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)
“What?”
“Get up. We’re moving over there so Jake and Hannah can sit with us.”
“Wait, Jory, Levi and I can move,” Althea, Levi’s wife, assured me.
“No, you guys never get to visit. We’re good.”
Sam’s eyes flicked to mine, and I knew he wasn’t happy. He liked to sit with us more than anything, but these were his cousins, who he never saw, so I shot him a look back and heard the low growl of resignation.
Normally, Kola would stay with Sam, tune out while he held court, but Kola took my plastic cup and carried it for me over to the table six feet away, and then took a seat right next to me, where he usually would have sat across so we could talk.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him, about ready to reach for the classic pair of Ray-Bans he was wearing so I could lift them and see his eyes.
He wasn’t listening to me, involved in what he was watching, and when I did reach for the glasses, he lifted his head back so I couldn’t. Any other time there would have been a grin, some teasing remark, but I got nothing but the maneuver. What was strange, though, was that he didn’t move away, just sat close enough that his shoulder occasionally brushed mine.
“Here we go, service with a smile,” Hannah announced, putting her plate down on the other side of me before placing Kola’s gently in front of him.
He looked up then, saw her, and pulled the chair out so she could sit.
Hannah’s brows rose, but she didn’t miss a beat as she asked me to pass her plate over. Instead of the usual, which was a kid on either side of me, Kola had me on his left and his sister on his right, and I had no idea what was going on. He asked Jake to get him a bottle of water, Hannah rose and got him seconds, and while he thanked us and was engaged when others joined us at the table, answering questions, he was not his normal charming self.
When Jen called for the egg hunt, most of the parents and kids left, so the four of us were alone at the table again. Sitting there, we took off our masks, which was nice.
When Kola leaned forward, Hannah rose at the same time and reached for his shoulder, because it was awkward to move the chair back in the grass and stand at the same time. When he leaned into her side, arm around her waist, hugging her to him like he hardly ever did, she turned her head slowly and gave me a look that was clearly what the hell?
“You all right?” I asked my son when Hannah and Jake were on their way back to the buffet tables to grab dessert.
“Yeah, I just”––he took a quick breath––“don’t feel so hot.”
“Then we can grab dessert to go,” I assured him.
“But Dad hardly ever gets to––”
“Love, I can promise you that your father is ready to go right now.”
He cracked a smile. “Okay.”
I texted Hannah to get the pastries, or whatever was there, to go, and Kola darted over to his grandmother to give her a hug and kiss goodbye. He then did the same for his grandfather. He was heading back over to us when his sister reached him, slipping around in front of him. He tried to walk around her, but she barred his way three times before he finally threw up his hands in defeat, lacing his fingers on top of his head and giving her what looked like a bored look. She crossed her arms, waiting, and it must have worked because he started talking to her. Leaving off watching them, I went over to where Sam was and put my hand on his shoulder. Instead of turning to look up at me, he stood.
“Kola’s not feeling well,” I reported, “so we need to go.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” Sam said, likely sounding to the men and women around the table that he was sincerely disappointed, but I could hear the relief in his voice. After the updates on kids were done, and sports, since Sam didn’t talk the state of the world with his family, that was about the end of the conversation. He could sit and talk to Duncan, Dane, Aja, Chris and Dylan, Harper’s parents, and even Aaron, for hours, but with his extended family, he was at a loss.
Shaking hands, giving claps on the shoulders, he extricated himself, and we were walking hand in hand toward his folks. After saying our goodbyes, we were headed up to talk to Jen when I realized she was charging across the lawn to intercept us.
“Mask on,” he ordered me, as we both had them back on before she reached us.
“Sam,” she nearly shrieked at him, “you need to talk to your daughter.”