Page 6 of How the Other Half Lives

I had never expected to be sitting down having dinner with Vance’s family. But here I was. We had already finished the main course and now we were all just sitting back laughing, not yet ready to put away the dishes.

As was apparently customary, Vance’s sister Elain brought the dessert. From what I could gather from the conversation, Elain always brought store-bought items for her dish-to-pass. The Sunday dinner was a weekly occurrence and they rotated, and when they had dinner at Vance’s apartment Elain’s kids didn’t come, allowing her and her husband to have a kid-free night.

“Vance, Marcus insists that he come over on Tuesday to finish that game,” Elain said.

“Be sure to let him know I left him a note with some advice,” I said. “Can’t trust this guy to tell him because it will likely give Marcus the advantage.”

Elain grinned at me. “You play chess?”

“I do. Vance and I play all the time.”

“Are you any good?” Charles asked.

I shrugged. “I’d say we’re evenly matched.”

“He’d kick your ass, Dad. You’ve never been good at chess.”

Charles folded his arms over his chest and put on an exaggerated grumpy face. “I let you kids win. Always have. And now it’s biting me in the ass. You play poker? That’s more my style.”

“I enjoy poker,” I said.

“Good. We’ll invite you to the next game. Bring your own beer, though. And watch out for Elain, she’s the card shark in the family.”

That… That was an unexpected turn of events. I smiled brightly. “I’d like that.” It was honest. True.

Was this what it was like to be welcomed into your partner’s family? It was foreign to me, but not unwelcome.

“So how was it that the two of you met?” Charles asked.

I stiffened, unsure of what I was supposed to say at this point. Personal questions hadn’t been broached yet. Mostly, Elain kept the conversation going throughout the meal. It seemed that they’d all been biding their time, because now they all stared at me expectantly.

I looked to Vance for any indication on what I should or shouldn’t say. How much had he told his parents about me? Clearly more than I had anticipated.

“Alex is one of the maintenance guys here at the apartment complex. We met when he came over to fix the kitchen faucet.”

His mom’s eyes narrowed, and I braced myself for what might come. Was she concerned that I wasn’t good enough for her son, since he was a hotshot lawyer and I was just a handyman?

“That sounds like the start to a bad porno,” she said, and we bust out laughing.

Vance laughed nervously. “Yeah, that was what Elain said too.”

Much to my surprise, Vance’s mom raised her fist over the table, and Elain bumped knuckles with her.

“My friend James said the same thing when I told him.”

Vance’s dad just shook his head. As if sensing my discomfort, he continued on about himself and their family.

“Jean is a lawyer, retired just last year. She and I met because one of my students was on trial for whatever the hell it was.”

“Breaking and entering,” Jean supplied.

“Thank you, dear. I was there as a character witness hoping to get a better deal for him. It worked. I got the best deal of all though, didn’t I?” He raised her knuckles to his lips and kissed them. “Of course we had to wait for the trial to be over. It had never even occurred to me to ask her out, she was out of my league. But she walked right up to me once it was done and said she wanted to take me to lunch. At the time, I had no idea what the hell she wanted to do with me. I was just a high school librarian, not even a teacher, from the wrong side of the tracks, but here we are going on forty-five years.”

She slapped his arm. “Forty-eight.”

“We had Elain and Vance a little late in life.”

“Don’t let them lie to you. I was an accident, and then they thought I needed a friend,” Vance said.

Jean laughed. “We were wrong about that. Those two hated each other for the longest time.”

“Hey,” Vance said. “I had no problem with Elain. She was the mean one. She still is.”

“You never let me have any toys or space in the house. It was all ‘I was here first!’ And I’m not mean to you, now. Most of the time.”

“It wasn’t until Vance came out in high school that Elain changed her tune. She went from annoyed young sister to fierce protector overnight.”

Vance smiled at Elain, and she winked at him.

“He was scrawny. I wasn’t going to let anyone beat him up or hurt him.” She pointed her butter knife at me, the threat evident in her intense gaze.

“I get it. I also have a sister. She’s older though, but she and my best friend have always been very supportive, especially when I came out.” James’s parents, on the other hand, wanted me out of their son’s life, afraid that I’d corrupt him.

“That’s important,” Charles said. “Vance mentioned that the two of you went to Blake’s new restaurant this week. How did you like it?”

“It was great,” Vance replied. “We went on Thursday.”

“Your father and I have reservations there next week. With Suzanne and Jared.” Jean turned her pointed gaze on Vance.

He stiffened. “Why are you meeting with the governor?” he asked.

