Page 116 of The Holy Grail
High school French can come in handy
“So, what’s next?” Jules asked. “After you’re finished with Klein & Schmidt, I mean.”
The three of them were all lounging in the tub, surrounded by suds and swirling water, with some Epsom salts thrown in. For some reason, Dawn Corleone had joined them and was sitting like a loaf of bread on the vanity.
The question had been directed at Malcom, who slowly answered. “Well, since my last session with Lauren—when we talked about how I see my future, and working on manifesting it—I’ve been contemplating a few things.”
“Well, let’s hear about these things,” Evan encouraged, his hair slicked back and his arms stretched out along the edge of the tub.
“First, I think I’m going to see if Martin wants to buy my quarter share of the family law firm—”
“Really?”
“Yeah. That would make him sole owner, so I think he’ll jump on it. And once I’m finished at Klein & Schmidt, I think this might be the time for culinary school.”
“Yes!” Jules threw her arms in the air in celebration, sending water and suds everywhere. “Finally.”
“I’m with her,” Evan said. “It’s definitely time.”
“So, are you looking at a particular school?” Jules wanted to know.
Malcom nodded. “After researching and looking at various schools, there’s one I really like. But it’s … ”
“Expensive?” Evan asked.
“It’s not exactly cheap, but that’s not really the issue.”
Jules cocked her head. “Is it like in another state, or something?”
“Or something.” Malcom cleared his throat. “It’s in … Paris.”
Jules and Evan stared at Malcom.
“Paris, France ?” she asked. “That Paris?”
“Yes, the one in France. The school is called école Ducasse.”
“ Paris est la villa lumière ,” Evan murmured.
Jules and Malcom glanced over in surprise.
Malcom was the first to say something. “You speak French?”
“I took three years in high school,” Evan explained. “I was actually pretty good at it.”
“What did you just say?” Jules asked, curious.
“I said, ‘Paris is the city of light’.”
“My mind is having such a hard time wrapping itself around the fact you speak French.” There was a pause, and then she asked, “Why did you take three years?”
“The third year was because of this crazy girl named Wendy, whose pants I really wanted to get into.”
“And did you get in her pants?”
“ Oui. Several times, and thank you for asking.”
Jules was looking at him with amazement. “Say something else in French.”
“Veux-tu coucher avec moi ?”
“What’s that?”
He grinned. “Would you like to have sex with me?”
“You did not learn that in French class.”
“No, but it was easy enough to pick up. I picked up a lot of stuff, actually.”
He then told them all the dirty phrases he knew, which were quite a few, to include, ‘Come and sit on my face’, ‘Your tits are amazing’, and ‘Go fuck yourself’.
When he was done, Jules murmured, “Paris …”
“Guys, hold on,” Malcom told them, wanting to put the brakes on a little bit. “I haven’t even decided that’s where I’ll be going—”
“It’s where you want to go, so that’s where you should go,” Evan insisted.
“And I have to get accepted, too—”
“You got accepted to law school. I’m sure you won’t have any trouble getting into this place. ”
Malcom almost rolled his eyes. ‘This place’ was école Ducasse, and happened to be an internationally renowned culinary training institution, with its founder, Alain Ducasse having earned the most Michelin stars of any chef in history.
So for Evan to assume Malcom would get in without any problem was touching in that it showed Evan’s devotion, but …
acceptance wasn’t a slam-dunk by any stretch.
“But what about you two?” Malcom asked. “I mean, I could possibly be there for three years, or maybe more.”
“Well, obviously we’ll stay here and let you go alone,” Jules said.
Malcom’s eyes widened.
She and Evan started cracking up.
“Your face, man,” Evan said. “Oh, my God.”
“Obviously we’d want to go with you,” Jules told Malcom, once she’d stopped laughing. “Duh. It’s Paris. ”
“You two are such assholes,” Malcom muttered.
They just sat and smiled at him, not offended in the least.
“It’s a huge ask,” he said, after a few moments. “You have jobs, friends, and family here—”
“First of all,” Evan said, leaning forward, “Even though my job has gotten much better, I still don’t love it, and I’d have no problem giving it up for a while. And as for my friends and family … I’ll miss them, but we have phones, and my mom would probably come visit.”
Jules nodded. “What he said. I mean, I love my job, but I can also give it up for a while. And I’ll miss Paige, but maybe she and David could come visit—with or without the kids—and the same goes for my parents.”
Malcom swallowed hard. “You guys are serious.”
“Hell, yes, we’re serious,” Evan assured him. “We’ll follow you to Paris. First class, of course.”
“ Oui ,” agreed Jules, only to add, rather excitedly, “You know what? It might be a good idea to get the Rosetta Stone and start learning French as soon as possible. What do you think?”
“That’s a good idea,” Evan agreed.
“I have to apply first, you know,” Malcom reminded them.
“Then get busy and apply,” Jules and Evan said together .
In the face of their utter exuberance, Malcom felt himself give in. “Do you guys have passports?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Then, if I get accepted—”
“ When ,” Evan stressed.
“ When I get accepted,” Malcom corrected himself to please Evan, “we’ll have to get visas to travel to France.”
They all agreed to keep this new development under wraps until Malcom got accepted, just to be on the safe side.
He was also quick to stress that even if everything did go in his favor, they wouldn’t be leaving until July.
There simply wasn’t enough time to get ready for the session starting in February, so he would have to wait for the August session.
“So … Paris in the fall?” Jules asked. “That’s fine by me.”
“ Moi aussi ,” Evan said.
“What?” Jules and Malcom asked together.
He sighed, as if they were peasants. “Me, too.”