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 it. Have a great rest of your August, all. I’ll fill you in on Sam’s birthday next time.
SEPTEMBER 2024
Hello, all, and welcome to He Said, he said for September 2024.
First off, let me begin with Sam’s birthday. The kids took him, and therefore me as well, to a wonderful dinner at his favorite restaurant. They then surprised us with tickets to Vegas. Their thought was, we would go, see a show, have some wonderful meals, drink a bit, gamble a bit, and come home. It was going to be fabulous. Of course that was before Michael decided that he was going to have his bachelor party on that same long weekend.
I know what you’re all thinking. Michael, Sam’s little brother, is getting married? Jory! Why didn’t you tell us? Well, that’s because I didn’t even know a month ago.
“Who’s he marrying?” Sam asked me in our kitchen as he stood there with the embossed invitation in his hand. “Have we even met this woman?”
“We’re going to in about twenty minutes.”
“What?” My husband whined like he was dying. “Why? It’s Friday night. I don’t like to do anything on Friday night.”
That was a lie. He liked to do what he wanted to do, which was mostly to sit, watch TV, and eat something terrible for him. The unwind from the week was important. But he was all for having Aaron and Duncan over to do all that with him, or Dane and Aja, or any or all of our friends all at once or in couples. Even his parents were fine as long as his mother talked to me and not to him while he was sitting on the end of the couch in the living room. Normally the recliner was his, but he always relinquished that seat to his father. The two of them, watching whatever it was, sports or a sports recap, was always done in silence until someone did something stupid and they had to yell at the TV.
“Well, your sister and her husband, and your other sister and her boyfriend, are coming, along with Michael and his fiancée, and of course, your parents, to have dinner.”
“Why are they coming to our house?”
I shot him a look.
“Well?”
“Because everyone knows that you would not have gone to meet them if it was anywhere else but here.”
“That’s not true,” he lied through his teeth.
“Anyway,” I said gently, “I made lasagna, everyone else is bringing the salad, the bread, the dessert, and we can all sit outside.”
“It’s too hot.”
“We can set up the mister and the fans.”
“No. Let’s just eat in here. That way we don’t have people coming in and out.”
“You’ll have to put the leaf in the table.”
He muttered something under his breath.
“What was that?”
“I said, I don’t even like Michael.”
I grinned at him. “Yes, you do. You love him, now knock it off.”
His left eye was twitching, but I didn’t care. This was his family. Surprisingly, he called his daughter and told her that she needed to come over and also stop and pick him up a key lime pie. I heard that all as he banged down the stairs to the basement. I got a call a minute later.
“Hello, my daughter,” I greeted her.
“Uncle Michael is getting married?”
“Yes.”
“Are we invited?”
“Yes. The invitation is for your father and I, you and a plus-one, and Kola and a plus-one. I already put the RSVP card in the mailbox. I said yes for all of us. I picked the vegetarian option for you.”
“Well, thank you, but when is this?”
“The week before your brother’s birthday, twenty-first of September.”
“Day wedding? Night wedding?”
“Night, and it’s at the Chicago History Museum.”
“Interesting.”
“Why?”
“Well, unless this is—what is her name?”
“Sandra Dunning.”
“Well, unless this is Sandra’s first wedding, I don’t get having it in a place like that.”
“Why?”
“It’s really fancy.”
“Well, I don’t know what wedding she’s on. I haven’t met her yet.”
“Okay,” she said quickly. “Not judging, just wondering. But listen, I’m at a function tonight, so I will not be there for hours.”
“Don’t worry about it, he’s just grumpy because we have company he wasn’t counting on, and you know how that thrills him.”
She cackled evilly. “I will bring him his pie, though, because I need to ask him to come to school with me next week to talk to my class on law enforcement and race relations in Chicago. Lots of different speakers are coming, but they have to be people we know.”
“I bet your teacher was thrilled when you told them you could produce the chief deputy.”
“I said I might be producing the public relations director or my father, it depended.”
“Technically, you know Eli as well.”
“Yep. But Dad still has to say yes.”
“Maybe bring him some chocolate cream as well.”
“Good call, okay,” she agreed, making smooching noises, told me she loved me, and hung up.