The next couple of days at school were unremarkable. I continued to sit next to Li, and continued to eat lunch with Myles. It was easy enough companionship, and the schoolwork itself was basic at this point. Since most currently-employed MBA students had non-business Bachelor’s degrees, the week was mostly an introduction to the sort of terms and language I’d been swimming in for the last three years at Stanford.

I understood the need to go over this material, but it was so basic I really didn’t even bother taking notes in lecture, mostly just listening for any new nuggets of wisdom.

“Aren’t you even going to pretend to pay attention?” Li asked at one point. “You know there’s going to be a test.”

“I’m sure there is,” I replied. “But this is all review for me. I just graduated three months ago from Stanford’s business school, so I’ve been neck-deep in this stuff for a while now.”

“You just got out of college?” Li asked, surprised. “Like, this June?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, nodding.

“But you already have your own company?” she asked.

“I started it late in my freshman year,” I said.

“Overachiever,” Li grumbled, jokingly.

Tuesday night I voiced a bit of concern about taking Angela with us to Chicago. “We’re going to be doing Night Children stuff, and she doesn’t need to know anything about any of that,” I said to Emmy, but she brushed it off.

“We have already invited her, so it is too late to disinvite,” she said. “And Angela does not need to follow us around when we go to our meeting with this ‘Boss’ individual. She can go out on her own, or stay in the hotel. She is an adult, after all.”

Emmy hadn’t been there in Vancouver when Rahsett and King Marfan grabbed Grace so she didn’t really understand my misgivings, but I could understand her position, so I gave in.

What I didn’t tell Emmy was that I was going to ask Grant Henry to stick to Angela like glue every time she wasn’t with us, just to keep her safe.

Dinner on Wednesday was a hit- Stephen and his girlfriend Nadia brought wine, and so did Teddy Bear- his from the vineyard owned by the singer from the band Tool. Apparently Teddy Bear’s last shoot was in the same town in Arizona where the vineyard was located.

Of course, Andy brought brown liquor. After a hug hello, he handed me a bag containing a bottle of whiskey from a distillery in Texas, where the Rams had most recently played.

“I’m told this stuff is great in Old Fashioneds,” he said.

“We’ll just have to try it out,” I suggested.

The evening went by really well, the wine (and cocktails) flowed, and the conversation was easy. At one point Stephen’s girlfriend (whose name I honestly can’t remember, but she seemed nice enough) commented on how nice our place was, and Emmy told her we were renting it furnished, until our new place was finished being remodeled.

“Leah said the place is fifty thousand square feet,” Stephen said to his girlfriend.

“The building is that big,” Andy said, "But the part they’re making into a house is only what, ten thousand square feet?” he asked, looking at me for confirmation.

“Yeah, that’s about right,” I agreed.

“Well, what’s the rest of it, then?” Stephen’s girlfriend asked.

“It’s a friggin’ movie studio,” Andy said. “Well, I mean, Emmy’s gonna use it as a rehearsal space and recording studio, but it has a sound stage big enough to film whatever you want in there.”

“A sound stage? Like at Universal Studios?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s like one big room, about as big as a grocery store inside, right? And it’s two and a half stories tall inside, with rigging for lights and sets and things, with a catwalk around the outside and across the middle, like twenty feet up,” Andy said, warming to the subject.

“You’ve seen it?” Stephen asked.

“Yeah, Leah and I went and talked to the general contractor the other day. I gotta say, that guy knows his shit. I mean, he’s really on top of it, and it’s a big project.”

“It sounds amazing,” Stephen’s girlfriend said.

“It doesn’t look like much right now, just a construction site,” Angela said. “But you can see that it’ll be spectacular.”

“That reminds me, Lee,” Andy said. “We need to set up a time that Jenna and I can come over to your office.”

“Any day early next week,” I said. “Just call or text me to let me know when you’re headed over.”

“Cool, cool,” he said.

After everybody left, the three of us took a few minutes to straighten up before heading to bed.

“I like your friends,” Angela said. “It’s nice to just have friends over for dinner and to hang out, you know?”

