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)
Thirty minutes later, Sam answered the door to a man who looked utterly broken and bereft. He appeared completely wrung out. He offered Sam his hand as he stood between the two uniformed officers—different ones from earlier—who had escorted him across the street.
“Thank you for saving my daughter’s life, Chief Deputy.”
“You are very welcome,” Sam assured him, and drew him inside.
“I didn’t know there were such things as knights in shining armor anymore.”
That was because men like Sam wore it on the inside these days.
After he walked over to Ruby, checked and kissed her, he was able to take a seat at our kitchen table, put his head in his hands, and come apart at the seams. Terrifying to think but for the fact that Sam was looking across the street at the same time she was walking into it, his daughter might have lost her life two days before Christmas. Life was full of happy accidents, and Mr. Bishop had just enjoyed one. That didn’t mean he was having an easy time dealing with everything. Sam and I sat with him until he was sure he could drive and not have to pull over and fall apart.
Hannah came over when he was ready to go, introduced herself, and offered Mr. Bishop babysitting services. I could tell he was in awe after speaking with my daughter for only a few minutes. She was awfully together for sixteen. When Ruby woke up and gave him a sleepy greeting before staggering into his waiting arms, I sighed deeply, remembering when my own girl was that small.
“Okay, sweetie, we need to say goodbye to every––”
“No!” Ruby wailed, darting away from her father, bolting to Hannah and wrapping her arms around her hips.
He glanced at Hannah, who arched an eyebrow.
“Huh,” he uttered.
Hannah knew a kid who needed her to babysit when she saw one.
And when Jake squatted down beside the little girl, and she turned and leaned into him, arm over his shoulder, listening as he told her they’d see her real soon, Mr. Bishop learned that his daughter liked blond men with messy manes of hair, soft voices, and husky laughs as much as mine did.
“Honey,” Mr. Bishop blurted out, “we’ll have Hannah and…”
“Jake,” Hannah chimed in.
“Hannah and Jake over really soon,” he promised.
“Give Hannah your phone,” she told him. Even at three Ruby knew how people stayed in touch, and if they could call Hannah, that meant they could see her.
Mr. Bishop turned to look at Sam.
“You got a smart one there, God help you.”
He got my number, and I got his.
“You have family here in Chicago?” Sam surprised the hell out of me by asking.
“Uh, no, sir,” he answered with a forced smile. “My family is in Tulsa. My ex’s family is here in the city.”
Sam took a breath. “You and Ruby should come by for Christmas, then. We’d love to have you both.”
I was shocked.
Hannah stood staring at her father, mouth open, eyes wide.
Jake looked exactly the same.
“Are you sure?” Mr. Bishop asked him.
Instant glare, and I heard the younger man catch his breath.
“We would love to,” he accepted quickly, turning to look at me. “Anything I can bring?”
“Any dessert you’d like,” I told him.
I had everything we needed, but I’d found over the years that when people came over, they liked to bring something, and dessert was the easiest thing to send right back home with them.
“And what time should we––”
“What do you do?” Sam asked, taking a step forward.
“I teach college at Loyola.”
“What?”
“Chemistry.”
“So you’ve been teaching from home?”
Mr. Bishop glanced at me, and I nodded my answer. Because yes, clearly this was an interrogation.
“I have,” he assured Sam.
“So you’ve been home with your daughter?”
“Yes. She lives with me during the week, and her mother gets every other weekend.”
“You’ve quarantined, then?”
“We have. Ruby’s only been out tonight.”
He had, in fact, left his shoes at our front door.
“And Ruby has playdates?”
“Only with two other friends who live next door and also quarantine, and another down the hall from us.”
Sam nodded. “You can ditch the mask at Christmas, then.”
The man was thorough when he invited people into his home.
“Thank you,” Mr. Bishop offered with a long sigh.
“Come any time after ten in the morning, and call me Sam.”
Mr. Bishop’s first name was Theodore, but he went by Ted, not Theo. He had, he said, never met a good Theo, at least thus far.
“Me neither,” Sam grumbled, and I leaned into his side, so very pleased with him.
Once they left, I had my husband sit at the kitchen table so I could make him a late-night sandwich since he’d only picked at his dinner earlier, preoccupied with what was going on at work. He was watching me when, out of the blue, Kola came up behind him, leaned over him, and wrapped his right arm gently around his neck before he hugged him.