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)
I really didn’t want to know.
“I fell,” Kola admitted, “because I was stretched too far out, and Harper thinks I should go to the ER because he thinks I broke some fingers, but I think it’s fine.”
Harper shot me a look.
“Let me see your hand.”
When he lifted it, my gasp was loud. It was swollen up twice the size it was normally. “Mykola Thomas Kage! Go to the ER right now!”
“Hah!” Harper crowed.
“Yeah, but, Pa, you know how long it takes at the ER and––”
“Did you fall on your head?”
“No, I––”
“Clearly you fell on your head if you’re not on your way to the ER immediately!”
Jake passed Harper a five-dollar bill.
“I told you,” Harper told his retreating back. “I’m always right.”
“I know,” he said, leaning into the frame. “Hi, Mr. Harcourt. I’m coming home for Thanksgiving. My mom and her new boyfriend”—he rolled his eyes—“are going on a cruise, and my sister and her kid and her now husband––”
“Oh, they got married,” I cooed. “That’s nice.”
“Eloped. Whatever. But they’re going to see his relatives in Boise. Am I saying that right?”
“Yes, you’re saying that right.”
“So I wanted to come home with K and Harp, so I’m happy if you’re happy. Can I stay in my room?”
“Of course, Jake. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without you.”
He smiled wide. “Okay, I’m gonna call a car.”
“Why?” Kola whined. “We have our bikes.”
“It’s too far,” Harper snapped at him. “And you’re hurt, idiot.”
Kola groaned loudly.
“I’ll update you as soon as I know something,” Harper told me.
“I’ll update him,” Kola grumbled at him, shooting me a look that was half irritation and half longing. And yes, he was twenty now, his birthday was on the twenty-sixth of September—first one without us—but he still would have preferred I was there. “I might need to call you from the ER if I don’t know stuff.”
“I’m always here for you. I love you.”
He grunted. “I love you too,” he said and hung up.
I called Sam, because he needed to know these things.
“Your son fell off a crappy ladder and broke, I’m guessing, two of the fingers on his left hand,” I told him. “Harper and Jake are taking him to the ER.”
“Okay.” Sam absorbed my news. “He’s got really good balance, unlike some people I know, so how did he fall?”
“Maybe call him, since people who have shitty balance don’t hear too well either,” I said drolly.
“You’re a riot, and I’ll call him now. I love you.”
I hmphed him instead of saying it back.
“Now,” he demanded gruffly.
“I love you back,” I said under my breath.
“I knew it,” he teased me.
“Are we still on for dinner, or will you still be working?”
“We’re on,” he said, chuckling, and it was very sexy. “I’ll meet you at Cardenelli’s at seven.”
“I’m going to have lots of wine.”
“Excellent,” he replied happily. “Then I know I’m gonna get laid.”
“Charming,” I said, biting my lip so I wouldn’t laugh.
He was snickering as he hung up.
An hour later, I got a FaceTime call from Kola.
“Hello, my darling,” I teased him.
“Okay, I know my social security number because, ya know, college, but do I have any allergies?” he asked me seriously.
“You’re going to be a doctor, you know.”
“What does that have to do with me having any allergies?”
I shook my head. “Yes, dear, you’re allergic to penicillin and sulfa drugs.”
“Okay, fine,” he said irritably, looking to his left. “You were right, they didn’t mean my hay fever in the summer.”
Apparently, Harper, who was sitting beside him, was correct for the second time that day.
“Please let me know how this turns out,” I told Kola.
“I will,” he said and hung up.
He called back again. “Who’s going to go with you to get all the pumpkins for the house, and who’s going to pick the one you carve and then, yanno, carve?”
“Hannah will be home this weekend, so she’s going to go with me.”
“Oh, okay,” he said glumly.
“And she’ll pick the one for the porch and your father will give it life,” I told him. “What are you and Harper and Jake going to do?”
“I guess give out candy, sit on the porch and see how many parents get who we are.”
“What are you going to be?”
“We’re gonna be the guys from The Big Bang without Sheldon.”
“You could ask someone to be Sheldon.”
“We could, but there’s nobody yet who we like enough."
I nodded. “Are you guys making lots of new friends?”
“Jake is making lovely female acquaintances,” Kola assured me. “Like, so many. I mean, Pa, we bought to-go coffee cups––”
“And lots of muffins and croissants from Costco,” Harper chimed in.
“Yeah, lots of things, you know, to be polite. So we can offer them a continental breakfast before they leave in the morning.”
“It seemed the thing to do,” I heard Harper say before he leaned in next to Kola. “You’re so good at making spontaneous conversation with people.”