Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Dan and Jenny invited us to sit down, and when Ashley and Kola did as well, he was about to speak when Jenny popped up.
“I’m so sorry, but I’ve got stew on the stove that needs stirring.”
“I can do that,” Hannah offered, as she had still been up looking at pictures on the shelves.
“I hate stew,” Ashley muttered as Hannah left for the kitchen.
“Oh, I love stew,” Kola said quickly. “Pa makes it kinda spicy, and it’s great. We’re having chili and cornbread tonight that my dad made, and that is my favorite meal.”
Jenny nodded and smiled at Sam. “It sounds like you and your husband are both great cooks.”
“He’s the cook,” Sam said, tipping his head at me. “Chili is the only thing I can make. I’m a one-trick pony.”
“So what can we do for you?” Dan asked kindly.
“Kola had something he wanted to say,” Sam announced, turning to his son.
“Sir,” Kola began after taking a quick breath, leaning forward, his face so very serious, “I just wanted to assure you that earlier today, when I was in your daughter’s room, alone, with the door locked, that nothing unseemly––” He glanced at me. “Am I using that right?” I nodded, and he was back to pinning Dan with his stare. “Nothing unseemly that you wouldn’t approve of occurred in that room. We weren’t ever naked, we didn’t make out, there was no touching over or under any clothes, and there was no sex, oral or otherwise.”
I snorted, I couldn’t stop myself, because Jesus, my kid and his need to never leave anything out.
“He’s thorough,” Sam muttered, before he coughed. “It’s actually a very good quality. It just needs to be tweaked a bit. We’re working on it.”
Dan paled before taking a gulp of air. Jenny clutched her stomach as Ashley groaned and bent her forehead into her hand.
“What?” Kola asked, turning to look at us.
Choked laughter from the kitchen, and I knew Hannah had heard as she emerged with a small bowl and a spoon. “You’re so embarrassing,” she told her brother. “You could have just said that we didn’t do anything alone that we wouldn’t have done in front of you.”
He thought about that a moment as Hannah stopped in front of Jenny and bent down.
“Try it now.”
Jenny looked confused for a moment, but Hannah smiled and gave a quick nod, waiting until she took a taste. Her eyes widened in surprise.
“It’s better, right?” Jenny nodded in response. “I took the cooked potatoes out and put some raw ones in that I saw you’d already skinned to soak up the salt. I think its fine now. Just pull the raw ones back out before you serve it,” my daughter finished helpfully.
“Thank you, Hannah,” she told her, glancing back at me. “Your kids are great.”
“My kids are annoying,” Sam assured her, leaning forward, “as well as great, and I don’t mean to tell you what to do, but there are house rules that need to be followed. Period.”
Ashley opened her mouth to argue.
“Maybe we could come up with some while we’re here,” he said, scowling at her.
“That would be great,” Dan agreed, taking Jenny’s hand.
Ashley’s silent grimace told me that she wasn’t about to talk to Sam Kage the way she did her stepfather. But the way she leaned into Kola told me that maybe she had something to gain by Sam liking her.
Back at home, scooping chili into bowls, I was still thinking about the Crosbys. It turned out that Dan very much appreciated Kola coming to see him and bringing us so he’d know he was serious. Sam was told, when he went to the basement with Dan to look at his fishing poles, that Ashley’s father, sadly, didn’t want her. He and Jenny had been parents at seventeen, they never got to be kids, and now, years later, he was getting a second chance. Like Jenny, he was only forty-two, but unlike her, excited to be out and single. His daughter would have cramped his style. Jenny had kept that information from Ashley, making herself the bad guy. It turned out the man had no plans to see his daughter over winter break, even though she was planning on it.
“You know,” I said as Sam joined me in the kitchen. “Ashley’s going to find out the truth at some point, that her dad doesn’t want her around.”
“Yeah, but that’s Jenny’s choice,” Sam told me, taking the bowl from me and setting it down before cupping my face in his hands. “What we need to be happy about is that our son did the right thing even when we weren’t around.”
“Yes, he did.”
“For two people who were clueless about raising kids, I think we’re doing all right.”
“I agree,” I sighed before he bent and kissed me.
Picking up the bowls to carry into the dining room, he turned at the door. “Call Aaron now before we owe him the price of a car for Halloween costumes.”