“You know, Ange, this is your place, too. If you want to invite people over, feel free.”

“I don’t really have anybody I’d want to invite over like that,” Angela said, her face thoughtful. “But I’ve been thinking of sending my little sister airline tickets to come visit, if that’s O.K. with you guys.”

“I’m fine with it,” I said. “Has she been to the U.S. before?”

“Just to Miami, right after I came to the States.”

“Well, now you will be able to take her around in your new car, so you two should do some sightseeing while she is here,” Emmy said. “There are so many amazing things to see.”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Angela agreed.

Angela asked if she could go with me for the Saturday morning group drive, and once I’d explained that the speed might be quite high but she still didn’t back out, I said she was welcome to come along.

“You are braver than I am,” Emmy said to Angela as we were leaving the apartment.

“It’ll be alright,” Angela said with a giggle. “I’m too pretty to die.”

“You aren’t going to crash, right?” Angela asked as I pulled the M6 out of the garage.

“I haven’t yet,” I said.

“But there’s a chance you might?”

“Heck, there’s always a chance we might get in a car crash, even if we’re just driving down to the grocery store,” I replied. “Life is a series of risks.”

“I suppose,” Angela said, unconvinced.

When we pulled up to the meeting spot, Geoff, Stein and Stephen were already there, sipping on convenience store coffee.

“Hi, Stephen,” Angela said brightly as she climbed out of the BMW.

“Long time no see,” Stephen said, waving his cup in her direction.

“Is Teddy Bear coming today?” I asked. “He said something about maybe having a shoot.”

“Yeah, he texted me last night,” Stein said. “Said he’ll be here.”

Just then, Jimmy and his sister pulled up in his Ferrari. “Hey, chica!” he called out to Angela as he rolled past. “Hey, Liz!”

“They’ve met?” Stein asked me, one eyebrow raised, Spock-style.

“Yeah, they’ve met,” I said. “Stein, Geoff, this is my friend Angela. Angela, this is Geoff, and that’s Stein. Of course, you remember Stephen, and who could forget Jimmy? That’s Jimmy’s little sister. She doesn’t talk much, but when she does, it’s usually to call her brother an asshole,” I explained.

“Nailed it,” Geoff said with a laugh.

Jimmy’s sister didn’t bother getting out of the car, so Jimmy made his way alone across the parking lot to greet us.

“Hey, dudes,” he said. Then, turning to Angela, he said, “And dudette.”

“Hey, Jimmy,” came the reply chorus.

“So, what’s the haps today? Is Teddy Bear gonna make it?” Jimmy asked. “Are we just gonna stand around like idiots?”

“Well, you are, for sure,” Stein replied.

“Ooh, ouch! Why you gotta be so hurtful?” Jimmy demanded.

Just then Teddy Bear’s Corvette rolled to a stop next to us and the window slid down.

“You guys ready, or what?” he asked. “Hey, Angela,” he said, nodding in her direction. “If riding with Leah gets too terrifying, I’ve got a seat for you.”

“Maybe, Teddy, maybe,” she replied with a laugh.

It was Geoff’s turn to lead out, so when he called out that it was time to saddle up, we all got back in our respective cars and filed out of the parking lot.

“Well, I guess the other three are going to have no problem figuring out there was a party they weren’t invited to,” I grumbled.

“Does it matter?” Angela asked. Up ahead, Stein did a smooth ninety-degree drift through a left turn at the light, so I followed his example, breaking the rear tires loose through the intersection.

Angela had the door’s grab handle in a death grip, I noticed, but didn’t say anything more than a quiet “Eep!”

Geoff’s routes were always predictable, and as Stein and I were the last in line, we spent the time goofing off and getting sideways wherever we could, leaving black rubber stripes on the road everywhere we went. It was silly fun, and Angela seemed to relax once she accepted that it was intentional and I never actually lost control of the car.

When it came time for the lunch break Back at Malibu Village, Geoff (again, predictably) led us to the Italian restaurant back a block off the PCH. Sure, the place is good, but it was all old-style Southern Italian cooking, and always sat really heavy in my stomach afterwards.

