Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“No, because I wasn’t sure if he saw Dad. I told him Aaron would be very hard on the future of his start-up,” I explained to my daughter.
“Oh, so this clown is looking for investors?”
“Love,” I said softly. “We know that’s not going to happen now with anyone who knows, and I’m sure at this point Mr. Epps is absolutely mortified.”
“He is,” Sam confirmed.
I reached for him, and he moved quickly to take my hand. “This is a one-off, and we all know those happen. You will not go into scary chief deputy mode because of this. I forbid you to change when you know this never happens.”
“But even though it normally doesn’t happen, we need to have you better prepared,” Kola said with a slow grin.
“Oh no,” I said for the second time. “What am I in for?”
“I’m working with Hannah on refreshing my Tae Kwon Do, and you are going to start taking lessons.”
“Why would I do this when I carry mace?”
My husband scowled at me.
“The good one that you gave me that shoots, like, thirty-five feet or something.”
“No such thing,” he told me. “And this is a good reminder that you should never take anyone you love for granted and you should always prepare for something unexpected to occur.”
I squinted at him. “How do you prepare for the unexpected?”
“By being ready for whatever happens,” Kola and Hannah said at the same time with Jake finishing last.
I looked over at him.
“Mr. Harcourt, come on. You think everything the chief deputy has been saying all these years hasn’t rubbed off on me too?”
Of course it had.
“Head on a swivel,” he began, “trust but verify, and always double-tap.”
“That last one is only for games.”
“In games and in life,” Hannah made clear. “I mean, it’s important in all areas, don’t you think?”
“Oh God,” I groaned.
“And I promise that I will be careful with you when you’re in my class and go slow. But let’s face it, I would have had that asshole on the floor, and we’re shooting for the same thing for you, Pa.”
“Agreed,” Dane chimed in.
“I had to go,” Aja reminded me.
That was true.
“It’s time,” Jake said in his best Rafiki voice.
“You all exhaust me.”
“Pot to kettle,” Dane muttered. “Trouble magnet.”
I didn’t have to stay at the hospital; my concussion was very slight. I just needed to be watched for any changes. Sam was all over that. At home, I was taken upstairs, and Chilly got comfortable with me on the bed, and so did Dobby. Jake and Hannah stayed, which I told them was stupid because they were ruining their special day for nothing.
“You’re a good reason,” Jake assured me, and his smile told me he meant it. “And besides, this way I get to see them both try and make the furikake popcorn, even though I prefer mine with M&M’s.”
A man after my own heart.
When Sam came into the room in jeans and a T-shirt and flopped down on the bed beside me, I asked him what he had done to Aiden Bernard.
“What makes you think I did anything but bring charges against him?”
“Because I know you,” I said, lifting to kiss under his jaw because this was Valentine’s Day, and even though Sam hated it, any day that celebrated love was a good one.
“I might have asked Duncan to throw him in the drunk tank, but I don’t remember.”
“He won’t get hurt, will he?”
“Only if he’s not prepared,” Sam said, smiling at me before he bent and kissed me.
My husband is big on life lessons.
That’s it, all. Once my headache is gone, I will start thinking about St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans and all the green decorations for the front lawn. Have a wonderful rest of your month!
APRIL 2024
Hello, all. Welcome to He Said, he said, April 2024.
First off, even though it’s April, I have to rewind you to March, and more precisely, St. Patrick’s Day. I think this year I spent one of the most interesting ones ever. I have to be honest, when I was young, going out to the bars was fun. Everyone downed a lot of green beer, wore the cute little hats, and normally I got out of any club I was in unscathed. Once I had kids, they had to be dressed in green for the day so they wouldn’t get pinched, and Hannah was a big lover of those four-leaf-clover boinger headbands. Kola, not so much. I put food coloring in their eggs in the morning, we had corned beef for dinner, and basically, that was the day. Flash forward to now, and really, it’s just another day. But this year, Finn, who is Hannah’s sometimes bodyguard—he works for Aaron’s company, and more importantly is Kola’s new something, not sure what yet—invited us to spend St. Patrick’s Day with him and his family.