Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“She came and thanked him again and held his hand”—she sighed deeply—“and they’ve been dating ever since.”
Jake cleared his throat. “So George is straight?” he asked nonchalantly, not fooling me one bit. He’d been hoping George had a boyfriend.
Hannah turned to him. “I think he’s bi, because I’ve snooped in his file in Uncle Aaron’s office, and there is mention of women as well as men in his past.”
“For starters, that should not be in a personnel file,” I scolded, scowling. “How is that anyone’s business at Sutter?”
“I––”
“And for two, you snooped?” I was trying to stare a hole through her. “Hannah Kage.”
“Yes,” she confessed, “and I know it was naughty, especially since Uncle Aaron trusts me to be in there on his computer even though his passwords are ridiculous.”
“You hacked his computer?” This was getting worse by the second.
“Hack is an ugly word when the passwords are things like ‘I love Duncan,’ ‘Sexy Duncan,’ ‘I love my husband,’ all smooshed together, with love spelled L-U-V, or ‘Duncan and Aaron forever,’ with an ampersand in there, and the number four, and ever spelled like E-V-A. I mean, c’mon. He’s the one who’s ridiculous.”
“I’m surprised everyone doesn’t log in to his computer.”
“Well, in his defense, there is a retina scan to use the desktop, and a fingerprint scan just to move the mouse, so it’s not super easy.”
“Good God.”
“But so, yes, I snooped into George, but Uncle Aaron already caught me, and I was sanctioned.”
“Oh?”
“Yes,” she told me solemnly. “My clothes budget was cut for a month, and I was banned from his computer.”
“That man should not be giving you a stipend for clothes.”
She bit her bottom lip. “I never use even a quarter of it.”
Which meant it was ridiculous. “You realize he’s not your father.”
Instant scowl. “Uh, yeah.”
I shook my head. “Are you banned from his computer forever?”
She made a face. “I think I was supposed to be, but there was another function that we were setting up, and the info was on his desktop, and since he didn’t want to deal with it himself…he gave me my access back.”
“And you’ve been good since?”
“Of course,” she assured me. “I was only interested in George.”
I grunted.
“It’s his fault anyway. He’s so secretive.”
“You realize his personal life is not your business.”
“Yeah, but I’ve been helping with Cynthia. I’ve totally Cyrano’d that situation.”
“Oh?”
Her smile was huge. “I’ve been telling George what not to do, because seriously, the man does not have a romantic bone in his body.”
“Is that right?”
“Ohmygod, Pa, he bought Cyn new tires for her birthday.”
“Because he wanted her to be safe on the road, love. That’s very romantic.”
“Maybe if you’re married,” she replied like it was painful. “But Cyn got him tickets to see the Chicago Blackhawks, which is his favorite team, and before that she made a coupon that said she was taking George to his favorite restaurant, and then after the game, to a place for a special dessert.”
It did sound quite romantic. And thoughtful.
“George got her tires, gave her the receipt, and asked where she wanted to go for dinner,” she groaned, shaking her head. “I mean, for heaven’s sake.”
I squinted.
“Yeah, see,” she quipped. “So I made sure George had the gift, come Christmas.”
Glancing at the perfectly wrapped present, I was honestly afraid to ask.
“Do you want to know what it is?”
“Sure,” I told her.
“It’s a book,” Sam surmised as he walked into the room from upstairs, going to the refrigerator to rummage, I was guessing, for a beer.
She did a slow pan to him. “How did you know?”
He closed the fridge and went to the drawer where the bottle opener was. “I heard museum curator, romantic, and the fact that George screwed up buying tires.”
“I would love tires,” I told my husband.
“You would not,” he scoffed, popping off the bottle cap and passing it to me as I walked over to him. “And I would never buy you tires, because you came completely undone last year when I got you a scarf from Banana Republic.”
“That scarf is huge,” I reminded him. “I can totally wrap up in it, and have.”
“And it’s not an infinity scarf, which you don’t like.”
“Correct,” I agreed, smiling up at him as he pushed my hair out of my face and bent and kissed my forehead.
“I know what to get,” Sam assured me smugly, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “But George screwed up on the birthday, so he’s hoping to make up for it on Christmas, so he went to the only person he knows who is an excellent gift giver and who would care enough to help him.”
I nodded and turned back to my daughter. “Your father is a smart man.”
“He is,” Hannah agreed. “And yes, it’s a book in a very fancy case.”
“What book?” Jake asked.
“It’s Pride and Prejudice, which, as you know, is my favorite book, and after some digging on my part, Cyn’s as well.”