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)
“Sure,” she placated me. “But I think when I go to his page and see a confederate flag, I get the picture pretty fast.”
“Ah. Okay, then.” There was no argument that could be made. Certain things, when you saw them, made everything crystal clear about another person.
“Apparently, my journey does not include her studio, so I sent her an email, said I was canceling my membership and that was that.”
I squinted at her. “There’s more. This has been going on for a while.”
Slow smile. “Yeah, so she had me served today.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“People have been reaching out to me, asking where I’m going to be teaching, since they know I applied to at Elevation, and when I told them I was teaching at Yucatan—it’s right next to campus in Hyde Park—they cancelled their memberships and are following me.”
“Yes, but––”
“Ohmygod, Pa, I’m thrilled about finding Yucatan.”
Which was great, but she was being sued. “I want to hear all about it, but first I––”
“It’s amazing,” she said, ignoring me. “It’s a place where you rent space and teach whatever you want. It’s in this four-story building, and people come and go all day, stop, look in, see what’s happening, join in, and if they like it, sign up and pay their fee.” She was excited telling me. “You rent the room and put your sign on the door and that’s it. I’m just charging enough to cover the rental fee, and I’m doing it three times a week for a couple hours.”
I wanted her to know I was happy about this development. “That sounds great, but––”
“I’m so happy,” she gushed. “But back to the serving me—Mindi feels that because I’m spreading lies about why she didn’t want me there…she’s going to sue me for lost revenue.”
“Hannah,” I gasped. “She can’t––”
“No,” she agreed. “She can’t. Especially since I never said one word to anyone about her. So I called Mr. Jenner, and he said he’d take care of it. I’m using the money from my last fundraiser with Uncle Aaron to cover the expense.”
“Hannah, your father and I––”
“I know, Pa,” she said gently, getting up and walking over to me. “But I’m a grown-up now. I need to handle my own stuff. And you guys are paying for school and books and housing and—it’s a lot. Plus, I’m still on all your insurance, so…what I can take care of, I want to.”
I smiled at her. “I don’t know how I feel about you handling things on your own.”
“Well, I’m never going to stop asking you for help and your opinion and everything else. I just—this is stupid. I can handle stupid on my own.”
“I have no doubt.”
“Mr. Jenner has his guy on it, so he’s getting it sorted for me.”
“His guy?”
“Yeah, his in-house investigator. He’s supposed to get back to me this week,” she explained. “Mr. Jenner, not his guy.”
“I did actually follow that.”
She tipped her head at me. “Did you?”
Maybe I didn’t, but it wasn’t necessary for her to know that.
On Monday, Sam and I were on the curb at eight in the morning saying goodbye to Kola, Harper, and Jake. They weren’t actually starting school until September, but they needed to move in, get their new house set up, figure out public transportation, and basically sink into their new lives. Jake had sold his car—it wouldn’t make the drive to California—and it was time. It was a deathtrap and had been for many years. The guy who bought it had big plans to make it live again, and I wished him well. We put Jake on our data plan because I wanted to make sure I could always get through to him and Kola night and day.
“You could wait until the end of August,” I told my son.
He shook his head, smiling at me. “We need to take possession of the house by the sixteenth. The owner had a lot of people wanting it. Three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, nice little Craftsman near campus with a tiny backyard—it’s a deal. We’re so lucky to have found it. I’ve talked to some of the people I’ve been doing online classes with, and they’re amazed that we found something so great. They said it’s too good to be true.”
Huh. My Spidey sense was tingling.
“You have the address,” he said, taking hold of my shoulders. “You can call me anytime, and I expect lots of care boxes.”
I nodded briskly so I wouldn’t break down.
“You and Dad can visit anytime.”
As if I would do that.
“I’ll be home for Thanksgiving,” he assured me. “And of course for Christmas and New Year’s. We’ll FaceTime and––” He took a breath. “––we’ll be fine. I love you. You know that.”
I did. That wasn’t it.
He was my baby. My firstborn. The one I loved first, the one I had made all my mistakes with. The one who, when he fell out of bed, I had whisked to the emergency room. I could still remember every word from the intake nurse.