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 squinted at him. “What do you mean?”
“What do you—Aaron. Sutter. I’m sure the two of you never spoke again after that.”
“After my accident? Of course we did. We’re friends. I introduced him to his husband. I’m the love god.” I said defensively. I couldn’t help it.
“Pardon me?”
“I’ve introduced lots of people to their significant others over the years. My track record is freakin’ amazing. And yeah, I see Aaron Sutter all the time.”
“So you’re still friends with him?”
“My husband and I both. Yes.”
“Really?”
God. “Yes. Why?”
“Well, during that time that I knew Aaron, he had nothing good to say about your detective.”
I chuckled. “Oh, I’m sure, but that was a very long time ago. My daughter is his goddaughter, so…there’s that.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just stunned. I haven’t stayed friends with any of my exes. How, may I ask, does your husband deal with the fact that you and Aaron were lovers?”
I had no idea. I’d never asked.
“What an amazing, open-minded man he is.”
I nodded.
“I’m sorry,” he said, chuckling in a patronizing way, “but when I met him, he didn’t strike me like that. He seemed more a Neanderthal to me.”
I felt myself bristle. Only I could call my husband that, and people who loved him. “And on that note, I’ll wish you a good evening,” I snapped, at the door by the time he grabbed hold of my shoulder and yanked me around to face him.
“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, hands up. “I’m really sorry. I have no right to say anything like that. Forgive me.”
“Certainly,” I replied, hearing how cold my voice was. “But I really do need to go.” Time had gotten away from me, the presentation taking longer than I thought and then my jog down memory lane with Hayes. I needed to get to the restaurant.
“Of course. Understood,” he conceded, and I turned and left the way I’d come.
On the way to meet Sam, I called Aaron to chat with him about Hayes.
“I know, I know,” he said quickly. “We’re almost there. But I got stuck in a meeting concerning a project in Bangkok and couldn’t get free.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“Are we or are we not having dinner at Cardenelli’s?”
Sam had invited Aaron and Duncan to dinner. For whatever reason, after speaking to Hayes, I was struck by how nice that was of my husband and teared up.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, I—fine.”
“Okay, then we’ll see you there.”
“See you there,” I said, and then called Sam.
“Did you tell your son that we would foot dinner for him and his friends this evening?”
“I did. Yes.”
“For how many people?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Well, he said he’s taking six people out for Chinese food.”
“Six people?”
“Yeah. Apparently, he and Harper and Jake made friends with some other guys there in the ER who were all having hand-related issues.”
“Please tell me what that means.”
He chuckled. “One guy caught his hand in a wood splitter. One guy got his fingers crushed by a sledgehammer, and the last guy, his girl left him, and he broke his hand punching the wall in his bedroom, which, it turned out, was brick.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Why would I be kidding?”
“Well, okay, then,” I announced. “I have no issue feeding all those guys.”
Sam grunted. “Me neither. So hey, I invited Duncan and Aaron to have dinner with us, and it looks like, since I don’t see any of the rest of you…that I’m the first one here.”
“Yes. I’m sorry,” I said softly. “But I’m almost there. I had to stop at the Four Seasons, and I got held up.”
“That’s fine. This way I can order whatever appetizer I want and no one can give me any crap about it.”
He liked fried calamari, which I had always found disgusting.
“Hey, hold on, I’ve got Hannah on the line,” he told me. “What do you want?” he playfully asked his daughter.
“Wow. Nice. I just wanted to tell you that Kola was stacking a ladder on top of two sawhorses and planks, which is how he fell. He’s a menace, and OSHA would not be pleased with him.”
I chuckled. “So you’re coming with me next weekend to go pumpkin and gourd shopping, right? It’s getting late already.”
“Yes, and now I get to FaceTime your oldest while we’re there because he wants to approve our choices as he normally does in person.” She tsked. “I mean, is that even legal?”
I smiled into the phone. “Yes. In this family it is.”
She made a noise in the back of her throat. “Anyway, what are you guys up to?”
“I’m at Cardenelli’s waiting on your father, as Aaron and Duncan have just arrived. We’re all having dinner. I ordered calamari.”
“Make sure there are tentacles on the calamari and that they’re various shapes. If they’re all uniform circles, they could be pig anuses.”
Silence for a few moments. I bit the inside of my cheek so I would not laugh.