“Same reason you had a lunch meeting with her this week.” She lifted her wine glass to her lips and took a sip.

Vance had a meeting with the governor this week?

Vance knew the governor?

“Mom, are you going to let up on that?” Elain asked. “Maybe we can talk about it at a different time?”

“No, not when his career is on the line.”

“Not tonight, Mom,” Vance said.

She looked to me, her gaze going soft. She might have been a hotshot lawyer, but she was clearly a mom who cared for her kids.

“You haven’t told Alex?”

Vance pinched the bridge of his nose. “It hasn’t come up.” He waved a hand at her, as if telling her to go ahead and tell me.

“Suzanne and I went to law school together. That’s how we know her. She has her sights set on Vance for one of the district court appointments.”

“No shit?” I said, my brow raised. “Excuse my language.”

Charles laughed. “No shit is what I said when I heard Jean was on the short list twenty years ago. She was never going to leave the courtroom, though. Not in that capacity.”

“Is that something you want?” I asked Vance.

He sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck, and I wished we were alone for this conversation. It wasn’t often that I saw Vance looking unsure and vulnerable, but I wanted to listen and do what I could to alleviate his concerns.

“Be honest with yourself,” his mom said in a sing-songy voice.

“Yes. Getting on the courts has always been a goal of mine. I just don’t know if now is the right time.”

“Now is the time that you have! And if you’re serious about it, you need to let her know so that she puts your name on the very short list, instead of just the short list.”

“A judge. Wow. That would be… That’s a pretty great opportunity,” I said.

“We’ll see how it all plays out.” He pushed himself up and started clearing away the plates.

“Oh, Fancy. Will you make me some of that flavored coffee you have, please?” Jean asked.

“Fancy?” I said. My mind having trouble catching up with the change in topics.

His mom threw her hands over her mouth. She looked to her son with an apology in her eyes. “It slipped out. We’re probably not at the point where childhood nicknames are something you want to share with each other.”

I grinned. “Your nickname is Fancy?”

Vance rolled his eyes. “It’s fine, Mom. Elain couldn’t quite get the V sound out when she was young. Vance somehow turned into Fancy, and it stuck. Clearly for an annoyingly long amount of time.”

“Can I call you that?”

“Not if you want me to answer.”

I couldn’t help but smile as Vance and his mom got up and went to the kitchen. I stayed seated along with his dad. Charles leaned over.

“Jean’s mom and dad didn’t like too much that she wanted to marry a man who was just a high school librarian. I wasn’t even a teacher – I just worked in the library. I could tell you were nervous telling us what you did for a living. We’re not uppity like that.”

“Thank you,” I said. “It… was a concern of mine. We’re on quite opposite ends of the economic divide.” I didn’t know what compelled me, but I couldn’t hold the words back. “I don’t want to hurt his career or embarrass him. Using the wrong fork, not knowing what I’m doing in a social situation. Especially if this court thing actually happens.” A judge with a handyman? No way was that going to fly in the social circles he would no doubt find himself in.

“I know my son. He’d never introduce you to us unless he was serious, and maybe I shouldn’t even say that. I don’t want to scare you off.” Charles smiled. “But I also know he’d never think differently about a person based on their job ever. If he’s with you, it’s because he likes you, not what you do for a living. He’s not going to ask you to change to be different.”

I nodded. That didn’t surprise me about Vance. He was exactly the sort of person who didn’t care about those types of things. The hangups were mine. The keeping him at arm’s length—that was me.

“I couldn’t believe it a few weeks ago when he told us that he was seeing someone and it was getting serious and he wanted to introduce us to you. Last time he introduced us to someone, Elain scared him off.”

Elain walked out of the kitchen just then. “I most certainly did not.”

“What did Elain do this time?” Vance asked. He carried a tray with a carafe of coffee and various creams and sugars.

“Scared off that boyfriend of yours. Brian? Was that his name?”

“Are we talking about Brian? He wasn’t good enough for you,” Jean said. “He’s the one who graduated near the top of your class and beat you out for summa cum laude?”

“Yes, he cheated. I’ll maintain that he cheated until my dying breath,” Vance said.

“See? Not good enough for you.”

“He most certainly wasn’t, Vance. He was not a kind person. Where is he now anyways? New York?”

“California. Last I heard he was a lawyer for celebrities.”

“Good for him. You dodged a bullet with that one.”

A lawyer for celebrities who probably made millions a year and graduated top of his class wasn’t good enough for their son, but somehow, they had accepted me with open arms?