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)
I shrugged.
“It’s like the panda in the movie the kids liked when they were little, the fat one who went after the monkey’s cookies that time.”
He was so cute. I couldn’t help smiling at him.
“What?”
“The things you remember,” I said, reaching up to put my arms around his neck.
“Not that I’m complaining, but I am not cute.”
“Mmmm,” I murmured, reaching up to kiss him.
“Fine, whatever, I’ll be cute,” he agreed and met me halfway.
That’s it, everyone. I’ll see you in December to chat about Thanksgiving and Christmas lights. Have a lovely rest of November.
DECEMBER 2023
Hello, all, and welcome to He Said, he said for December 2023.
It’s crazy to think that the year has whisked by. I was saying this to my husband at Thanksgiving, that we hosted for the second year in a row. Nice to have his parents, his sisters and their families, and his brother, Michael, and his new fiancé, in our home. Regina and I cooked all day, and everything turned out amazing. It was nice that all those who showed brought us lots of dessert and wine. I, in turn, sent everyone home with food. We were missing Dane and Aja and their kids, but they had gone to Lake Tahoe to spend the holiday with Aja’s family at a ski lodge near the lake. I got a call from her on the day, and she said she wished she was with us instead, as the food there was catered and nothing about the visit was easy or restful. Dane, she said, was in silent mode.
“It’s because your family is filled with overachievers, and there’s all that competitiveness that you direct at one another,” I teased her. “When you’re here you know it’s just eating and drinking. Nothing else.”
“Oh God, do I want to drink,” she groaned.
“Why can’t you have any alcohol?”
“Candace’s husband, Percy, is now six months sober, my cousin, Felicia, is at four months, and my cousin, Saul, is at nine so this is a dry house in support.”
“Your father isn’t drinking?”
“Not in front of anyone. He and Dane lock themselves in his study which is so not fair.”
“That could be drinking, but also, they might just be trying to ditch Percy.”
“True,” she agreed.
I adored Aja’s sister, Candace, and had thought, just as Aja did, just as her brother, Alex, did, as well as her parents and Dane, that Percy was not good enough for her. I understood Candace supporting him while he worked on his novel, but for ten years and counting? I hoped it was Pulitzer material by the time he was done.
“I’ve never met Saul,” I commented.
“Which makes you very lucky.”
I chuckled. “Well, good for all of them and their sobriety.”
“It is,” she agreed. “But not good for me. And if you’re wondering who Kola is on FaceTime with, that would be Robert, who would rather talk to him than any of his other cousins.”
“Is Portia there?”
“No,” she said with a sigh. “She’s in Raleigh with her family and apparently bored out of her mind. She’s on that FaceTime call as well.”
I chuckled. “Well, Christmas will be low-key, as Sam’s folks and the rest of the family are going on a cruise. We’re not going because the chief deputy does not get to take that much time off,” I informed her. “Or at least, that’s what he told them.”
“He doesn’t want to go on a cruise,” Aja said, chuckling, sounding better than she had when we first got on the call.
“Oh hell no. Sam doesn’t like water to begin with and always brings up the Titanic whenever anyone wants to step foot on a ship.”
“Dane has structural concerns with ships that big.”
“Well, it will be just you guys as far as family goes and lots of friends.”
“Sounds amazing,” she whimpered.
“All right. Well, get home safely and you and me and Dylan will do some drunk Christmas shopping. We could even drink through brunch.”
She couldn’t wait. I called Dylan as soon as Aja and I got off the phone, and she was all in. At her in-laws in New Jersey, I thought I heard yelling in the background.
“You all right?”
“Uh-huh,” she said tightly.
“Lots of family sharing going on there?”
“Oh yeah.” She sounded dejected.
“So you know, it’ll just be friends for Christmas,” I told her. “And food you like, and Sam’s gonna make bourbon slushes and his world-famous Yule mules.”
“I can’t wait,” she whined.
“You know it’s funny, people who don’t know us probably think we’re all alcoholics, but we only drink when we’re all together.”
“Except for wine,” she reminded me. “We all drink a lot of wine.”
“Does wine count?” I was stunned.
She laughed like a crazy woman.
Sadly, at Thanksgiving, Jake still couldn’t quite eat at that point. The doctor wanted him to leave the bandage on a bit longer than the six weeks. I thought that was what made him grouchy, but it turned out that it was one of the extra people that came with Rachel’s son, Peter.