November 2025 #3
Dylan and Chris were the last to arrive, coming in through the back door with Kola trailing after them to get more lasagna.
Once they hugged everyone, and Sam got up to get Chris a beer, Aja poured Dylan a glass of red wine and gestured for her to lean in. After a moment, Dylan gasped.
“What?” Kola asked worriedly.
“Oh no, nothing,” Dylan rushed out.
He gave her a deadpan look.
“Fine. Your uncle Aaron brought your aunt Sandra home from Boston with him tonight.”
“Why is that—oh,” he said with a grimace, his focus on Aaron. “Did Uncle Michael do something stupid?”
“Go feed your guests,” Sam demanded.
Kola went to do as he was told, and Finn came in five minutes later, stalked by all of us to reach the couch, and flopped down hard.
Moments later, Jake and Harper joined him.
Hannah was the last one in, and I reached out and took hold of her hand before she could brush by me where I was sitting at the table with the rest of the adults, having drinks, eating and gossiping.
Basically, I’d made a rule that whenever we got together, we all had to come with one piece of interesting, hopefully salacious, news.
Dane said it was terrible, and Sam concurred, but I noticed that they always listened anyway, even though their contributions were always a bit dull.
Aja worked in academia, which we all knew was a cesspool of sin.
Dylan worked with me, interacting with a whole wide spectrum of crazy.
Chris was a residential architect, and when people got divorced in the middle of projects—that was nuts.
Aaron always had good stuff—though this evening’s news about Michael didn’t count—and Duncan’s was more of the “holy shit” variety.
Sam and Dane never had anything remotely entertaining.
At the moment, however, I was more invested in whatever was happening on the couch and so asked.
“What’s happening on the couch?”
Hannah crossed her arms. “So, as you know, your son, on occasion, can miss things that the rest of us pick up on right away.”
“Yes. True.”
“And I’ve wondered if perhaps he might be more neurodivergent than the rest of us.”
“That’s also quite possible.”
“And you know, that I know, that all of his differences make him amazing.”
“What’re you trying to tell me?”
“Without question he has his OCD leanings, and his social battery depletes very quickly if he’s by himself and he has no buffer.”
Hannah had always been a great buffer for Kola, as were both his best friends, and now his fiancé. All of them were extroverts, circling the wagons for the introvert in their midst. “Yes.”
“All of this is to say that, because he’s different, he can miss social cues.”
This was true. Over the years Kola had more than one person, out of the blue, attack him—romantically, seductively—because they thought Kola liked them.
One young woman had actually thought they were dating.
She told Hannah later that she’d never had a more devoted boyfriend than Kola.
He noticed everything about her, could anticipate her needs, and was invested in her emotional health just as much as her best girlfriends.
She was shocked when Kola looked utterly gobsmacked when she told him she was more than ready to have some serious sex with him.
Of course, Kola had spoken to the one person who was of no help whatsoever… his father.
Back in the day, Sam Kage had a lot of sex with a great many women, but after we finally got together, exchanged vows, and he wore a ring…
Sam was oblivious. I had seen him hit on, in front of me, by men and women, and he missed it.
By a mile. But unlike Kola, who thought everyone was a potential friend and was the same with men and women, Sam simply didn’t see anyone but me.
And while I loved that, at that time, Sam had been as confused as his son.
“Were you dating her?”
“I would have known if I was, don’t you think?”
“Yeah. Weird.”
So that was not at all helpful.
Even Harper had thought that he and Kola were more than friends at some point, and while half of that was because he’d wanted it to be true, the rest was because he’d read Kola’s ease with physical contact, endless support, and absolute faith in him to reach any goal he set for himself as romantic love.
Over time, he’d learned the difference, seen that Kola shared his great heart with so many people, but also knew that he was Kola’s ride or die.
Whatever Harper needed, ever, Kola would move heaven and earth to make that happen.
He loved Harper, just as he loved Jake, but that romantic, sexual side of him had only been tripped by a few people over the years.
And then, suddenly, there was Finn Murray, who my son fell head over heels for.
The issue was, now he had to curb that part of himself that had him giving the shirt off his back to strangers.
I suspected Finn would prefer he just offered them a towel instead.
“What social cues did Kola miss?” I asked, girding.
