Manny sat at the counter, sipping an espresso. "And Olivia Berman's mom works in the rare books department at the library," he said, glancing up at Gloria, who was busy making breakfast.
"Hope I get a chance to pick that brain," Manny added, a bit too dreamily for Jay's liking.
Jay walked into the kitchen, giving Manny a look before shaking his head. "Looks like you've got quite the Career Day lineup."
Manny nodded, excited. "Yeah, it should be great."
Jay leaned against the counter. "So, I guess they already got a closet guy coming in, huh?"
Manny blinked. "No. I didn't think you'd want to do it."
Jay scoffed. "I don't, but I just feel bad for the kids. A lot of interesting stories in the closet biz."
Gloria, now intrigued, turned to Jay. "Oh? Why have you never told us any?"
Jay cleared his throat, deciding to prove his point. "Okay, well, for example, there was this guy—he must've had over a hundred hats."
Gloria raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
Jay continued, getting into the story now. "And we had to fit them in the closet."
Manny waited for more. "Okay…?"
"And we did."
Silence.
"All right, maybe it's not the most exciting career in the world," Jay admitted, sensing the underwhelmed reactions, "but it pays the bills."
"No one is complaining," Gloria said, cutting tomatoes.
Jay shrugged. "Were there other things I'd rather do? Yeah. But I had to make ends meet."
Manny looked up, curious. "What other things?"
Jay hesitated before admitting, "I always wanted to write thrillers."
"Like that hat story?" Gloria asked, smirking.
Jay shot her a look. "Spy thrillers." He leaned in, warming up now. "I've been kicking around this character—C.I.A. agent Chuck Stone. He doesn't care how much his antics annoy the brass in Arlington."
Manny's eyes lit up. "Why didn't you ever try it?"
Jay let out a breath, shaking his head. "I was busy with work and family. I was gonna start writing after my divorce, but, you know, life got in the way." He motioned vaguely toward Gloria.
Gloria gasped theatrically, setting down the knife. "Why do you point at me when you say 'life'? Am I 'life'?"
"I meant you keep me busy," Jay said defensively.
"You had a three-hour nap on Sunday," Gloria shot back.
"I was tired."
"From what? Your two-hour nap on Saturday?" Gloria crossed her arms. "Jay, I've been with you for five years, and I've never heard you mention anything about writing."
"Hey, I bought a typewriter," Jay defended himself.
Gloria gasped again, this time with fake enthusiasm. "A typewriter?! When is the book signing? Maybe Daniel will finally have a good rival!"
Jay grumbled, rubbing his temple as Gloria walked away.
====
Jay sat alone in the living room, absently flipping through a magazine when Gloria suddenly walked in and placed a bulky, dusty typewriter on the coffee table in front of him.
"Here."
Jay looked up, frowning. "My typewriter?"
"You said you want to write," Gloria said, arms crossed. "Write."
Jay huffed. "Now? I've got a busy day."
Gloria gave him a knowing smirk. "I already called your office and told them you can't come in…to walk around for 20 minutes saying to everyone, 'What's up, sport?'"
Jay narrowed his eyes. "You know, I can't tell if that's impressive or terrifying."
"I know this is your subtle little way of saying you don't think I can do it," he accused.
Gloria just shrugged. "No. It's life getting out of the way."
Jay sighed, straightening up. "Fine. I'm gonna take you up on your little challenge, but you should know this: this behavior of yours is not gonna fly when you lose your looks."
Gloria smirked, tilting her head. "Mmm!" she hummed, then walked off.
Jay rolled his eyes, then turned his attention to the typewriter. He adjusted it, set the paper in place, and cracked his knuckles.
"Hell, why not?" he muttered to himself as he began to type:
"Chuck Stone, six-foot-three inches of steely-eyed determination, sat at the interrogation table."
Jay sat back, staring at the words. His mind was completely blank.
He drummed his fingers against the table.
Then his eyes flickered to a faint stain near the edge of the coffee table.
Grumbling, he got up, grabbed a napkin, and started wiping at it.
That just made it spread. Now it looked worse.
