Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“Which one do you think has the meat?”
“Don’t play games with me, I’m hungry.”
I arched an eyebrow for him.
He turned and yelled, “Lucy, come fix your plate!”
She rushed over, always quick to do his bidding. Bending over, she looked at the sides of both glass dishes, and even though there was really no way to tell from doing that, she still dug the spatula into the correct one and served herself a slice from the meatless one. My husband immediately dug into the other.
“Get your greens,” I directed him, tipping my head at the enormous bowl of tossed salad. “And less dressing this time, and go easy with the bacon bits.”
“Anything else?” His grumble would have sounded menacing to anyone who didn’t know him. “More orders?”
“I don’t want you to die, so you need to eat better.”
“You’re the one who made lasagna.”
“Which is fine in moderation,” I insisted, using the tongs to put more salad on his plate.
“Give me another olive.”
I shook my head as I fished him out another, and one more, lining them up.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice gravelly and low as he kissed my temple, then my ear, then my cheek, and finally the side of my neck.
“Stop that. You’re giving me goose bumps.”
“Hey.”
I lifted for the kiss, and he brushed his lips over mine. It wasn’t surprising that I didn’t get a better one, one that would have curled my toes, since we had more kids than just ours. What I didn’t like was the crease between his eyebrows, a scowl that wasn’t going away.
“What’s wrong?”
He shook his head.
“Sam?”
“It’s just going to get worse before it gets better. That’s the way of things.”
I nodded. “We just have to be as kind and patient as possible.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, taking his plate to the table and sitting in his normal seat at the end. I usually sat on his left and Kola on his right, and Hannah next to me. But the boys clustered around him, and I wasn’t that hungry, having snacked continuously as I made dinner.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” Sam called to me from the table.
“No, I’m good,” I answered, checking on the chocolate cream pie I had thawing near the sink. As far as dishes went, there wasn’t much to do after dinner. I had always been a clean-as-I-went cook.
Once all the plates were loaded in the dishwasher and the counters were wiped down, as well as the dining room table, I was supposed to start watching October Faction on Netflix with Jake and Tawny and Hannah while the others played Monopoly. Before I could turn the TV on, though, Hannah put on some music. She wanted to show Tawny how to do the Electric Slide.
“Why do you need to know this?” I asked Tawny.
“Eventually,” she said, widening her eyes for me, “in a galaxy far, far away, we’re supposed to have prom, and a group of us are going to do it.”
“Ah.”
“Pa, come on,” Hannah said, gesturing for me to get up. “You taught me. Come help me show Tawny.”
I got up, because my kid was cute and her wanting me to do things with her made me deliriously happy.
We danced together, Tawny between us, and Jake, who had always been a good sport, ever since he was five, tried to follow along.
The music changed, and before Hannah could turn it back, the Macarena was on.
“Why do you even have this?” I teased my daughter.
“Come on, come on, do it,” she said, laughing.
“I can do that one,” Lucy announced from the dining room, where Monopoly was now spread out, before she got up and darted into the living room to join me and Hannah.
“Me too,” Harper chimed in, also a very good sport, taking his place next to Lucy and moving fluidly to the music.
“Why do you know this?” Jake asked, scowling at his friend, arms crossed, watching him.
“My mom taught me before my cousin Suri’s wedding.”
Jake shook his head.
“If you can do the Electric Slide,” Hannah began, squinting at me, “why can’t you do any country line dancing?”
“That’s more your father’s thing,” I told her.
“What?” She gasped when she said it and spun around so she could see Sam counting out everyone’s starting cash for the game. “Daddy?”
He looked over at her.
“You can line dance?”
His scowl was instant. “Why is that so unbelievable?”
Her mouth fell open, and he went back to counting.
“Come show me, pretty please.”
“He has a hat,” I told her.
He ignored us both, rolling his eyes and squinting at the property cards. “Who put this away last? It’s supposed to be in here in order from Mediterranean to Boardwalk.”
“Where’s the hat?” Hannah asked me, seemingly very excited over the possibility.
“And the boots,” I chimed in.
“Ohmygod, there’s boots?” she almost shrieked.
“No, I’m not putting on either of those items, and you,” he said pointedly, glaring at me, “stop talking.”