Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Jake offered Gale his room, that used to be our guest room, but he opted for the couch instead. It was nice of Jake to offer, and I told him so, but the couch was very comfortable, as I myself could attest to.
The following morning, I was surprised to see him up, and the coffee was already made.
“I wasn’t sure how strong you liked it,” he said when I had the cup in my hand and was staring at him like he’d made me drink poison.
“No good?”
“No, I’m sure it’s…do you normally drink it quite this weak?”
He snorted. “No, sir, I get mine with about a billion shots of espresso.”
“Excellent,” I murmured, dumping it down the sink and getting it remade.
He wanted to see Jake’s swing, and then he was going to head up to the lake.
“That was amazing,” he said when he was back on the ground after his ride that took him out of our yard, into the neighbors’ on one side and another neighbor on the other. “What is the height on that swing?”
“About forty feet,” Jake replied proudly. “It’s been up for years, but I make upgrades to it all the time.”
He was clearly impressed, as he was with Harper’s lights in the trees that could be turned off, now, with a light switch on the back deck. The impressive part was, there was nothing that came off the tree to the house.
“How does the electricity travel without being plugged in?”
“It’s electromagnetic power transfer,” he explained.
Gale glanced at me.
I gestured at Harper. “He’s really smart. They all are.”
“They are,” he agreed, clearly in awe as Harper started to describe to him, probably in far more detail than he needed to know, how it all worked.
Hannah had to start pouring candles for Litha, they had to get done that weekend, and since it was still early and she was sure Gale could still make it to the lake by lunchtime, she recruited him to help. She and Kola and I poured, and Gale was put in charge of the tiger’s-eye and citrine chips to sprinkle onto the tops of the beeswax candles once they started to cool. Harper got the dried rose petals, dehydrated pieces of orange, chamomile, and cornflowers to press into each candle once they were almost set and would stay on top without sinking into the wax. Jake got to make sure the clothespins holding the wicks stayed steady.
“Why is that his only job?” Gale asked me, squinting at Jake. When my daughter’s boyfriend hit the side of the table and nearly sent all the candles flying, only Harper’s catlike reflexes keeping everything still, Gale turned back to me. “Ah.”
I nodded, smiling like crazy from where I was making sure the beeswax remained at the correct temperature to pour.
Hannah explained to Gale about the summer solstice as Kola and Harper unlatched the top of the table to carry down into the basement. “I’ve scented the beeswax with grapefruit, calendula, honeysuckle, chrysanthemum, and olive leaf, all of which are perfect for Litha.”
“That’s clever how the top of the table comes off,” he told me.
“That way you don’t have to try and move all the glass holders or tins or whatever she’s chosen for her sabbat.”
“So you and Sam don’t care that she’s a witch?”
I turned to Kola, who did not disappoint and said what he always did when he was asked that question.
“But she’s a good witch,” he told Gale.
He nodded and smiled at me. “I seem to recall Sam being Catholic.”
“Oh, I’m Catholic,” Hannah chimed in quickly. “Until further notice, I am.”
Once lunch rolled around and Kola fired up the grill and Gale was asleep on a lounge chair under the umbrella out on the deck, I called Sam on his cell.
“Hi,” he greeted me irritably.
“I’m going to hang up and not call back if this is the tone you’re using.”
“Sorry,” he grumbled. “I don’t wanna do this again.”
“What? Why? You were so happy and excited when I surprised you with it.”
“Next time just me and Pat and Chaz can come, and we’ll all get our own houseboats and we’ll all bring our families and that’ll be fun.”
“Nobody showering? Is the smell about to blow you out?” I teased him.
“The only guys that are still married are me and Pat and Chaz, and everybody else is bitching about their exes, about alimony and child support and the fact that their new apartments suck, that they never see their kids or they hate trading their kids back and forth or that their kids straight-up think they’re assholes. I had enough last night. I’m ready to come home already.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Chaz is at this very moment trying to come up with a reason for him and Pat to leave.”
“You’re not going to fish?”
“No.”
“Well, your friend doesn’t seem in much of a hurry to get to you.”