Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
She crossed her arms as she stared at him. “I know you don’t give a crap if people have kids or not.”
“This is true,” he replied with a chuckle. “I make no judgement.”
“So again I ask you, how is the man supposed to make friends?”
“Is he from here? Are there folks from high school?”
She shook her head.
“College?”
Another shake of her head.
“And he works online.”
“He does.”
“What about the wife?”
“Issa is in PR and marketing.”
“That should complement the computer programming,” he told her. “They should have friends that overlap.”
“That should be the case, except her friends are more marketing people than people who want to chat about coding,” she said, shooting him a look. “And before you ask, their husbands are all guys who have jobs like day trader, attorney, sports manager, and one is an art dealer.”
“And so what?”
“It’s two hours of your life, Chief Deputy, and they feed you and there’s dancing.”
He turned to look at Dane. “You should just say yes or no and not make me the bad guy.”
“Absolutely.”
Sam glared at him. “Are you going if we stay home?”
“Don’t be absurd,” he replied flatly.
“Why do these things always happen on Valentine’s Day?” Sam asked Aja.
“Because people are looking for love on that day, and in our case, companionship. You cannot fault Issa for wanting to find her hubby some friends.”
“Why don’t they join a book club or a running club?” he asked her.
“Would you join a book club?”
His look was horrified. “I read for myself. It’s private.”
She threw up her hands, and I laughed as I assured her that we would be going along.
“Why don’t Aaron and Duncan ever have to go to these things?”
“Because no one would pay attention to anyone but the billionaire,” I told him.
“I don’t know why, he’s not that interesting.”
Dane thought that was hilarious.
On Valentine’s Day, Jake arrived to pick up my daughter in an outfit that immediately scared Hannah to death. I knew this because I was on a FaceTime call with her.
“Pa, are you seeing this?”
He was in jeans and a polo, and he had a strange black jacket on that I couldn’t tell if it was plastic or that oiled leather, plus he had chukka boots on. I had no issue with the boots except that they appeared to have seen far better days.
Hannah, for her part, was in a gorgeous red strappy short dress and matching strappy heels that were at least three inches. She was stunning. Jake was not.
“Are you kidding?” she asked him, her voice verging on anger.
“Yes,” he said quickly, because he was a smart cookie. “Just come back to my place with me, because I have two suits to pick from and the reservation is still an hour away.”
“Oh.” She was suddenly happy; I could hear the change in her voice. “Okay.”
I got a picture before they left, taken by Harper, who was apparently waiting for Wick to pick him up, as they too were going out to dinner. Kola wasn’t there, he was at home, ready to watch the first Dune in preparation to go see the second one. All the kids are going together, including Wick and Finn, when it comes out in March. I had made pot roast the night before, and he was there to have a homecooked meal and to chill by himself. Kola required time alone to keep his battery charged. Apparently, Finn was watching over one of the Sutter executives who was taking his wife to a black-tie affair at the Four Seasons downtown and then, later, seeing his mistress. Since the guy did not need to be protected for his liaison, Finn would be off later and was coming by to watch movies. Sadly, Finn had told Kola that he wouldn’t be late, as the guy wanted to get to his mistress as fast as he could.
“He’s ditching his wife on Valentine’s Day?” I asked my son.
“Yes, and don’t look so devastated,” he told me. “Your husband loves you.”
“I want all the husbands to love their partners.”
“Well, all your friends do,” he reminded me, and that was true. I was very fortunate to have people in love in my friend group. “And Uncle Michael’s girlfriend seems really nice.”
I squinted at him. “What girlfriend?”
“Posey,” he answered.
I looked at Sam as he came downstairs in the same suit he’d worn all day at work; the only difference was that there was no tie. “Did you know Michael had a new girlfriend?”
“Yeah, um, Poppy? Primrose? Petunia?”
“As much as I like playing name the flower,” Kola teased his father, “it’s Posey.”
“That’s right,” Sam agreed.
I did my best Karen Walker impression as I turned to my husband. “What’s happening here, honey? What’s going on?”
“Oh come on,” he grumbled.
I shook my head at him. “Absolutely not. Go shower, wash your day off, and change. I hung your suit in your closet. I even picked out a T-shirt for you to wear with it.”