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)
We were quiet, watching Dane and Aja dance.
“I wish I could do that,” I commented, leaning against my husband, loving the heat coming off him, savoring both the warmth and closeness.
“I can do that. I’ll teach you.”
“You can waltz?”
He grunted.
“Why didn’t I know that?”
“Because why would you? We don’t, as a rule, go ballroom dancing.”
“Who taught you to—oh, your mother,” I stated, answering my own question.
“No, my father,” he corrected me. “He always said that all men should know how to dance.”
“I love that.”
“So yeah, I’ll teach you sometime when you’re not wearing four-inch heels. I don’t want you to snap an ankle.”
“I’ll have you know that I’m terribly coordinated,” I said before I nearly did a face-plant onto the dance floor. I went to move out from under his arm so I could see his face, but I stepped wrong and my ankle buckled.
Sam was there, though, kept me from falling and turned me to face him. “You are coordinated on your own feet,” he agreed with a grin that made his eyes glow. I didn’t care that I was klutzy when he was looking at me like that. “You’re very tall in these,” he continued playfully, sliding the back of his fingers up my throat, lifting my chin to meet his gaze. “They make your legs look crazy long.”
I took a breath. “Your daughter wants to take her relationship with Jake to the next level.”
He nodded. “I figured.”
“Did she tell you?”
“Not yet, but I knew it was coming.”
“What are we going to do? It's bound to change things.”
“I’m not sure yet,” he said, bending for a second to scoop me up off my feet and hold me, one arm under my legs and the other supporting my back like a groom carrying his bride. “But we’ll figure it out. We always do.”
I liked him holding me, and it had been a long time since he had.
“What are you doing?” I asked after a couple of minutes.
“I like having you in my arms, and I can tell your feet are starting to hurt.”
It was beyond "starting" at that point. I was in pain.
“And like I was saying, when we do things together, everything from raising kids to going to parties, it usually turns out pretty good.”
“So the moral is, don’t try to parent or go to parties without you.”
“That’s correct,” he assured me, kissing my cheek. “Both of those are a bad idea.”
“And you’ll just come with me from now on, no questions asked?”
“Yep,” Sam agreed, “no questions asked.”
“I like this agreeable Sam Kage.”
“Well, for heaven’s sake, don’t get used to it.”
“No, dear,” I assured him.
Heavy sigh then. “How long before we can go?”
“Get Dane and Aja,” I answered. “I suspect they’ll want to go get a burger with us as well.”
His smile was wide. “How’d you know I wanted a burger?”
“Because I know you, even though I somehow missed the dancing.”
“You know the important stuff,” he assured me.
And I knew that.
Okay, all, have a great rest of November and I'll see you in December!
DECEMBER 2021
Hello, all, and welcome to He Said, he said, December edition. I hope you’re all having a safe and happy season so far. In my house we got off to a bit of a rocky start.
“It’s a cool Yule,” she explained to her father a week ago. “Like, groovy. Like, yeah, baby. Very Austin Powers Christmas.”
Sam turned to me. “I don’t know what that means. Explain to me what that means?”
“Like Christmas in 1967,” I told him.
“Why?” he asked, his face scrunching up like he was in pain.
“Because it’s different.”
“But I like things how they are.”
“Yes, dear, I know,” I teased him.
He whimpered, which was very cute, and he turned back to his kid.
“It’s going to be very kitschy,” she told her father. “Very modern midcentury. I’m also going for teal and carnation with a bit of silver.”
“Teal and what?” Sam sounded faint.
“Like tinsel and glitter and old-style everything. I think Nana has lots of midcentury stuff in the attic, and of course I’ll hit all the vintage stores around.”
“This sounds hideous,” Sam announced, rounding on me. “Do something.”
I cleared my throat softly. “Love, do you remember last year when you were complaining about putting the millions of strands of lights on the tree and in the living room and the trillions of Command strips that had to be put up so nothing hurt the walls? Is this ringing any bells?”
He scowled at me.
“Well, in the middle of that rant––”
“Rant? Really?”
I cleared my throat. “In the middle of your excessive complaining––”
“That’s not better.”
“Hannah offered to do all the decorating next year, with the boys, and you said fine.”
“I don’t remember saying fine, and I definitely don’t remember complaining.”
“You said that next year, meaning now, Hannah would be in charge of decorating, and you didn’t want to do anything.”