Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Sam came next, pounding down the stairs, growling the whole way.
“What happened?”
“He was on top of the door like he used to do all the time, and when I walked by, he attacked me like a creepy spider monkey.”
I pressed my lips together tight so I wouldn’t laugh.
“It’s not funny,” he groused at me. “He knows that always scared the shit outta me because he did it so randomly, and I had no idea he could still get up there.”
I nodded quickly.
“I mean, what’s with the whole ‘he can’t get up on the bed’ shit, but he can reach the top of the door and balance there for God knows how long?” He sounded really put out. “What the hell? I told you, he’s just trying to lull you into a false sense of concern. and then he’s gonna take us all out one at a time.”
It was very cute, and I walked away before I lost it, noting that Chilly was on his back, in the middle of the couch, waiting for Sam to pet him.
“I ain’t falling for that,” my husband snarled at his cat. “You think I’m stupid enough to try and touch the tummy only to have the claws of death buried in my hand?”
Apparently, he was that stupid because Sam went in for the pet, and for once, Chilly allowed it. Weirdest cat ever.
When the kids came back down, both looking less like urchins from Oliver Twist and more like the people I knew and loved, Sam had them take a seat on the couch so he could talk to them. He needed a full understanding of the events of the night from start to finish. Of course he got more than he bargained for, because when you said the words “every little detail” to Hannah, by God you’d get them all. From what Courtney was wearing and what her new boyfriend said about her outfit—
“Can you believe he said that to her?”
Sam glanced at Jake, who shook his head.
“No, I can’t,” Sam replied dutifully.
—to how the generators sort of sparked when they were turned on but everyone clapped instead of running for their lives to begin with.
Kola and I got dinner on the table, and once everyone was there and sitting down, Hannah took a deep breath in and turned to me and said that she couldn’t imagine a better dinner for Valentine’s Day.
“Thank you for cooking, Pa.”
I might have teared up just a little, and she got up and came to kiss me.
“So what happened to your date?” Kola asked Jake, because he was thorough.
Jake shrugged. “I didn’t go with anyone, just a lot of people. I’m not ready to date anybody. Not yet.”
Hannah smiled at him then and got one back. I wasn’t counting Jake out yet.
After dinner, I got out the strawberry cheesecake I’d made earlier and put fudge on Hannah, Kola, and Jake’s and left Sam’s plain. He was a purist. He didn’t like things to be tainted by adding too many flavors. Though if he had banana cream cheesecake, he would, in fact, have hot fudge with that, because technically, it was a banana split. I never tried to figure him out; it was fruitless. Better just to ask every time.
Soon Kola and I were back in the kitchen doing dishes. Normally it didn’t work like that, but Hannah and Jake were both injured, and Hannah wanted her father to watch the last episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba with her. I just called it Demon Slayer, the one with the cute boy with the scar on his head, but Hannah was a manga afficionado, so she called everything by its proper Japanese name. It was fun when she and Kola did the opening quizzes where you had to guess the anime by the music of the intro and she shouted out all the different names.
By the time Kola and I were done, Jake was asleep on the other end of the couch, (adrenaline leaving your body was a funny thing), and Hannah was curled into her father’s side and they were trying to settle on a movie. I reminded them all that it was late, and a school night, but no one was listening to me. I doubted that any of them were going to make it even an hour into a movie, but if they all fell asleep on the couch together, that was fine too.
“Oh,” she sighed happily, and I saw the familiar picture of Ryan Gosling holding Rachel McAdams and heard Sam’s groan.
“I love you,” he told his daughter, “but really, once was enough.”
They decided on Ocean’s Eleven instead, which was always a good choice. We owned Twelve but never watched it. Normally we went straight from Eleven to Thirteen.
Once I had all the dishes loaded, dessert and all, I ran the washer, which, for whatever reason, was a soothing sound for me, and when I was about to rejoin the others, Kola walked in and leaned against the counter.