Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Yeah, spelled B-R-U. I mean, no offense, but like Gen said just a bit ago while we were eating, Chisholm shortens to only one thing.”
Rick nodded.
“I know you know, but his middle name’s Armbruster, which isn’t much better, but Bru is dope.”
“Yes,” Rick agreed, clearing his throat.
“And Roberto already put in the change of name that he’d prefer to be called at school,” Kola informed Aubrey and Rick. “Because he knows all the ins and outs of what form to use because of his mom.”
Aja beamed at my son. “Roberto?”
“Don’t get on me, that’s all him. That’s five years of Spanish talkin’.”
She chuckled and nodded. “Yes.”
Kola stood up, then stretched, and when he walked by, he patted my shoulder. “The potato salad is killer, old man.”
“Old man?” I was horrified.
He then moved to his father and gripped his shoulders. “We’re out of burgers so…”
Sam looked up at his face. “I made fifteen.”
Kola shrugged. “Roberto ate three, I had two, Harper had two, Jake ate four, and Hannah’s three friends all had one. Hannah’s still doing the veggie-slash-fish thing, but Bru only got one burger, and he needs, like, two more at least. I need another, so does Harper and let’s face it, so does Roberto, and Gen didn’t even get any because he’s been gorging on mac ’n’ cheese, potato salad, beans, and corn. He needs a burger now. Or two.”
Sam just stared at him.
“And let’s face it, the unfillable pit, otherwise known as Jake, may need one more.”
Still no word from Sam.
“I mean, I can do it I guess, but you’re better at it.”
“Okay,” Sam said, making his eyes big, and everyone laughed as he got up to return to the grill but stopped at the stairs. “Why does no one want the ribs?”
Kola gestured at all of us, all the grown-ups. “That’s a ‘you guys’ thing. It’s too messy.”
“It’s too messy?” Dane asked.
“Yeah,” Kola answered, and turned to Robert as he was walking by, headed for the house. “The ribs are gross, am I right?”
“If they were dry rub, maybe they’d be okay,” Robert explained to his father. “But as they are, they’re slimy, and just to eat one you need, like, eighty-seven napkins.”
“Are we talking about the ribs?” Gentry asked, walking up behind his brother.
“Yeah.”
Gentry looked at Sam. “I’m sorry, but they’re totally mid.”
Sam glanced at me.
One of Hannah’s friends, I was pretty sure it was Bianca, joined us then. “I wanted to tell you, Mr. Harcourt, the potato salad is bussin’.”
I glanced at Kola, who waggled his eyebrows for me.
“Thank you,” I said quickly.
“And so are the burgers, Mr. Kage,” she complimented Sam. “I ate half of one of Jake’s when he wasn’t looking.”
“You gotta watch your fingers, gettin’ close to his plate,” Kola informed her.
She nodded, flushing pink with his teasing, and quickly headed into the house, opening the screen door for Gentry, who had taken his brother’s plate from him. The garbage can was there, on the screened-in part of the porch, to drop the paper plates in. We had the recycling bin for the soda cans as well, but they had to be rinsed out in the laundry room sink first.
“I need to make some more burgers,” Sam announced and left us.
“The ribs are excellent,” Aja called after him.
“Thank you!”
Aubrey looked up at Kola. “Thank you.”
“For what?” He smiled at her.
She glanced at Robert then. “You too.”
“If you can help, you help,” he said with a shrug. “And Bru wants to come to the planetarium with me next week, so I’ll call you to set that up.”
He left with Kola then to return to the chairs where all the Gen Z people were sitting.
Aubrey took a breath. “All your kids are amazing,” she told us.
“I know,” Dane agreed, and Aja reached for her hand that Aubrey grabbed.
Hannah came to the table then and took Sam’s spot next to me. “What did you do to the potato salad this time?” she asked me. “Are there more jalapenos in it?”
“I’m not sure.”
She hmphed and then looked over at Aubrey. “Is it cool if Bru comes to take one of my Tae Kwon Do classes to see if he might like it?”
Aubrey nodded, her voice gone.
“Yes,” Rick told my daughter.
“Cool. Thank you,” she said brightly, then got up to go back to her seat next to Bru.
“I’m so glad I met you dancing at that bar,” Aubrey told me.
“It was meant to be,” I assured her.
After dinner, I was sitting at the table drinking wine with Dylan, Aja, and Aubrey, and Dylan said that her husband was officially old.
“What’re you talking about?” I asked, pouring myself another glass.
“In the mornings, before work, two other men in our neighborhood come to the door and he walks with them, around our cul-de-sac, all with dogs, and they talk about the other houses in our neighborhood.”