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)
Harper would ask something and then get on his phone while Kola ruminated. It used to be whatever game he brought over with him; now it was TikTok or hockey scores or the news of the world.
Jake, who was not the type to sit still, would remain in the general vicinity, but that was when he fixed things or changed lights, hung pictures, lots of small tasks as he checked in on how Kola was coming along in his thought process.
I had been worried about Kola’s new relationship with Finn, because if Finn asked Kola how he felt about him, what would he say? Would Finn be hurt that Kola didn’t have a quick answer ready on the tip of his tongue? But when I’d observed them, I saw Finn hold Kola’s hand and simply sit there quietly, just enjoying being in the same space with my son. And once Kola said whatever it was, from his heart, Finn’s eyes would glow warmly, and I could see how happy he was. I had no idea what the future would hold for them, but so far, it looked pretty good from where I was sitting.
“Hello!” came the call from the back door, and Kola and I parted and were there when Jake and Harper walked in.
“Oh wow, I thought I was in the twilight zone for a second,” Jake said, grinning. “Lots of different people in the kitchen.”
Kola grabbed him and hugged him, and Jake, being Jake, instantly, no questions asked, hugged him back before he was let go. Kola did the same to Harper.
“Jake, this is Danique, Kola’s birth mother,” I told him.
“Oh, that’s awesome,” Jake said, still with that engaging, warm smile on his face as he offered her his hand. “I’m Jake, one of two of his best friends on the planet.”
“How wonderful,” she said, taking his hand that he covered with his other because that was how he was.
“I’m the other one,” Harper told her, his smile just as big. “Now I see where his great features come from. He’s got your nose.”
“Yes,” she agreed, clearly charmed by him.
“And your hair and eyes, sir,” he said to Mikhail, who had been sitting at the kitchen table with Emil, but was now up and meeting Kola’s friends.
“That’s right,” Mikhail replied, smiling, offering Harper his hand. “I’m Mikhail, his birth father. What are you studying in school, young man?”
Right to the point Mikhail was.
“I’m studying to be an electrical engineer,” he replied, and then tipped his head at Jake. “And he’s going to be a structural engineer. That swing outside is all him, and at night, when the lights go on in all the trees, that’s me.”
“The trees light up?”
“They do without any wires anywhere.”
Mikhail was impressed, and Harper shot me a look, because to me as well, that was a marvel, but it was child’s play to him.
Hannah bounced in then, changed into a summer dress, her hair in a ponytail, followed by Katya, who was very happy to meet Jake since she knew Hannah’s boyfriend from Instagram.
“You’re very funny,” she told him.
“See,” he said, turning to Kola and Harper. “I tell you guys that all the time.”
“Katya is clearly a very nice person,” Harper assured him. “Like, very.”
She laughed and shook Harper’s hand as I joined Danique.
“You cut all these potatoes already?” I asked her, impressed. “With just a knife?”
Her grin was adorable, as was the eyebrow waggle. “I was a sous chef to pay for college, and you never lose those abilities once you learn them.”
“Damn, woman, I normally use my food processor because I’m lazy.”
“I think not lazy, since you cook for your family, and that by itself is exhausting,” she told me. “The same question, what is for dinner every night. A lot of times I say, go pick up pizza.”
“Same,” I told her. “Though with both Hannah and Kola out of the house, I don’t mind cooking for Sam.”
She nodded. “I would cook for him too.”
Oh, she thought my husband was pretty. “Is Emil in the dorms?”
“No, he comes home every night. We live close.”
“That’s nice. Kola went away to school for a bit but then came back home. He didn’t want to live with us, though, and I get that.”
“But he could, you would let him.”
“I would, but young men need their space.”
“Does he have a girlfriend?”
“Not at the moment,” I told her, getting out my air fryer. “At the moment he has a man in his life.”
She nodded. “But there were women before?”
“I think so, yes.”
“So he is bisexual?”
“No,” Hannah said, leaning in to take the air fryer from me and plug it into the wall. “He’s demisexual, do you know what that is?”
“Yes,” she said to Hannah. “I have a niece who is also oriented that way.”
Hannah smiled at her.
“You and your brother are very close.”