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)
“Pa, Uncle Dane was there with Aunt Aja, and holy cow, they will be making the society page tomorrow because—oh, wait. I took a pic.”
She was so light on her feet, and walked in the four-inch heels with so much grace it was amazing. But she passed me her phone and then darted back to the stairs.
It had always been a bit sad to me that my kids were both closer to all our friends than to Sam’s siblings. His parents, their grandparents, both my kids adored them. But Michael, Jen, and Rachel had never been close to Kola and Hannah. Maybe it was because Michael didn’t have kids when Sam and I did, and maybe because Rachel’s and Jen’s kids were older. I didn’t know. But the fact was, when Kola and Hannah were growing up, it was Dane and Aja and their kids who were there. My friends, who became Sam’s over the years, Dylan and Chris, and of course, Aaron and Duncan. Hannah would have hugged and kissed Dane and Aja if they were there, and she was friendly and smiling for Sam’s siblings, but she didn’t feel the pull to do any more. But really, all their kids were the same with Sam and I. Respectful, gracious, but not warm. I hugged and kissed Dane’s kids when I saw them. Sam was the same. Strange how things worked out.
“That’s Dane Harcourt,” Sandy said to Michael.
“Yeah, I know. The architect I will never be.”
Sam scowled at him. “Petty much?”
“No, I—c’mon, I was kidding. It’s just that, your brother-in-law did not hire me to work at his firm, as you recall.”
“Perhaps he sensed the pettiness.”
Michael flipped his brother off then.
“Michael,” Sandy scolded him, sounding horrified.
“Don’t worry ’bout it,” Sam said with a cackle.
“Dane Harcourt is your brother?” she asked me.
“Yes. It’s Jory Harcourt-Kage. I hyphenate.”
“Which I like,” Sam rumbled.
“I like it too,” Thomas said, smiling at me.
I had to go over and hug him, and so passed the phone to Sam.
“Okay, so Dane looks all right,” Sam commented, “but he looks like chopped liver compared to Aja. She is stunning.”
“Lemme see,” Jen prodded him.
“Oh yeah. Wow,” Rachel agreed. “God, look at her, and she’s older than me.”
Sam scoffed. “I don’t know about that.”
“Oh my God!” Jen chided her brother. “Apologize to your sister right now!”
Rachel reached across the table to smack him.
“Dad,” Sam called out. “Look at her, look at her—what are the rules?”
“No violence at the table,” Thomas declared, and when his voice rose out of his diaphragm like that, you understood where Sam got his volume from.
“I keep telling you, you have to take better care of your skin,” Regina apprised Rachel as though nothing else was going on. “Hannah is a very young woman, but she takes really good care of her skin already and never leaves the house without sunscreen on. Ever.”
“Yes, Mom, we know she’s your favorite of all of us,” Rachel told her. “Children and grandchildren. We get it.”
“She’s the only one who listens to me about all things.”
“She only does it to suck up,” Jen assured her.
I chuckled. “Well, that’s not true.”
“Oh?” Jen challenged me.
“Hannah says that her grandmother is radiant now and has been so at every age, so why on earth wouldn’t she listen to all the things she’s done to stay a goddess?”
Rachel groaned deeply. “You’re a suck-up too.”
“So you’re saying I’m not a goddess?” Regina questioned her daughter.
“No,” Rachel said, chuckling, getting up and walking around the table to reach her mother and give her a hug. “You’re a goddess. Always.”
“You better watch your back,” Jen warned me.
“Bring it on,” I goaded her.
Poor Sandy. It was a lot for a Friday night. The volume, the threats of violence, the slight underlying tension that I found existed with many mothers and daughters other than Lorelai and Rory, and of course, now to find out that Hannah was a billionaire’s goddaughter. She had to be reeling.
“Well, we should probably get going,” Michael announced.
“But we haven’t finished dessert,” Sandy rushed out, clearly wanting to visit some more. I had no idea why. If I were her, I’d want to run.
Or.
Maybe she’d always wanted a big, loud family. If she liked this, she’d really enjoy when the extended Kage clan got together.
“Oh, we got more people here after Dane and Aja,” Sam announced, and turned the phone to me. “Who are they?”
“I have no idea who he is, but that’s Avis Kim. She dances with the CBC.”
His grin was slow, daring, and I loved it. “When were you at the ballet?”
I crossed my arms. “Just because you, sir, have no culture, does not mean that the rest of us do not. And I attend with my daughter and your mother.”
“You do?”
“He does,” Regina told him, and then looked at Sandy. “Do you like the ballet?”