Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Yeah, but he wanted to be closer to his dad. I mean, he doesn’t want to live in Wisconsin, but to just be able to jump in the car and see his dad—he likes that. He and his dad have always been of a similar mindset.”
“Because they’re both builders,” Sam replied. “That makes sense.”
“He’s gonna go there and spend New Year’s with his dad and his girlfriend and her daughters. He really likes her, and the girls both love him. He finally gets to be the fun older brother, and he’s enjoying that. He was going for Christmas, but with the weather, he switched it up. There’s no way he should be on the road in this, and his dad was worried about it.”
“So everything is working out,” I said, sighing happily.
“Yep.”
“And are you okay to be in California until summer?”
“Yeah,” Kola said, giving me the smile I’d been missing since he got home. “As long as I know there’s an end date, I’m good.”
“Okay,” Sam rumbled, reaching over the seat to squeeze his son’s shoulder. “If it gets to be difficult, just finish your classes online and come home. Whatever you want is fine with us.”
“It’ll be okay,” Kola promised his father. “Just—I need you guys to keep things calm until I move back.”
It took me a second. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means,” Kola said, shaking his head.
“No. What?”
“You just need to not put yourself in any weird situations until I get home, and you,” he said, turning to Sam, “need to not get shot.”
“Are you kidding?” Sam was nonplussed. “When was the last time I was shot?”
“Like, last April,” he reminded his father.
Sam looked at me. “Is that right?”
“Yes,” I stated sharply.
“Okay, okay,” he said, soothing us both before he turned his attention back to Kola. “I’ll be very careful until you return.”
“Gimme a break,” Kola scoffed. “You’re not gonna be careful, but just don’t jump off anything high or go to a hostage situation without your Kevlar, all right?”
Sam gestured at both me and my son. “You’re both being ridiculous, and speaking of—why is Kurt coming to our family Christmas party?”
“I invited both Kurt and George, and they have several parties to attend, but since we’re having more a Christmas open house than a party, then it works fine.”
“We’re having a what?”
Kola started laughing.
“Were you even listening when I explained this last week on our family Zoom call?”
“Our family what?”
I shook my head at him.
Sam glanced at his son. “Was I there?”
Kola lost it, Sam looked bewildered, and I got out of the car.
“We had a Zoom call?” Sam shouted after me.
In the house, the boys and Hannah ripped into Kola, and he apologized and embraced his sister, who complained about him being damp and cold even as she hugged him back, clearly relieved and happy that everything was going to be all right.
“You’re moving home?” she asked him excitedly.
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m not ready to be that far away.”
“I wasn’t either, that’s why I stayed, and I’m glad I did. Being in my own place is good enough. I don’t need to be too far away to just drop over and see them.”
They were talking like we weren’t there, but that was okay with me. I didn’t want my kids to live with me—I mean, I did, but I’d been told that wasn’t good parenting—but I didn’t want them hours away by plane either. The fact that they wanted to be in the same town, that was perfect. I wanted them to have their own lives separate from mine, I just wanted to be invited to see what that looked like. I felt okay about them wanting distance, but not vast amounts. Maybe I’d done okay as a parent after all.
“Where are you gonna live?” Hannah asked Harper as they got back to Adventure mode on Diablo and Kola went upstairs to shower and change and Jake went into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich.
“I’m thinking Hyde Park,” Harper told her. “I talked to my dad last week, and he’s got a friend who owns a building close to the school, and we’re gonna go look at it while we’re here.”
“What did your folks say about you moving back?” I asked Harper, thinking I was seconds away from calling his mother.
“They were really happy,” he told me. “My mom said that it was a good experiment and she was glad I had the experience of being away, but that she didn’t love me being on the other side of the country. Ever since Kola fell off the ladder and had to go to the hospital, she’s been worried about me and him and Jake.”
I had been too, even though I’d kept it to myself. I wanted to see my son whenever I wanted, and especially when he was hurt.