Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Yes, but he works too and—”
I scoffed. “You love him, and he’s very lucky, and that’s all. I’m done.”
Neither of us said a word for a moment.
“My best friend said the same thing.”
“Your best friend sounds very smart.”
“Ugh.”
“No? She’s dumb as a rock?”
“Stop.”
“What am I doing?”
“You’re actually right, just like Lola is, just like my mother.”
“Oh, your mom too. Imagine that.”
“I just… He’s a good person, and we all need some time alone to decompress. Don’t you think?”
“Sure,” I agreed. “But my parents took us with them on vacations, and when they didn’t, they went alone and we stayed with our grandparents, which is a story for another time because my grandmother had a room full of those dolls, you know? The kind that you lean them back and their eyes close, and forward and they open… Creepy as hell.”
She laughed.
“Whole room staring at you. And one time, Chloe left her pink elephant in there—his name is Fred, she still has him, but whatever, not important—and I had to run in and get Fred ’cause I was the fastest. To this day, she’ll bring me a treat out of the blue—dinner, some kind of pie—to thank me for getting her elephant out of the death room.”
“Why was she in there to begin with?”
“Poking the dolls with the end of the broom handle to see if they flinched.”
“Your sister has quite the imagination.”
“Did you miss the part where I said they were creepy?”
“I’m sure they were those pretty porcelain dolls that are—”
“Haunted. Yes. All of them.”
Shaking her head, she squinted at me. “You’re a grown-up now.”
I scoffed. “When my grandmother passed, my aunt Davida begged my mother for the dolls, and my mom was like, Of course, Davida, all yours, I’ll just take Mom’s china, and Davida was so happy. Little did she know, my mother was going to ship the lot of them off to Borneo or something.”
“They’re probably worth a lot of money to collectors.”
“Haunted,” I repeated.
“You’re a very good brother for saving Fred.”
“When we went to church that Sunday, Chloe took Fred and had Father John say a little blessing over him and hit him with some holy water just in case he got bad juju on him.”
“That’s a nice priest to do that for your sister.”
“He grew up with my dad, they were in the same house in foster care together, so we knew him. He came and had dinner with us a lot.”
“I love that.”
“Well, the important part is, he made sure Fred was good.”
“I feel like your poor aunt Davida is misunderstood.”
“Her kids are weird too.”
“They’re your cousins.”
“I don’t care. They’re weird. You can ask my sisters.” I was adamant. “But back to the original topic…you and your husband should go away together or not at all. Equality in all things except bug killing. I do that for my sisters when their husbands aren’t home.”
Her smile was wide.
“Clear across town to remove spiders from closets and bathtubs.”
“You’re a good brother.”
I shrugged. “They’re good sisters.”
“It’s nice to hear about a close family that also lives near one another. Not as much of that anymore.”
“True.”
“May I just say, I really appreciate your not asking why I brought my children to a wedding.”
“Why would I? It’s a lot of days to be away from them, and Taylor’s only two months old, after all.”
“A lot of people leave their kids and travel or just go away for long weekends to keep the spark alive in their marriage, but we don’t have family close, and all our friends have kids too.”
“Sure.”
“And besides, I like being home with my kids.”
“And Jeff?”
“He does too. We’re both there, in it.”
“I’m glad. He sounds like a good husband and father.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“No, I mean it. Except in regard to the trip.”
“Yes. Agreed.”
“And you look amazing, by the way.”
“Thank you for saying that. I feel like a blob, and it’s only going to get worse with all the people who will be at this wedding.”
I scoffed. “Don’t make me lecture you on body positivity and not comparing ourselves to others. That is not helpful.”
“Says the utterly gorgeous man who looks like he belongs in a magazine.”
I winked at her, and she sighed deeply.
“At least my hormones are back under control.”
“Cora had to see someone after her fourth child. She wasn’t herself, and her doctor figured out fairly quickly that she had postpartum depression. We all helped out.”
“Your family sounds amazing, but it’s not that for me, it’s just motherhood as a whole. So many people make it look easy, and then there’s me.”
“Well, you’re doing pretty good if you ask me. That day job of yours, taking people up and down the mountains, is not easy.”
She chuckled. “I like you. You should come home with me and be my new bestie. I don’t talk to anyone like this, but I feel like I’ve known you forever.”