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)
NOVEMBER 2024
Hello, all, and welcome to the November He Said, he said.
I hope you’re all doing well after a catastrophic first week of the month. After I cried, and my daughter cried, and my husband sat and hugged and comforted us both for a very long time, we then all had to sit and talk, rest and reflect.
That took a while.
And then we talked to others in our family and to our friends. Now, all of us are going to do all we can to help our community by showing up, by being supportive, and continuing to move forward. We will not stop. It sounds simple, which it’s not, but we have no choice but to get through this together. I am sending lots of love to everyone.
To the news.
First, we did get all Hannah’s Mabon candles out of the basement. Poor Finn, he didn’t realize that he would be on delivery duty. Kola told him he could just stay home and they could meet up later, but the lure of my son’s company was too great. So Finn got the fun of going up to the homes of strangers and delivering a bit of magic. Later he agreed that yeah, that was all right. I liked him more and more.
As I suspected, Luna and Kola did not visit before she left. When I asked what happened, Kola, who was rooting through the refrigerator at the moment, explained that Luna had wanted them to have dinner, alone.
I glanced at Finn, who was leaning against the counter. He shook his head, which told me he was fine, and tipped his head at Kola, who was quite distracted, looking for whatever he was hunting for.
“What did you say?” I asked my son.
“I told her that I couldn’t see her without Finn because I wouldn’t want him having dinner with a hot ex without my company.” He glanced up at me.
“Nice compliment you gave her to cushion the blow.”
He shrugged. “It’s the truth. She’s beautiful, but that’s not the point. Any previous emotional connection Finn had with someone, I would prefer to go along.”
“Seems reasonable to me.”
“Luna didn’t think so. She said that was ridiculous, but it’s not.”
“I agree with you.”
“I mean, even if she’s not actually dating Oliver, she flew out here to be his plus-one at Uncle Michael’s wedding, and they work together. You’d think she wouldn’t want to ditch him.”
“Excellent point.”
“Plus,” he said with a shrug, “if I’m gonna go to dinner with anybody, it’s gonna be Finn, or he’s coming with me unless he can’t.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because it’s always better if he’s there.”
Looking back at Finn, I noted the dreamy expression on his face as he stared at my son. For his part, Kola let out a whoop of joy.
“Here we go, here’s the pickled radishes from Mrs. Kim. I knew they were in here somewhere.” He turned to look at Finn. “You’re gonna love these.”
But he appeared a bit ashen all of a sudden. “I can’t see any radishes. That entire jar just looks red to me.”
“I know,” Kola whispered in awe. “They’re so hot, it’s epic.”
Finn looked at me, I shook my head, and he returned his attention to Kola, who had walked over to him and put the jar, with wax paper between the lid and the lip, down on the counter and was about to twist it open.
“Wait,” I ordered, taking three steps back. “I need a bit more room.”
“What the hell,” Finn muttered under his breath.
“No, no,” Hannah threatened her brother. “Wait until I get the banana bread out that I made. The whole kitchen will smell like that jar once you open it.”
Finn whimpered.
“You’re not going to eat one of those, are you?” she asked him.
He made a face and gestured at Kola.
“No,” she told him. “There is enough garlic in there that you will be melting the face off total strangers the whole day after, and I will attest to the fact that no amount of toothbrushing, chewing on fresh mint from my herb garden, drops of peppermint oil in your water or anything else will make it go away. Jake gets to choose me or pickled radishes from Mrs. Kim for a weekend.”
“That’s not true,” Jake teased her as he walked into the kitchen. “You never make me choose.”
“But I should,” she said, crossing her arms.
“It’s not that bad,” Jake assured Finn. “It’s just hot. Like, the first time, I almost died. I took one bite and I couldn't hear.”
Hannah gave an inelegant snort.
“That's a true story.”
“I’m going to pick up Korean for dinner, so I wanted to make sure I found this,” Kola said, turning the lid.
“I said wait,” Hannah warned, glaring at her brother.
“Why the wax paper?” Finn wanted to know.
“Because otherwise the lid fuses to the jar as it breathes,” Kola explained.