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)
“I––”
“Yes, Jory, my husband drives me batshit crazy, and yes, he still hangs the goddamn moon.”
I sighed quickly. “I thought so. I’ll call ya back,” I told her.
“No, wait. I––”
But she was gone, and Aja was picking up moments later.
“So, what did you decide on for Valentine’s Day for Sam?” Aja asked me. Like Dylan, there was no greeting, only a continual loop of conversation.
“Are you still madly in love with Dane, even after all these years?”
“Pardon me?”
“Well? Are you?”
“What kind of ridiculous question is––why, did he say something? We’ve both been so busy lately, it seems like even though we’re both working from home that––”
“He didn’t say anything. Jake’s parents are getting a divorce, so I’m in need of…you know, some hope.”
She sighed deeply. “Ah. Well, never fear, my darling. I love your brother dearly and desperately and everything in between, though the man needs to work on his communication.”
“No, really, this has nothing to do with––”
“Oh, look who came out of his office.” She huffed out a breath. “I’ll call you later.”
God.
I called Dylan back, and she put me on speakerphone with her husband, and we all agreed that yes, Micah finishing college before he started living out of the back of his van with the other four members of his band did seem like a no-brainer so he’d have something to fall back on. But Micah’s argument was also valid. Living in fear of failure, preparing for defeat, making plans to live your life in mediocrity—that wasn’t positive.
“I have to live my truth,” Micah told his parents, stating his case from his heart, with deeply soulful imagery.
“Your spirit needs to go and do what with the great mother?” Chris questioned his son before I made my apologies and got off the phone.
“Your brother says to stop trying to ruin his marriage by getting him in trouble for stuff he didn’t even do,” Sam ordered as he walked into the house, standing in the laundry room and stripping out of the jeans and sweater he’d gone out in and changing into sweats and a long-sleeve T-shirt after first washing his hands. Harper and Kola were with him, and I heard them both stripping and changing before the water was turned on in the sink.
“I didn’t do anything,” I retorted defensively. “I was just asking his wife if she still loved him or not.”
Sam came walking into the kitchen then, squinting at me as he put assorted items down on the counter he’d picked up from whatever hardware store he’d visited. “Why are you asking Aja if she still loves Dane? What the hell kinda question is that?”
I shook my head before I strode into the living room and flopped down on the couch, turning on the Roku and then Netflix.
“I’m talking to you,” Sam declared, standing over me, looming, looking even bigger from where I sat.
“I…it doesn’t matter.”
He squatted down beside the couch, one hand on the overstuffed arm, the other on my thigh. “Is this about Jake’s folks?”
“You knew?”
“He told me and Kola and Harper in the car earlier.”
“Poor thing.”
“Yeah, he’s takin’ it hard, but I told him at least he didn’t have to worry about having to leave Chicago. He was thinking his sister would take him in, but she’s about to have a baby.”
I smiled up at my husband. “You told him he could move in with us?”
“Of course. We have a perfectly good guest room. I did tell him that he can’t tear down any walls unless he clears it with me first.”
I nodded. “Good thinking.”
He sighed heavily. “From what he says, his folks have been unhappy for a long time.”
“Yeah. That’s what Linda told me.”
“He said he comes over here to see us because it helps.”
“Us?” I teased him. “Gimme a break. He came over first to see Kola, and now, of course, Hannah. She has totally eclipsed her brother in his heart.”
“Which is all true,” Sam agreed, “but it’s us too. We make him feel safe.”
“Safe?”
“Kids need to know things aren’t going to change,” Sam explained, lifting up so he could take a seat beside me before he draped his arm over my shoulder and tugged me close. “Even older kids—kids who aren’t quite yet twenty—need security in their lives.”
“You’re saying we equal shelter for Jake.”
“Yeah. That’s what I’m saying.”
I was thinking about that later when the temperature outside started feeling like we were about to go through another ice age, and Hannah still wasn’t home.
“Where is she?” I asked my husband, getting tense.
“According to her phone, she’s in Hyde Park.”
I could feel my face scrunching up. “Why?”
“I have no idea, but I’m gonna—oh, never mind, look who it is,” he announced before he answered. “Where are you?” he growled, asking the question and waiting for the answer. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Speaker, please,” I instructed my husband.