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)
“Why is that?” I asked Hannah as we went up an elevator downtown, there to meet with yet another therapist.
“Why is what?” she asked, turning to look at me and away from her phone.
“Why is George in a bad mood all the time?” I clarified. “I think all I got were a series of grunts from him when he picked you up the other day for the—what was it?”
“Clean water fundraiser.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “So what’s his deal?”
“Simply put, Pa, he is in need of some adult time.”
He needed to get laid. “Ah. So no one since Cynthia?”
She shook her head. “God knows I’ve been trying to find him a suitable mate, but he’s loath to accept help.”
When she said “help,” she meant “matchmaking.” I’d seen her set her sights on some of her other friends, and while some of them were receptive, most made their way into my kitchen and hemmed and hawed until they finally blurted out their request to please get Hannah out of their love lives. She could be a bit pushy about the whole thing, and when someone didn’t like her conclusions about who they should be dating, she could get a bit…combative.
“It’s like he doesn’t want to be happy,” she snapped, and I could tell I’d opened a can of worms. “I mean, does he even know who will make him happy?”
“I––”
“Does he? Huh? Does he?”
“I think he’s probably the only one who––”
“No, he doesn’t,” she answered, hot now, arms crossed, growling. “And could this elevator be any slower?”
I turned to look at Kola, who grinned at me and waggled his eyebrows. He liked it when her righteous indignation got triggered, as long as it wasn’t directed at him.
Jake’s eyes were huge. He didn’t like to see Hannah upset. Not ever.
Harper was preoccupied with something on his phone and moved up beside Hannah to show her.
“Really? Rated one of the slowest elevators in Chicago?”
He shrugged. “They have polls for everything. You know that.”
She nodded, calming a bit. Harper was always good at helping her. Actually, he was good at helping all his friends take a moment to decompress.
At the office, they confirmed they had the paperwork I’d filled out online for Hannah and for the boys, which they’d filled out. Which, let’s face it, that was me as well, except for Harper’s which his mother did, and they all went in while I sat outside in the lobby and waited. There were three psychologists in the practice, so I was not alone as I waited. I was surprised when, not even five minutes later, the door opened and all four kids came out single file.
“Done already?” I asked innocently, because really, this was how it had been going. Looking for a therapist to help with the trauma it was perceived my people felt, was an exercise in futility.
“Kids,” a man dressed casually in a sweater over a shirt and tie said, following them out of the office, “you need to let me explain.”
Kola rounded on him, which brought him up short.
“A, not kids,” Kola asserted, arms crossed, legs braced apart, ready for a fight. I knew the stance well, as even the glare belonged to Sam Kage. “And B, your bias was showing, and we don’t like it.”
“We?” he asked Kola. He didn’t bait him, but it was still a bit snide. “You speak for the group, do you?”
“And for the trees,” Hannah said, giggling.
“He does,” Harper informed the therapist, shooting Hannah a look. “In this instance.”
“And a lot,” Jake commented, turning to Harper. “Have you noticed that?”
“It’s because he’s bossy,” Harper confirmed. “But he’s always been like that.”
“Which is not something one normally finds in a Libra,” Hannah chimed in.
“Listen, men and girl,” the therapist corrected, “I––”
“Girl?” Hannah gasped, turning to look at me. “Pa? Girl?”
“Woman,” I corrected the therapist. “Okay, let’s go,” I ordered, gesturing toward the door.
“My appointment’s not with that guy, is it?” a woman at the counter talking to the receptionist asked.
“I like your shirt,” another woman said to Jake.
He walked over and sat down beside her, because that was his way. He got cozy fast. “Thank you, but that guy said it was interesting that I was wearing it instead of my buddy Harper there.”
Harper took that moment to wave to the woman.
She nodded. “Really. So he thought the young Black man should be wearing the Black Lives Matter T-shirt, and you should be wearing what, Stars and Bars?”
Jake threw up his hands. “I dunno, but it was a weird thing to say.”
“It certainly was,” she agreed, crossing her arms.
“Listen––”
“I don’t like you calling her a girl,” a man chimed in from across the room, putting his book down to glare at the therapist. “I called all my daughters young women, and now, women. I think that’s more appropriate.”
“Thank you, everyone,” I announced to the room. “Come on, people, let’s go. I need to get you all some food.”