“At this very moment, there is a stunning man outside who Kola invited to this party, who brought his best friend along with him so she could finally meet Kola.”
“Finally meet? Why were there air quotes around finally meet?”
“Because apparently, this man, who is also in his first year of medical school, in the program with Kola, thinks he and my brother are a thing.”
“I’m sorry?”
“His specialty is going to be plastic surgery, but he’s not gonna be the nip-tuck kind of Bel Air doctor, but instead the kind that does skin grafts on burn victims and fixes cleft palates on small children for free.”
“Ah. I see. You’re telling me he’s awesome.”
“Seems to be, yes. He would be the kind of man you would love to have your son engaged to if he wasn’t already spoken for.”
It had taken me a second to parse what she was saying. I blamed the red wine. “Oh no,” I said again, because the night was just weird.
“Oh yes. His friend’s name is Hazel, who’s in law school, by the way, and the first year’s name is Cody.
The thing is, Kola already won her over because he remembered Cody saying how much Hazel loves grapefruit juice, so he made sure that Greyhounds—which I didn’t even know he knew what that was—would be one of the drinks that we could mix up at this party tonight. ”
“That is thoughtful.”
“Sure is,” Hannah said cheerfully.
“And? I feel like there’s an and.”
“Well, she thinks Finn is drop-dead gorgeous and would love to get his number.”
“This is getting worse by the second.”
“She actually asked him for his number and suggested they double-date.”
I groaned.
“It’s not…great.”
“Yes, but the most important part is this—Finn’s not mad at Kola, is he?”
“He’s not mad,” she hedged. “But I think he’s thinking that Kola might have given this guy mixed signals.”
“Which he probably did, through no fault of his own.”
“Exactly. But Finn’s point is that Kola needs to be more aware of his effect on people, but I pointed out to him that there was no way in the world that could ever work.”
“It’s true,” I agreed.
“I mean, this is Kola we’re talking about. Is he supposed to become the kind of person who thinks everyone wants him? There’s no way. That’s simply not in his nature.”
“Then what’s the solution?”
“I think, much like Uncle Duncan, Kola might just need a big-ass ring.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Duncan asked.
I waved him off. “So what are Jake and Harper doing at the moment?”
“They’re explaining all the things Finn knows already, that Kola loves him and, much like Dad, doesn’t even see anybody else who––”
“What?” Sam called over.
“Shhhh,” Hannah hushed him, not even turning to look.
“And they’re also explaining that this is why, years from now, when we’re in some really scary place, about to die at the hands of either murderous gun-toting locals or poisonous snakes, someone will come driving up, with serious backup, and save us, because at some point, long ago, Kola was kind to them.
I have every faith that this will actually come to pass. ”
“That sounds terrifying.”
“But we’ll be okay because Kola made friends.”
We were both quiet a moment.
“That doesn’t help with the situation we find ourselves in at present,” I muttered.
“No it—oh!” she exclaimed, jolting at the same time, which used to freak me out but never did anymore.
When she was younger, and had an epiphany, sometimes she yelled.
That still happened, but I remained calm.
“Uncle Aaron,” she said, turning to him, “may I please borrow a case of Dom Pérignon if I replace it on Monday?”
“It’s your champagne for your team or your clients,” he replied, smiling. “So yes of course, but why?”
“Because Kola would never want to hurt anyone’s feelings.”
He thought a moment. “Nope, I have no idea what that means, but you do as you see fit. Also, you know you don’t have to ask to take something from your own office.”
“Yes, but transparency in all things.”
“It’s a good rule,” he stated.
She beamed at him and then looked over at the couch, moved her elfin sorceress sleeves and motioned for, I assumed, Jake. He was across the room in seconds.
“Yes, my lady?”
“I need you to keep Finn in here, and send Harper outside to keep an eye on Kola, because I’m leaving with Wick.”
“To go where? To do what?”
“I need a case of champagne from my office, and he drives like he’s trying to qualify for the Indy 500, which you know I love and appreciate.”
“Which I hate,” he told her, then closed his eyes for a second, before sighing deeply. “Ask George to bring it. He has to come by and drop off that strand of pearls for you anyway, since you have that event tomorrow at the Garfield Park Conservatory.”
“Ohmygod, you’re so brilliant!” she gushed, and then lunged at him, which was not easy to do when one was dressed as Galadriel.