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)
I chuckled, and I got a smack on my ass when I turned away from him.
Thirty minutes later, I brought the spoon over for Sam to taste, and after I was told it was perfect, I turned back and told Hannah to start the mixer. A few moments later, I heard her shriek at the cat.
“Chilly! You’re going to kill yourself!”
At least I wasn’t the only one trying to keep the feline alive.
That’s it. I hope you all have a great Halloween, and next time I’ll let you know how ours went. Stay safe and healthy.
OCTOBER 15, 2020
FICLET FROM FACEBOOK GROUP
Ihad to meet a client in person, which, these days, was few and far between, but they wanted to be in on the brainstorming session with me, Dylan, and Fallon, so we had made that happen. When I finally got home, dropped off by Fallon since he had moved to Oak Park himself a couple of years prior, it was late. I was walking up the driveway when Hannah came out onto the porch.
“Hey,” I called over to her, but instead of smiling, she bit her bottom lip.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, stopping as she bolted down the steps and across the front yard to reach me.
“I don’t know,” she said worriedly, brows scrunched together, looking unsure.
“You must know what’s wrong with you,” I teased her.
“Not me,” she replied as Kola came out of the house and raced across the yard as well, joining his sister at the fence that separated the gravel drive from the grass.
“Pa,” Kola croaked out. “Something’s wrong with Dad.”
Always, always, there was that gut clench when the words Dad and wrong were put together. I leaped to horrific conclusions in a heartbeat because of his job.
“Wait,” Kola ordered, reaching over the fence to take hold of my shoulder. “Not like that. Not hurt, at least not physically.”
My exhale was long.
“He came home, went upstairs, showered, changed, and then poured himself a glass of that fancy bourbon that Uncle Aaron brought him from Kentucky, and went outside.”
That made no sense. A beer, maybe. But on a Thursday night? When Sam did his drinking, which was not often, other than on fishing trips and game nights with friends, neither of which had happened in ages, he never went for the hard stuff.
“Did you guys go and talk to him?”
“I tried,” Hannah told me, putting her folded arms on the fence. “But I don’t think he heard me. And then when I got closer, he put his arm around me, leaned his head against me for a second, gave me a squeeze, told me he loved me, and then went back to staring at the yard.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding. “I’ll go see what’s up.”
“Do you think he got fired or something?” Kola asked me.
“No,” I assured my son. “Your father is great at his job, and his boss thinks he walks on water, so—no.”
“Well, if he did, I can totally get a job and help out.”
“Me too,” Hannah chimed in.
“Thank you both very much, but hard times are what savings are for, so…even if he did, we would be okay.”
Neither of them looked convinced.
“Let me talk to him, and we’ll figure it out.”
Lots of nodding as they both turned to go back in the house, and I continued around to the gate that led from the driveway into our backyard.
As reported, my husband was there, in a pair of old jeans and his Feminist T-shirt, sitting in one of the oversized Adirondack chairs, holding a glass of bourbon and, more importantly, beside the chair was the bottle.
“Hi,” I said, greeting him as I crossed the yard.
He turned to look at me, and I saw that his eyes were red, like he’d been crying, which he never did, and as I reached the stairs, he drained the glass and reached down to pour himself another. Only one thing could cause this much pain that I knew of.
I took hold of the railing, bracing myself. “Are your parents all right?”
“Yeah,” he rasped, filling the glass much higher than he should have, sipping some so it didn’t spill, and then screwing the lid back on the bottle.
“I’m gonna go in and change, and then I’ll be back out, all right?”
He nodded before he took another sip.
Rushing inside, I stripped quickly out of my suit, toed off my dress shoes, washed my hands, and then changed into the clothes I had set aside, a pair of old sweats and a T-shirt. Leaning into the kitchen, I told Hannah to heat up the lasagna I’d made the night before, and to make her world-famous cheesy garlic bread, and instructed Kola to throw together a salad.
“What’s wrong with him?” Kola pressed me.
“I don’t know, but I’ll find out right now.”
Walking back outside, barefoot since it was seventy-five degrees at a quarter to seven, I went directly to the chair next to him and sat down.