Jay sighed, heading to the kitchen for a proper rag and some cleaner. As he reached for the spray bottle, he suddenly realized—he was hungry.
Five minutes later, he was assembling a BLT, layering the bacon just right.
Another five minutes and a perfectly toasted sandwich sat on his plate.
As he chewed, his eyes flicked back to the typewriter.
Chuck Stone.
The name was solid. The idea? Gold.
But he needed help.
Manny walked in just as Jay was setting down his plate.
"Hey, how's it going?" Manny asked, eyeing the typewriter.
Jay let out a long breath. "I think I need help."
Manny brightened up. "Really? You know, Daniel says I'm a great writer."
Jay blinked, then smirked. "Daniel! Why didn't I think of that?"
He grabbed his phone and started dialing.
.
.
.
Daniel POV
I sat in my office at Midas, leaning back in my chair as one of the episodes of the Percy Jackson Netflix series played on the large TV mounted on the wall.
On the screen, Percy stood on the beach, Riptide drawn, facing down the towering, armored figure of Ares. The god of war cracked his knuckles, his voice dripping with arrogance.
Ares: "You think you can take me, kid?"
Percy tightened his grip on his sword, his voice steady.
Percy: "Even the biggest, baddest god can still lose."
Ares snarled, unsheathing a massive flaming sword.
Ares: "Then let's put that theory to the test!"
The sound design was perfect. The clash of metal, the sand crunching beneath their feet, the rush of the waves as they circled each other.
Percy lunged, and the fight began. The animation was fluid, every movement weighty and dynamic. The voice acting brought it all together.
Sean Bean as Zeus had captured everyone's attention from the trailers—there were memes about this being the only series or movie where he wouldn't die. And while another big-name actress had been cast in the show, most of the roles were done by professional voice actors, exactly as I had insisted. The series was releasing next week, and the buzz around it in my fandom was unreal. Netflix had seen a huge surge in subscriptions this past week, with the execs at the company beyond thrilled.
They were now very interested in streaming Victor's Wonder Woman animated movie. The animated Wonder Woman would pave the way for an entire line of Elseworlds animated spin-offs from the DCU. I had a lot of ideas for that, and Victor and I had found common ground, making our relationship friendlier these days.
My phone suddenly rang, snapping me out of my thoughts. I picked it up without looking at the caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Hey, kid. I need your help."
I blinked in surprise at the familiar voice. "Jay? What's up?"
There was a pause on the other end, as if he was reluctant to say it out loud.
"I need your help writing a book," Jay finally admitted.
"What?"
"You want to write a book?" I asked, holding the phone to my ear as I leaned back in my chair.
"Well... yes... no... maybe," Jay admitted. "I think I already told you about this."
"Yeah, but I thought you weren't serious," I said.
"I just want to write something to prove Gloria wrong," Jay grumbled. "It doesn't have to be a whole book."
In the background, I heard Manny's voice chime in. "Hey, I can do it, you know!"
Jay sighed. "Do you have time?"
I glanced at the clock. "Yeah, I've got an hour or two. It's been a slow day."
"Great!" Jay said.
"I can do it!" Manny repeated.
"Fine, you can help," Jay muttered before turning his attention back to me.
"All right," I said, rubbing my chin. "What do you have so far?"
Jay cleared his throat and began explaining his idea—Chuck Stone, the CIA spy.
I listened, unimpressed. "Maybe the reason you're struggling to write this is because you can't connect with the character."
"What? No! I've been thinking about this for years!" Jay protested.
I smirked. "Jay, remember when you told me about watching those old '50s detective dramas with your dad? You had a lot to say about that."
"Yeah," he said cautiously.
"Why don't you do something like that instead?"
Jay hesitated. "Well... that could work."
Suddenly, a memory surfaced—playing L.A. Noire in my old world. For some reason, that game had never been released here.
I grinned. "Let me give you some ideas. You can keep the name Chuck Stone, but make him a detective—or better yet, a private investigator—in the '50s. Since you just want to impress Gloria, write a short story about him solving a murder or something."
"That's a good idea," Manny said in the background.
Jay exhaled. "That... that could work."
