
How had they come up with these stories? What if they ruined my chances of a new job or the board I was joining? The more Tim mentioned the board, the more I liked the idea of joining something meaningful. This organization helped kids, reminding me of a time when I needed support and people like Oscar, the owner of the bodega in my old neighborhood who had given me a chance when I needed to make extra money.
I called Tim.
“How ya doin’, Noble?”
“Not good!” My tone was sharper than I intended.
“What happened?” I could hear the concern in Tim’s voice. I told him about the reporter and all the information I found online.
Tim groaned. “Did you tell him anything?”
“No!”
“Good. Don’t talk to any of them. We’ll control the narrative and post pictures of everything coming up, like the award ceremony. Also, I spoke with the chair at the organization I told you about. They’re excited to have you on the board and can’t wait to meet you. You’ve got a huge week coming up. Don’t worry about the media.”
I wanted to believe Tim when he said don’t worry about the media, but the reporter had rattled me. Hearing that the chairperson was excited to have me on the board made me feel a bit calmer. This was something that would have made my mother proud.
“Who are you bringing to the awards gala?”
I hadn’t thought about that. “I don’t know,” I said. The truth was, I had no one to bring. When I first got nominated, I planned to bring my leadership team at Push.
“Call up one of your lady friends. Buy her a nice dress and let me take care of everything else. If you have any additional names you want to add to our table, send them to me by Monday morning. In the meantime, chill out, get ready for your big day next week, and plan a vacation or something. Get away for a while. Do anything but torture yourself following all this crazy media, okay?” Tim didn’t seem rattled at all.
I huffed. “Okay.”
“Enjoy your weekend.”
I nodded as if Tim could see me. “Yeah.”
I put my phone on the island, sat on one of the stools, and held my head in my hands. The award ceremony was days away. I had a tux in my closet, but other than what I’d wear, I hadn’t given the event much thought. A table of ten came with my recognition, and I had no one other than Tim and Ty to invite. Normally, I’d invite board members, my assistant, and other staff members, but now that I wasn’t at Push, inviting them felt awkward. I didn’t even have a potential date.
With my head buried in work, I had put dating on the back burner. If you heard Ty tell it, I had put my entire life on the back burner. I felt empty now. I tried to recall the last time I’d been even semiseriously involved with a woman. My brow creased at the realization that it had been over three years since I’d dated Piper Johnson, the pedigreed, double-ivy beauty who grew up summering in Martha’s Vineyard. Her business-mogul father and honorable-judge mother didn’t think much of my self-made empire, and the fact that my last name didn’t ring any bells in their prestigious social networks. Six months in, Piper’s resistance to their idea of a suitable prospect fizzled along with our budding relationship.
Three people at a table of ten would look really sad. Ms. Elsie would probably love something like this, but bringing her as my plus-one would look pathetic.
I thought about Holland. She may not have a dress, but we could easily fix that. The question was, would she go with me? I could already see her thick curves wrapped in an elegant gown as her honey-streaked coils bounced against the silky smoothness of her shoulders. It would be great to spend more time with her before she left. Once she sold that house, I might never see her again.
I picked up my phone to call her. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and cursed when my father’s number lit up the screen. His timing was the worst. I didn’t feel like being interrogated about losing my job. He’d called several times this week when news of my resignation first came out. In fact, he’d called more this week than he had in the past several months.
What did he even want? Money again? We’d barely spoken until Push took off. When he finally reappeared in my life, he told me the words that I’d waited my whole childhood to hear, “I’m proud of you, son.” Only by the time he said them my chest didn’t swell with pride because I no longer desired to impress him. I was satisfied with showing him I had succeeded despite his abandonment.
Communication between us became an awkward dance of trying not to verbally step on each other’s toes. It was overly cautious, lacking depth and intimacy. Deep down, I wanted him to just take the reins and be the father I needed even as an adult, but too much had transpired, and I sensed that even he didn’t think that mantle rightfully belonged to him after so much time had passed.
The relationship I had with Tim was the closest I’d had to anything shared between a father and son. It would have been nice to have that with my father, but that wasn’t the hand we’d been dealt.
The phone stopped ringing and started again. He never called back-to-back. Curiosity nudged me to tap the answer button. “Hey, Pops.”
“Noble!” A woman’s tearful voice made my breath catch. “It’s…your father!” Tanya, my dad’s wife, stammered before her words melted into thick sobs.
My stomach knotted. “Where are you?” My heartbeat quickened.
“The house…” she whimpered. “The amb…ambulance is here. Oh Lord!”
“Which hospital are they taking him to?” I found myself pacing, breathing like I’d just run a race.
“LIJ.” She referred to the hospital like most people in Queens and Long Island did, despite them becoming part of Northwell Health years ago.
“I’m on my way.” I grabbed my car keys from a drawer in the kitchen and fumbled them twice before taking a deep breath and heading to the door.
I felt bad for not answering the first time. If I had, I would have been several minutes into the forty-minute drive already. The bigger issue was the distance that existed in our relationship. All the moisture in my mouth had been sucked dry from fear of losing my dad. Our relationship wasn’t the best, but I wasn’t ready to lose him. The emptiness that I’d been living with already felt like it would swallow me up.
I had to get to my father, fast.