Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
A steakhouse dinner was presumably the main part of the gift, but no steak could compare to precious tokens and keepsakes.
Jordan finally replied when I saw Hallie coming toward us.
We’d love to, but is it okay if Emmett comes? James just picked him up.
Absofuckinglutely.
Never mind. Some Wednesdays were fucking fantastic.
“Dad, can we change the music? This is awful,” Hallie said.
She didn’t know what she was talking about. Def Leppard were living legends.
“You go wash out your mouth,” I told her.
I returned to stirring the Bolognese, and Nate and I exchanged a smile.
Listening to our kids dis our taste in music aside, life was goddamn perfect. Jordan, Lily, and Hallie were occupying the kitchen table with crafts. Lily was now obsessed with making magnets, and all grandparents could expect new ones for Christmas. Hallie had initially planned on doing her homework there, but she’d abandoned that for the moment.
James was outside, shooting hoops with Emmett, Dylan, and Mikey.
We’d learned that Emmett was gonna be staying with James and Jordan the whole summer, and that made me happy. The kid had grown up too soon. He needed to relax and feel safe.
“I’m putting in the spaghetti now—you know what that means!” Nathan announced.
“Dinner in fifteen!” Lily cheered. “That’s five and five and five minutes. Three hands.”
I grinned to myself and started taking vegetables out of the fridge. We might as well double up on the garlic bread too.
“Are we eating here or in the living room?” Jordan asked.
“In there—you can leave the crafts explosion as it is.” I ruffled his hair on my way back to the kitchen island.
A few days later
Nathan Riley
This was one of those things I’d never expected I’d do one day when I had a teenage son—go buy a putting green with my husband during our lunch hour.
On the way out, we stopped by a food truck and ordered our lunch. One wrap with fried chicken for Ash, one wrap with shrimp for me.
“Have you decided where we should put the green?” I asked, taking a bite of my wrap.
Ash dropped the big box in the back of his truck. “I think the front lawn will be best. Starting next week, Mikey will make the pool his home, and I can just picture Dylan getting pissy when Lily and Mikey run around the pool all summer.”
Good point. In the front yard, Dylan would have no competition.
I removed a slice of tomato hanging halfway down my wrap and tossed it into my mouth.
“By the way, can you pick up the kids tomorrow?” he asked. “Franklin asked if I wanted to play golf with him tomorrow right after work.”
“Yeah, sure. Franklin at Mclean?”
He nodded with a dip of his chin and unwrapped his food. “I wanna check out that course. If Dylan’s gonna do this, he’ll need to join a better club.” He dropped the tailgate so we could sit down.
“Sounds good. As long as it’s not outrageous,” I cautioned. “I don’t think I need to remind you of the state of our bank account.” Even though selling the house would put us back on track.
“Way ahead of you.” He grinned with his mouth full of food. “I talked to my old man. He wants to—and I quote—sponsor Dylan.”
Oh, of course he did. And of course Ash had spoken to his parents.
I smiled and shook my head. “It just so happens that I spoke to my folks today too,” I mentioned. Ash wasn’t gonna like this part. “Juliana, more accurately.”
“Yeah?”
I chewed and swallowed before I spoke again. “I just wanted to prepare her—and you, by telling you this—that Hallie might have boy trouble soon. So, whoever she chooses to vent to…”
Ash’s expression became flat with a silent what-the-fuck.
“Emmett,” I said.
“No,” he replied without missing a beat.
“Yes.” I’d noticed it the past two days. Hallie liked to stare at Emmett a bit too much.
“He’s way older,” he argued.
“Less than two years,” I pointed out.
He shook his head and made a face. “Fuck my life. I’m not ready.”
I patted his leg. “This is not about you. Or me.”
He sighed heavily and checked his watch, presumably to see how much time we had left. My next patient wasn’t due until two o’clock.
“Goddammit,” he whispered, then promptly took another big bite of his food. “This calls for emotional eating.”
I barked out a laugh.
In three, two, one…
Ash became wistful. “Before we know it, we’re walkin’ her down the aisle and losing her forever.”
Nope. Nope. I wasn’t letting that get to me today. Life was wonderful—and she was fucking fourteen!
He popped open his soda and hung his head.
I’d just give him a moment to grieve.
It was her first school dance all over again. He’d mourned that too. Same with her first date.
I wasn’t sure he knew she’d had her first kiss already. Hallie often wanted to tell people in person, when she was ready, one by one—almost always the same four family members. Ash, me, Grandma, Nana. Sometimes Auntie Claire. Everyone didn’t know everything, but we all knew something. Girl talk was important, absolutely, but we were eternally grateful that Hallie actually liked telling her dads things. Again, when she was ready.