And with that, I spent the next hour walking Jay through the details of one of L.A. Noire's most interesting cases, 'The Fallen Idol,' and helping turn it into a short story.
====
I let Jay and Manny do their thing as we ended the call. Honestly, I kind of hoped Jay would actually write a complete book. It would be interesting to see what he could come up with, especially now that there was increased interest in that genre—two recent books had become bestsellers.
As I leaned back in my chair, the door opened, and in walked Adrian Cole—one of the newest additions to my staff.
"Adrian," I greeted, setting my phone down.
"Daniel," he responded with a nod, sitting across from me and sliding a neatly printed list onto my desk.
I picked it up and scanned through it. It was a list detailing the finalized structure of my personal team, as well as key positions at Midas Studios and Infinite Words Publishing. Lucy and I had finally managed to streamline everything, and Adrian, as my newly appointed Chief of Staff, would oversee it all moving forward.
Personal Staff
Chief of Staff – Adrian Cole
Personal Assistant – Julie Chen
Executive Secretary – Olivia Hartman
Head of Security – Trevor Kane
Financial Advisor – Carter Reynolds
Personal Stylist – Caleb Morrison
Fitness & Wellness Coach – Ethan Shaw
Legal Counsel (Personal) – Mitchell Pritchett
Social Media Manager – Tessa Vaughn
nfinite Words Publishing
Head of Publishing & Literary Agent – Lucy Wallace
Senior Editor – Max Holden
Marketing Director – Zack Carter
Publicist (Literary) – Leo Kingsley
Midas Productions
Head of Development – Paul Knight
Script Development Team Lead – Maya Singh
Casting Director – Serena Walsh
Production Executives – Jason Hale & Mia Torres
Post-Production Supervisor – Xavier Lee
Distribution & Marketing Head – Benjamin "Ben" Foster
Legal Counsel (Midas) – Alexander Rhodes
I smiled at Lucy's name. She had been a big help to me over the last five years, and now she could relax since most of the burden had been taken off her.
"This looks good," I said, nodding as I finished reading through the names. "A lot of new additions, but it looks solid."
"I made sure to vet everyone carefully and worked with Miss Wallace and Mr. Knight for the Infinite Words and Midas staff," Adrian said, leaning forward slightly. "We have a mix of experienced hands and promising fresh talent. Everyone knows their role, and I'll personally ensure the day-to-day runs smoothly."
I looked up at him, appreciating his confidence. "Good, good."
"My job will be easier if events like what happened in New York don't happen again," Adrian added.
I smiled awkwardly. "Yeah, I'm going to try my best."
"Thank you," he said with a small smile. "Now, there are a few things I need to brief you on regarding your schedule and some pending decisions."
"All right," I said, sitting up straight. "Let's go through it."
.
.
.
Gloria flipped through the pages, her eyes scanning the words carefully. As she reached the end, she looked up at Jay in surprise.
"This is good," she admitted, setting the pages down.
Jay smirked, crossing his arms. "I told you."
Gloria narrowed her eyes. "Wait a minute… what happened to the spy story? This is a detective story." She glanced at Manny, suspicion creeping into her voice. "You helped him, didn't you?"
Manny immediately shook his head. "No!"
Gloria gasped, placing her hands on her hips. "Daniel helped you."
Jay sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Yes, he did."
"Aha!" Gloria exclaimed. "What happened, Jay? Did life get in your way?"
Jay pointed to a separate stack of papers on the table. "That's what Daniel helped me write. What you're reading now? That's what I wrote myself."
Gloria's expression shifted from smugness to genuine shock. "You really wrote this?"
Jay nodded, standing up straight with newfound pride. "Yes. While Daniel did help, he made me realize I was in the wrong genre. Spy thrillers weren't a good fit, but this detective story? That I can do."
Gloria blinked, still processing the revelation.
"And I'm going to finish it," Jay continued confidently. "The kid told me these kinds of stories are popular these days. Who knows—maybe I'll get lucky and become famous."
With that, he turned and walked away, head held high. He felt good about himself and was serious about finishing this. Maybe it was time to retire from the closet business. He needed to talk to Claire.