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 worth it,” Finn answered from where he was beside Sam. “And this is coming from the guy who wasn’t crazy about her in the beginning. I remember thinking, who does this girl think she is?”
“Same,” Wick agreed. “I thought she was an entitled princess.”
“Yeah,” Finn concurred. “But then you just have to spend time with her to realize that yes, she’s bossy as hell, but a better more loyal friend you couldn’t ask for.”
“Plus she’s crazy smart,” Wick said. “I mean, things she suggests to me off the top of her head to help drum up interest in my projects—amazing. Loopholes for funding, gifts for advisors that are so simple and perfect and… I don’t want to take a break from her. I don’t need a break.”
“Maybe run and go tell her,” Finn suggested.
Once Wick was out the door, Sam and I both turned to him.
“Hey, I have no problem with Hannah,” he reminded us. “I was the only one she liked.”
“That’s true,” I said, smiling at him.
“She should’ve had a talk with Jake before she went around getting buy-in from everyone on her plan. That was her only misstep. All the rest of it—her personality is big. It has to be for her to have done, and continue to do, what’s asked of her. Everyone wants what? A person who asks permission all the time? Does Aaron Sutter do that?”
“You’re saying it’s because she’s a woman?” I asked him, watching as Kola finally released his sister so she could turn to Harper, who took her hands and told her, I was certain, that he loved both her and Jake, and he was sorry for calling her dramatic and could they please be okay. She lunged, and he caught her and they hugged tight and then stepped back so she could accept Wick’s apology and then hug him. In the meantime, Harper leaned into the car window and got a box of tissues from George.
“Yeah. Because if she was a man, would anyone be using the word bossy about her, or would it be more about her being direct and assertive?”
I looked at him.
“Mr. Sutter is called strategic and proactive. What would the words be for Hannah simply because she’s a woman?”
“I had no idea you were a feminist, Finn.”
He shrugged. “My mother wanted to be a lawyer, but she got no support from anyone, and the things my brothers, and even my dad, sometimes say to her… I hear it and call them on their misogyny. They don’t mean it, they love her, but still, it comes out of their mouths.”
I liked this man more and more.
“I also think it must be hard sometimes for Hannah to be the only woman in this whole sea of men. She has friends, but in her family, she’s not close to her other female cousins, so it’s good she has her aunt Aja and her grandmother, and of course both of you.”
“But we’re not women,” Sam stated.
“Yeah, but from what she’s told me, everything she ever said when she was a kid, from wanting to be a firefighter to Batman, you were both, like, sure, of course, sky’s the limit.”
I more than liked him. I was crazy about him.
“So if you don’t like Hannah, fine. Don’t like Hannah. That won’t keep her up nights, you know? And again, it took me a minute to like her, but for me, it was always Jake.”
“Jake?” I asked as Hannah turned around and Harper made a ponytail, twisted it, then turned it sideways and rolled it a bit before holding out his hand so Kola could pass him her decorative comb. It wasn’t as polished as it had been, but was now more her and looked just as lovely. He then had her blow her nose, then again, and checked her makeup.
“I didn’t really care for Jake at first.”
“How so?”
“I thought he was a slacker, and for crissakes, could he have his own opinion? About anything? To me, he just went with the flow, about everything, and I hated that.”
“But?” Sam prodded him.
“Well, Kola having Harper for his best buddy, I get that. They’re so much alike. Both logical, driven, very bullet point with the facts, but Jake is…not. He’s actually really smart, he thinks way outside the box, actually works like a dog, and he sees things in his head very clearly and very fast. But everyone rechecks his math and never thinks whatever is a good idea, and if I was him, I would call them on that. I would be pissed at all the second-guessing. But he’s just so chill. He never gets mad, and I get why Kola needs that and why Harper does too. They function because Kola leads, Harper plans the journey, navigates it, and when trouble comes up, Jake offers you a beverage.”