As usual, we grabbed the big table by the kitchen, and the waiter brought over an extra chair and place setting to accommodate our larger-than-usual group.

“So, Angela, what do you think of the Saturday drive?” Teddy Bear asked after we’d ordered.

“You guys are all maniacs!” she said with a laugh, her expressive face showing that she had fun.

“Some of us more than others,” Teddy Bear replied. “You should have been there at the track day- that was epic.”

“Epic isn’t the word I’d use to describe it. More like terrifying,” Jimmy said. “Your girlfriend there showed us all her true colors,” he said, tilting his head at me. “The rest of us are lucky to have survived the experience.”

“That’s no lie,” agreed Stephen. “I mean, seriously.”

“You should’ve been there,” Stein said, elbowing Geoff. “The sound of Leah’s old GT-R blasting past is gonna haunt my nightmares for a long time.”

“Jesus, true dat,” Teddy Bear agreed. “I was real happy when she switched to the BMW- it doesn’t sound nearly so freaking psycho.”

“I’m really gonna miss that car,” I sighed. “Me and Godzilla, we had something special.”

“Godzilla?” Angela asked, puzzled.

“Her green and black Nissan GT-R GT3,” Stein explained. “It’s called that because it’s from Japan, and it destroys anything in its path.”

“You had another race car before that BMW I saw?” Angela asked.

“Yeah, a particularly mean one,” Jimmy said. “But she sold it to a dude she knows from up in the Bay Area. Two hundred and fifty grand, just like that,” he said, snapping his fingers. “Dude didn’t bat an eye at dropping that coin, either. But then, his car was a Porsche worth a million and a half, which Liz said she’s gonna buy from him.”

“A million and a half dollars? For a car?” Angela asked, looking at me with wide eyes. “Explain to me again why you don’t have a yacht?”

“I know, right?" Jimmy agreed.

After lunch, Angela and I stopped off at the new house to see how things were going, and the progress in just the last week was impressive. Ned was there, talking to the architect that specializes in recording and film studios. They were deep in discussion, so I saw no need to interrupt beyond just saying hello and telling Ned everything was looking good.

“This place really will be amazing when it’s done,” Angela said as we watched a giant crane lifting a fully grown coral tree into place on the slope behind the pool, which had already been shaped, awaiting the final plaster coat.

“Yeah, I’m really looking forward to moving in,” I said as we got into the car to leave.

“Are you still thinking it’ll be in six months?”

“Like Andy said the other night, the last five per cent of the work takes fifty per cent of the time,” I replied. “But it really seems like Ned is extra motivated to earn that early completion bonus I promised him.”

“I’ve been looking for my own place,” Angela said, looking out the window. “I’ll have something by the time we move out of The Century.”

“Ange,” I said, patting her leg. “Emmy and I have discussed it, and we’re O.K. if you don’t get a place by then. This place has seven bedrooms, so you can stay here with us if you want.”

“Are you serious?”

“Emmy and I are happy to have you stay with us as long as you want,” I confirmed.

Angela quickly unbuckled her seat belt and threw her arms around me the moment I pulled up to the stop sign at the end of the street. “You guys are the best!” Angela said. “I love you guys!”

Not really knowing what to do, I patted her on the back, hoping she would stop crying. She did, after a few minutes. As she sat back and buckled up again, she said, “You and Emmy have been so good to me, even though you had no reason to be. You two are so…”

I patted her leg again and said, “We’ve loved having you stay with us, too.”

When Emmy got home from practice, I told her about my conversation with Angela.

“I do enjoy having her living with us,” Emmy said.

Going back to work on Monday was sort of a nice, familiar feeling. I’d grown comfortable in my office there on Wilshire, and after being away for a week it felt a bit like a sort of homecoming.

“Marisa, tell Jake I need to talk to him when he gets a chance,” I said as I walked in, then went and settled into my chair, opening my laptop to look at the morning’s emails. I’d had a really good session with Jody that morning, and was feeling ready to take on the world.

