Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“It’s good not to have to worry,” I assured Duncan, and got a smile from him before I turned back to Aaron. “So George hired this Stassi and trusts him to watch my girl?”
Aaron chuckled. “Unlike George and Finn, you can’t even see Hannah if Stassi is standing in front of her. He’s—how tall are you, Dane?”
“Six-five.”
“He’s probably about that, and I mean, when Miguel told me he played rugby in college, I was not remotely surprised.”
“So what you’re saying is, whereas George is spooky, and Finn is fast,” Dane summarized with a grin, “Hannah’s new guy is a wall between her and the world.”
Aaron nodded.
“He sounds good to me,” Sam concluded.
I was looking forward to meeting him at some point.
“So what does Hannah need champagne for?” Aja asked me.
“I have absolutely no idea.”
“Well, I’m sure it will be great. This is Hannah after all.”
Sam scoffed. “Like her plans don’t go right off the rails at any given moment.”
I couldn’t very well argue.
Thirty minutes later—how George made it from Aaron’s building downtown to Oak Park in twenty minutes without a siren and flashing lights was a mystery—Hannah had friends of hers filling up my plastic champagne flutes with pretty expensive bubbly. I had bought the barware from Costco for New Year’s, but I could buy them again. It was not even remotely worth thinking about. What I was focused on, as I sat outside at one of the tables on the porch with Aja and Dylan, was how fast the champagne was going into the glasses.
Hannah had Wick and Harper pouring, along with her friend Coretta and drafted Portia, who could always be counted on, to step up and help, and Robert into service delivering flutes to people. Jake wanted to help, but neither the pouring nor the carrying was in his wheelhouse. Outside of his element of construction engineering and general construction, Jake’s brain and body alignment could not be counted on. Doing what he did best, and really, any kind of higher math, Jake was your guy. Put a pitcher of hot beeswax in his hand and have him fill up glass holders for candles—that was asking for trouble.
When everyone had a glass of champagne, and Harper had the music lowered, Wick went into the crowd, extricated Kola from Cody and Hazel, and walked him up on the porch. Jake then arrived with Finn at the same time to join Kola.
“Raise your glass, everyone,” Hannah announced loudly, lifting her flute in the air. “My family already knows, but we want to share the news with all our friends that Kola and Finn are engaged to be married!”
There was lots of screaming, hoots and whistles, and then Hannah said, deeply, with much flourish, in her serious Galadriel voice, “To Finn and Kola, may your days together be blessed.”
Everyone drank, and then there was thunderous applause as Kola turned to Finn, took his face in his hands, and leaned in and laid a kiss on Finn that made him weak in the knees, if the unsteadiness when Kola let him breathe was any indication. More laughter and clapping followed that.
Hannah was right, Cody was beautiful, with his powerful physique, chiseled features, pale blue eyes and deep tan. I knew it was him when, after a few minutes, he made it up onto the porch to congratulate Kola.
“Thank you so much,” my son said, smiling wide, clearly pleased with being the center of attention as long as Finn was there beside him, holding his hand. “I’ve been wearing his grandfather’s ring, and I love it.”
Cody nodded, appearing a bit lost.
“Hey, I’ll be sure to stop and grab coffee and that apple croissant you like on Monday, since we both have lab at the same time.”
“Thank you,” Cody murmured before Kola grabbed him and hugged him before turning and hugging Hazel.
“I’m so glad you came with him. He talks about you all the time.”
She too appeared a bit out of her depth, but she nodded and glanced at Finn before Kola tugged him after him to introduce him to some of his friends from high school who had just arrived in time for the toast. Finn, for his part, was smiling at everyone.
“Why was that necessary?” George asked, taking a seat behind me, Dylan, and Aja with a plate of my lasagna, a bowl of salad, garlic bread, and a glass of ice water.
“She saved the day,” Aja told him, turning to face him. “You don’t want any wine?”
“No, thank you, I need a clear head. I’m driving to the airport after this to pick up Kurt. With all the flight cancellations, we weren’t sure he was going to make it home until tomorrow, but he got on standby, so he’ll get in right after midnight.”
“Oh good,” she told him. “I don’t know that I would fly anywhere at the moment.”