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)
“That’s impressive. I have never possessed that level of time management skills.”
“Yeah,” Kola agreed, talking to me and watching TV at the same time. “And now he’s working at Sutter to learn to do what George does, which is to coordinate security teams when they go abroad. He needs to learn more risk assessment.”
“George does that stuff?”
Kola looked at his sister. “George will be running all the security at Sutter eventually, and Finn will move up too. You’re going to have a lot of new people watching over you I bet.”
“Huh,” Hannah said.
“What does he look like?” I asked, because why not?
“He’s blond, but his hair’s not gold like Jake’s,” Hannah told me. “It’s more dirty blond like yours, Pa.”
“And his eyes?”
Hannah had to think.
I looked at Jake and nothing.
“They’re green,” Kola told me. “Like, inky green, dark.”
“He sounds handsome.”
Hannah made a face. “Not like George.”
Jake groaned.
“George, even when he’s just sitting, doing nothing, if you look at him too long, you can kinda see that he’s scary just under the surface,” I commented, because I’d noticed that on more than one occasion. I liked George, but he was dangerous.
“Yes,” Jake agreed wholeheartedly.
“But Finn is easygoing. Except with Hannah,” Kola stated.
“And why’s that?” I asked.
He grimaced.
“See, Pa, I told you. He thinks I’m spoiled.”
“No, not spoiled. But he thinks you expect everyone to do everything your way all the time, and he just won’t fall into line.”
“Because he hates me.”
“No, because he won’t be charmed by you. He wants you to converse with him like a regular person.”
“Charmed by me?”
“Knock it off,” Kola teased her. “You know you pour on the charm when you want something from someone. You make everyone love you. It’s how you are.”
She appeared suddenly crestfallen.
“No, B, it’s not a bad thing, and I’m not chastising you,” he said, chuckling. “But you work people. Look at George. He held out for so long, but finally, he too succumbed.”
“Oh please, I drive him nuts.”
“Yes, but he allows you to drive him nuts because he loves you.”
“You don’t feel that way, do you?”
“Uh, no,” he snickered. “I love you and also want to murder you. Make no mistake.”
“That’s good,” she said, smiling.
Dobby, who was on the bed between Kola and Jake, went from lying on his back with his tummy exposed to rolling over and sitting up, listening intently. Seconds later, he went from the bed to the chaise at the end to the floor, and we all heard him on the stairs, barking his head off, welcoming his person home. Dobby was devoted to Sam. Chihuahuas picked one person above all others, and that was, without question, the chief deputy.
“Hello!” came the loud call.
The kids, including Jake, flew out of the room. I could hear Hannah yell out “Daddy,” which she still did when she was scared or, like now, when he’d scared her.
I followed slowly, and when I got to the landing, I could see Sam still hugging Kola, and then after a few long moments, he hugged Jake. He then explained to them where it hurt, just above his right pectoral. It was good it wasn’t anywhere near his heart.
When he saw me, he moved away from them and over toward me. He reached the bottom of the stairs and stared up at me.
“I was really fuckin’ stupid,” he rushed out. “There’s no excuse.”
“You were in the middle of everything,” I replied woodenly, not taking the rest of the steps down. “I’m sorry you had to stop and call me. Next time, I’ll just speak to Eli.”
“No, no,” he insisted, and I saw his brows furrow, and he came up the stairs, almost to the landing, to me, but stopped and took hold of the railing instead. “I want you to be worried about me, you know I do. I’d prefer not to scare you, but if it happens, you fussing over me when I get home is—please don’t stop.”
I stared into the slate-blue eyes I knew so well. “I felt like a burden, Sam.”
He closed his eyes for a moment. “And I used your name too. Fuck.”
We were quiet, him staring up at me and me staring back.
“Okay,” he said, and went up the stairs, passing by me, without saying another word.
I was stunned that he was going to leave things as they were. I was hurt that he didn’t seem to care, and all of it seemed even worse because when I glanced over at my kids, they all pretended to have something very important to do in the kitchen.
“Here you go,” Sam announced, coming back down the stairs to where he’d been previously, below me, having shed his suit jacket while he was upstairs. “This should do it.”
He passed me a red piece of cardstock, and printed on one side were the words, “one rewind,” and above the words it explained that this was a love token and it was good for the aforementioned rewind and it was signed by me. It was easily ten years old.