A broken marriage.
A new job.
She works as a Personal Assistant on the ForNoah Youtube channel.
Noah is on the autistic spectrum and she fixes things for him.
He's a shipwright and creates beautiful works of art.
She's a woman starting over who meet...
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"Police?" I said the one word so laced with a lifetime and generations of fear. Remaining calm like her wasn't in me. I grab my tablet and race for Zoey's car down stairs. My movement didn't stop, and I was gunning it towards Noah's house.
"Yes, police, I let them through the gate." I slap my head so hard against the steering wheel at the stoplight. The sound made a pop sound. Of course she let the cops in. She trusts the police. Sara was on FaceTime and she looked undisturbed at all. Any for Noah gets a call to Zoey and myself. It was a habit that started around the time of the paparazzi showing up taking pictures outside the gate. There's a camera that tracks the visitors but no one really digs into it further than that. Noah isn't a prisoner in his own home. He sees people all the time that neither of us meet but it's good to keep a record of who comes and goes from that gate. Even if it's the make, model, and license plate. Some people can take pictures of his nonpublic current work and leak it before it's out. You never really know.
Maybe it was my expression that tipped her off to my fear about the whole thing. Perhaps it was the loud knock of my skull hitting the steering wheel at a stop but Sara was getting upset.
"Whatever you do, don't stop recording. In the kitchen by the door there's a tablet with cell service." I reminded her about it as her breathing got erratic and my worry fully clicked in for her. Book it towards the kitchen then open the door. The camera shook with her quick movements moving right past the tablet in the kitchen. She ran on the porch as the sound of crunching of rocks in the driveway got louder.
"Sara," I called into the phone without getting an answer back. "Call Shar, get the camera and make sure it's recorded." I send a quick text message to the lawyer at the next red light. Then I dial the lawyer and leave that camera message open on the tablet in the seat. I was barely following traffic laws but when I pulled into the drive to Noah's and Zoey's.
The video call to Sara was nothing but a shaky camera and crying. I had no idea what I was walking into. The crunch of my car tires on the gravel drive as I hit the gate key in my car had my stomach turning. I pop out of that car grabbing the tablet and the phone. With each big stride I get closer to the warehouse door and time slows down. The oh shit this is happening and my brain doing the work for me to tell fuck fuck fuck on repeat.
My heart is beating in the hollow shell of my body. It felt as if at any second my pounding heart would burst from my chest. I was out of breath but kept going.
Completely unhelpful, fuck fuck fucks.
The two plain-clothes detectives and two uniform police officers that were near him. Way to close. One with his hand reaching to the big man. The other uniform officer was standing just a little too near. He's never been good with people touching him. Four men who talk around Noah and not to him. No matter how fast I move, how hard I dug my feet into the road to pick up more speed. His hand was getting closer to him. The second uniform police officer backing up the first. Then Noah pulls away from the two police officers he dwarfs. The big man tall enough to be a football tight end for a sport he never wanted to play. His shoulder hunch in as the hand makes contact with him, his hair long swinging in front of his eyes.
