Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Chew your food with that newly healed jaw of yours,” Hannah cautioned him.
And, amazingly, he slowed. At least until she walked out of the room.
“You want that kind of bossiness for the rest of your life?” Kola asked, his face scrunched up like he couldn’t think of anything worse.
Jake nodded, and I saw the glow in his eyes. “Yes, please. I can’t screw up this time. She’s the only one who can make me happy.”
“And help us keep him alive,” Harper chimed in, shooting Kola a look. “You want him to make it to thirty?”
Kola grunted.
“Then keep your comments to yourself. He only listens to her and me and you. And him listening to us is on a ‘maybe yes, maybe no’ basis.”
“That’s valid.”
“He listens to Hannah all the time.”
“I do,” Jake agreed with a grin. “And that’s how you know it’s the real deal.”
I found that logic somewhat sound.
“By the way, this is the best meal you’ve ever made, Mr. Harcourt,” Jake moaned.
I chuckled. “I have no doubt, and thank you.”
Afterward, he fell asleep on the couch while Hannah read a novel for her French Literature class since finals were the following week. I was looking forward to seeing more of all of them after the autumn quarter ended on the ninth. They didn’t go back until the third of January. I would have company.
Ray Delano, and his wonderful four-man crew from Delano Landscaping, came, as they did every year, and put the Christmas decorations on the roof of the house. I had been banned, years ago, from doing that myself. Apparently, if you were a bit klutzy, your spouse did not think being up that high was a good idea. Sam had always been a worrier.
Last Friday, my husband came home, walked into the living room and was rendered, as far as I could tell, momentarily speechless.
“Hi,” I greeted him with a grin I could not have hoped to contain.
“What the hell is that?” my husband asked, sounding annoyed, not happy at all, it seemed, to see the gigantic Christmas tree in our living room.
“Take a breath,” I suggested.
He gestured at something that clearly could have thrived in our backyard.
“The boys wanted to gift us with a tree this year,” I said, making my eyes big and smiling at him so he’d get that this was a good thing.
Sam gestured at the tree taking up quite a bit of space in the living room. “It’s what, sixteen feet tall?”
“Hey,” Kola greeted his father as he came in the front door, Jake and Harper trailing behind him, having helped him hang the boxwood wreaths outside. “Do you love it?”
“It’s great,” he lied, only then noticing the giant—really enormous—pot sitting on the green waterproof mat in the middle of the living room. “So it’s one of those that they deliver and care for year-round and deliver back to us for Christmas every year?”
“It would be,” Harper explained. “But the guy said that this one will need to be planted in our yard at the end of the season, as it’s gotten a bit big.”
I saw Sam physically bite back the words, “a bit big?” and I was very proud of him.
“We’ll help plant it, of course,” Kola told his father.
“Or,” I said, “when the nice men come from Delano Landscaping to take down the decorations from the roof, they can plant it.”
“Oh no, Pa, we can totally––”
“No,” Sam said quickly. “I think your father’s onto something there.” He turned to look at me. “Did ya already ask ’em?”
“I did, yes.”
“Okay,” he agreed, his attention back on the tree. “Uh––” He cleared his throat. “––is it me, or do we have a little friend there?”
It was cute, the squirrel looking out from the branches at my husband. And, it turned out, she was a mom. There were three smaller, even more adorable babies watching Dobby, who was suddenly whimpering and pacing on the floor.
The death glare I got from my husband only made me smile. He was not scary in the least. “Oh come on, like the tree in twenty-sixteen didn’t come with millions of spiders.”
His all-over body shiver was cute.
Hannah was thrilled when she got home and went immediately to help Jake and Harper, who were building a squirrel house that she had to collect lots of leaves for, padding the entire bottom, and adding some nuts to as well. She got some cotton balls to put in to make it extra cozy.
Even though Harper was explaining it to him, Kola already knew the house had to go twenty feet up on a mature tree. That high was terrifying to me, but the boys had already been up there putting up the fairy lights, as they did every year. They always looked like lumberjacks, even though there was no flannel in sight.