Jake hustled in moments later, asking, “What’s up, boss?”

“Have a seat,” I instructed him, and he sat down, looking worried.

“Relax,” I said. “You look as if you expect me to yell, or something.”

“Marisa made it sound like you came in on the warpath or something,” Jake admitted.

Laughing, I said, “No, no warpath. Just the opposite. I wanted to talk to you about a few things, and none of them are bad, I promise.”

Seeing the relief on the heavyset man’s face, I continued. “First off, I’m generally pretty happy with the way things are going here in this office, and I think you and I have the same basic philosophy on how to do property management, so I’m going to make you the head of the division. Now, we both know how the Peter Principle works, right? So I’m not gonna give you managerial duties. You don’t need that, and that may or may not be where your strengths lie. You’re going to head the property management aspects of the office. You’ll take over from me in that regard.”

“Are you serious?” Jake asked, floored.

“Absolutely. You’re the new boss. It’s your show now.”

“Um, raise?”

“For sure. Like I said, you don’t need to do any managing people, though- I’m going to hand that to Brenda. You don’t need to worry about any of that. All you need to do is focus on the properties and the tenants. Brenda will take over the back end.”

“Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why?” Jake asked.

“I’m going to realign my focus on the trust and the venture capital work,” I replied. “I’m happy with what you’ve been doing here, and I’m confident that you’ll run things for me just fine while I step back and do other things. You understand my vision, and we see eye to eye on pretty much everything on the property management front,” I explained.

“All right,” Jake said, rubbing the back of his neck. “So, can I hire and fire?”

“If you think it’s called for, yeah,” I agreed. “It’s your shop, now. You want Tracy gone?”

“Is it that obvious?” Jake asked.

“Talk to Brenda. I’ve documented enough of what looks like graft to make a solid case for firing her,” I said. “But as the office manager, it’s Brenda’s job to do the actual firing now.”

“O.K., I think I’m beginning to understand the division of labor between Brenda and me. I run the business, she runs the office?”

“Exactly. There’s no need for you to even bother with hours, payroll, any of that stuff. I want you to focus on growing our portfolio, keeping the properties in top shape, and dealing with the owners, more and more of whom will be me. I’m going to be doing a lot of buying in the region.”

“All right,” Jake said again. “You said a few things?”

“What do you know about Angel City Realty Advisors?”

“They’re a medium-sized player in the property management business, maybe about our size. They mostly work in the Los Feliz and Silver Lake areas, if I remember right. I think they’re trying to move into the investment trust field, but I haven’t heard that it’s going too well for them.”

“Why not?”

“Well, from what I’ve heard, and this is third or fourth hand at best, they’re mainly having a problem attracting capital. They’ve been known for managing lower-end properties, and not a lot of investors want the ‘slum lord’ stigma, know what I mean?” Jake said.

“Interesting. Ever heard of a guy named Myles Johansson?”

“He work at Angel City?” Jake asked. “Never heard of him. Why?”

“He’s in my class at UCLA Anderson. He seems unhappy over there, and I was wondering if we want to poach him,” I said.

“I’ll ask around,” Jake promised.

“Cool. Last thing- I’ll be taking a long weekend. Leaving Thursday night, coming home Tuesday. Since I have class on Thursdays and Tuesdays, my last day here in the office will be Wednesday, and I’ll be back the following Wednesday.”

“Must be nice to be the boss,” Jake said. “Where are you going?”

“I’ve got to straighten out some shit in Chicago, then Emmy and I are going to New York for a couple of days to see how the townhouse is coming along.”

“I still don’t understand why you just dropped over ten million bucks on an Upper East Side townhouse you aren’t even going to live in,” Jake said.

“Midtown East,” I corrected. “And it’s because Emmy wanted to buy it.”

“My wife wanted to buy a new car, and I said no. You know, that’s a word you can use every so often,” Jake said, but I could tell he was just giving me a hard time.

“Well, with your new job bonus, now you can say yes,” I said.