Today is family dinner day. I think I mentioned earlier in the year that I had instituted that since the boys are both out of the house now–at least once a month, we have dinner together. In theory, it’s easy, right? They’re less than an hour away from us. In reality, there are four of us with a whole lot of interests, friends and jobs. The one day off we all have in common is Sunday, so for the most part, that is the day we typically schedule our family dinner.
Sunday dinner used to be a regular occurrence when I was growing up. Every single week, Sunday dinner was a thing. Most of the time, it was just immediate family, but sometimes we had extended family there, or we went to my nearest Grandma’s house about an hour away. No matter what, though, there were always a lot of us around the table, since I have five siblings.
I have most of my prep work done for today’s dinner, just a few little things left to do, so I’m going to write for a while. Before I go, I have a little snippet from my Common Elements Romance Project novella to share with you.
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Lucie had been on the island for almost two weeks, but the view from the back door of her temporary home still took her breath away. Right now, she realized she’d been standing there staring, slack-jawed, at the sunlight glinting off the bright blue ocean waves for a good five minutes. Shaking her head, she pulled the door shut and stepped down onto the sidewalk, feeling in her purse for her car keys.
She closed her fingers on the fob as a giggle reached her ears. She turned to the white picket fence that bordered the property next door as a big multi-colored ball sailed over it, toward her. “Oh no!” She caught it before it hit her in the face and started across the grass, balancing the ball on her hand.
Another giggle sounded as she neared the fence, and she adjusted her direction a tiny bit, so she came to a stop and looked directly down onto a blond head with tousled, curly hair.
“I think you lost something,” she said.
The little boy’s face tipped up quickly, his blue eyes wide with surprise–as if he couldn’t believe she’d found him so easily.
Lucie grinned and held the ball higher.
He smiled back and got to his feet, brushing off his jeans-clad butt.
From seeing him playing outside several times already, she’d guessed he was three or four, and now that she was seeing him at closer range, she scaled that back to three.
“Hi, I’m Hayden,” he said, holding out his right hand.
It was her turn to be surprised. She shook his hand, bemused. “Hi, Hayden, I’m Lucie.” Not too many three-year-olds had such good manners. Aside from the ball toss at her face, that is. “Nice to meet you.”
He glanced up at his ball. “Me an’ my dad are your neighbors.”
“I see that.” She noted he hadn’t mentioned his mom. “Who were you playing with?” She gave the ball a little bounce.
“Maybe you wanna play with me.” Big blue eyes locked on her face.
Ah. She squelched the pang in her chest. “I wish I could, but I’m on my way to town. Maybe we could play another time?” she added when his grin vanished.
“Like this afternoon?”
“Hayden!”
The deep voice got her attention, and the little boy’s, just before a tall, sandy-haired man rounded the back corner of the next-door house.
Lucie’s mouth went dry. Wowza!
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Do any of you still do Sunday dinner? Or do you have a family dinner day regularly? Every week, or less frequently?
Have a great week!