Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“Don’t tell me what to do, Domenico.” She uses his full name.
“Hi there.” My father bends down and puts out his hand to shake Aiden’s hand. “I figure you are over kisses right now,” he says, laughing.
“Let’s go inside and get you a snack,” my mother says. She holds her hand out for Aiden, who takes it, and they walk into the house, and I look at my father, who just shakes his head.
“She’s been baking since five a.m.,” he says while Aiden and my mother disappear into the house. “She sent me out to the supermarket five times.”
“She shouldn’t have gone to all that trouble,” Eli says from beside me and my father, and we both laugh.
“Wait until Christmas. It starts right after Thanksgiving,” I tell her. “I’m going to get the things in the car.”
“I’ll help,” my father says, and the three of us walk over to the car, and I open the trunk. “Holy shit,” he says. “It smells like a flower shop.” He reaches in and grabs one of the arrangements while Eli grabs the fruit basket and the wine basket. I grab the other flower arrangement and walk behind them as we walk into the house, and it smells like a bakery and pizza place combined.
“I like spaghetti.” I hear Aiden, and I look over at Eli to make sure she is okay, and when my mother sees us, our hands are all full.
“What is all this?” she says, wiping her hands on the apron that is now around her waist.
“Eli didn’t want to come empty-handed,” my father says for me, and I look over at Eli who looks at me shocked.
“You didn’t have to do that, cara.” My mother uses the Italian name for sweetheart. “You already gave me the best present ever,” she says, walking over to Aiden and kissing his cheek again. He is too busy dunking the homemade chocolate chip cookie in the glass of milk in front of him to care about how many times she kisses him.
“I kind of had a hand in that,” I say under my breath, and Eli looks like she is going to murder me. I put the flowers down on the table next to the other one that my father put down.
“Aiden, we have a surprise for you,” my father says, and I look over at him. Aiden eats his cookie and then jumps off the stool walking over to my father, while he wipes the chocolate away from his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I like surprises,” Aiden says, and I laugh. My father grabs his sticky hand that just wiped his mouth, not even caring as we walk outside, and I have to stop to take in what the fuck my parents did to their backyard.
“Oh my God,” Eli says from beside me. “What in the world?”
“Your father talks about me going overboard, but we’ve had construction crews here the whole week,” my mother says as I watch my father walk with my son over to the far end of the backyard where he had a play structure built from one side of the fence to the other. It is literally the whole length of the back fence. It starts at one side with ladders that go up to monkey bars, that lead to a platform that holds up a rope walk, next to a climbing rope. That is right next to a huge climbing wall, right next to a couple of steps that give you a rope swinging set. At the end of all that looks like a house. “His idea was to have a tree house,” she says, and I look at it with the front windows that you can see in.
“Is that a TV?” Eli asks, pointing at the television hanging in the tree house.
“With a futon, in case he needs to nap and doesn’t want to leave,” my mother says, smiling while she looks over at Aiden who is trying to work on the monkey bars with my father protecting him from falling. “There is also a fridge up there and a microwave.” I slap my forehead with my hand and look over the yard.
“What is that?” I ask, pointing.
“That is an in-ground trampoline,” my mother says. “So if he falls he won’t get hurt.”
“Oh my,” Eli says.
“Let’s sit down,” my mother says, pointing at the outdoor table. The same table where I told them last week I had a son. The three of us sit down and watch my father and Aiden.
“I will go and get something to drink,” my mother says, getting up and walking inside.
“Our son is in heaven,” Eli says with a smile on her face, and I see that she is looking relaxed. I grab her hand and kiss it. My mother comes out with a tray of lemonade and some glasses and also a bowl of I have no idea what.