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)
“Duncan doesn’t go?” Sam teased her, sitting down and taking out both pies she brought him, the chocolate cream and the key lime.
“Duncan flew out to Rome this morning to join him for the weekend.”
“Yeah, I don’t care,” he told his daughter. “Thank you for this. Get me a plate, willya?”
“Sam, I brought apple, why did you need more pie?” Jen grumbled at him.
“I don’t like apple,” he snapped at her. “Never liked apple.”
“You don’t?” She sounded confused. “You haven’t?”
He gestured at Regina, and Jen turned to look at her.
“He’s never liked apple, where have you been?” Regina asked her.
“He hates apple pie,” Hannah chimed in. “He thinks it’s slimy and I would have to agree.”
“See,” Sam muttered, smiling at his daughter who, in her couture and four-inch Louboutin pumps, was still moving effortlessly around the kitchen. She grabbed a stack of dessert plates, then the pie cutter, and finally forks. Once collected, she brought everything to him, and then went back for napkins.
“Do you want milk?”
“Yes, please.”
“It’s oat,” she informed him. “I’m just reminding you that we’re slowly going off dairy in this house and I already started with the milk.”
He scowled at her. “You don’t even live here.”
“Did you watch the video I sent you about the mama cow and how they took her––”
“No, stop. I don’t wanna know. Just gimme the oat milk.”
“You’re a good egg,” she praised him, gliding over to kiss his forehead before turning for the refrigerator.
“I’ll get it,” I told her. “Come say hello to Sandy.”
Turning, automatically gathering her voluminous dress to the side, she reached out and offered Michael’s fiancée her hand.
“Last year,” Sandy said, holding my daughter’s hand, “I was on the planning committee for the fundraising gala at the Museum of Contemporary Art with my then husband.”
Hannah nodded. “I ran the silent auction for that one.”
“Yes, you did, and you were wearing Valentino then as well, I remember.”
“I have my favorites,” she told her.
“I never put together—I thought you were Aaron Sutter’s daughter.”
“I’m his goddaughter, but that man right there, cutting way too big a slice of key lime pie for this time of night, is my father,” she said, scowling. “You’re gonna have heartburn.”
“I will not,” Sam groused.
“You will too,” I seconded.
“That’s what the pills are for.”
“Cut me a piece of that, will you?” Thomas asked his son.
“Of course,” he said, grinning at his father. “I have never seen you eat tiramisu in your life.”
“Yes, well,” he said, and pushed the plate away from him. “Jory, you like tiramisu, don’t you, son?”
I chuckled. “Yes, sir.”
“There, you see, it’s all fine.”
Sandy looked a bit heartbroken.
“They’re both terrible eaters,” Regina assured her. “Tiramisu was the perfect choice.”
“It really was,” I seconded.
“Tell Sandy what you’re going to do,” Regina prodded her granddaughter.
Hannah turned back to Sandy. “My plan at the moment is to be a productivity consultant, which is why, once I get all my mandatory classes out of the way, I’ll be studying public relations, human resources, and environmental education. Once I graduate, I’ll go to work at Sutter, and I’ll help Uncle Aaron take care of his people and their customers, while at the same time minimizing their carbon footprint and helping the community at large.”
“My goodness,” Sandy said, smiling at her. “That seems like a lot.”
“It’s important to help if I can. I will also continue to be on the board that decides where to put Sutter’s charitable contributions. There’s a lot to fix in the world, and we have to start with our community and then branch out.”
“How in the world do you plan to––”
“And I have followers on IG and TikTok, so my platform is solid to spread the word as well,” she explained. “My fathers both believe in service and giving back, so I have to make sure I’m following through. To whom much is given and all that.”
“And how old are you?”
“I’m nineteen, but I’ll be twenty in November. My brother is twenty-one, but he’ll be twenty-two at the end of next month. I only bring him up because he’s going to be a doctor—because he’s perfect, you understand—so I’m never going to top him, but that’s fine. I feel like at some point he’s going to want to work for free somewhere, so I’ll need to make enough money to take care of him.”
“You and your brother are close?”
She nodded. “Yeah. He’s annoying, but what’re you gonna do?”
“Why don’t you go take all that off and come down and tell us who you saw at your fancy thing tonight.”
“Sounds good,” she said, her focus returned to Sandy. “It was really nice to meet you. Welcome to the family, you picked a good one, and we’re happy to have you.”
“Thank you,” Sandy said, clearly impressed with my girl.
Hannah hugged and kissed her grandparents, for the second time because she adored them, waved at everyone else, and was almost to the stairs when she turned around.