Page 31 of The Holy Grail

Dinner with the Lowes

As Jules parked behind the Lowe photography studio, Malcom looked at her in confusion.

“Paige and David live upstairs in the loft,” she explained, pointing to the second floor, with light shining from all the windows. “They’re going to start looking for a house to buy before the baby is born, but for now, this is their home.”

After they climbed the stairs and came to a halt in front of the door, Jules looked at Malcom and said, “You look nervous.”

“I am nervous. Plus, it feels weird to be doing this on Paige’s birthday.”

“She insisted, so it’s not weird. And you shouldn’t be nervous because Paige already likes you, and David usually likes whoever she does, so you should be fine.”

“I can’t help it. I’m not very good with kids.”

“Neither am I, really, but Jacob’s not that scary and he goes to bed pretty early.”

“What if he talks to me?”

“Then you talk back to him. How hard can it be? You remember what it was like to be a little boy, don’t you?”

“Sort of.”

“Then just talk about boy stuff.”

“Okay. I can probably do that.” He took a deep breath, before asking, “Do I look all right? ”

Jules took in his jeans and the blue crew-neck sweater she’d picked out at Macy’s. “You look great.”

Despite her look of appreciation, he wasn’t convinced. “I think I’m under dressed.”

Jules knocked on the door. “No, I’m just over dressed, because that’s what women do. David will probably be wearing cargo pants and a polo, if that makes you feel any better.”

When almost a minute passed without anyone coming to the door, Jules knocked again, this time louder. Finally, just before she was on the verge of knocking a third time—and wondering what the fuck was going on—the door opened.

Surprisingly, it was David who stood there, looking slightly disheveled … in cargo pants and a polo.

“See? I told you so,” Jules whispered to Malcom, before turning back to David with a smile. “Hi, David.”

“Hi, Jules.” David returned the smile, then greeted Malcom with a pleasant, “Hello,” before stepping back so they could file into the entryway. “Glad you both could make it,” he added, closing the door behind them.

“Thanks for inviting us,” she told him. She and David had experienced some ups and down in the past but he made her best friend ridiculously happy, so Jules was usually able to forgive him in times of his stupidity.

“David, this is my—” she broke off, unable to say the word ‘boyfriend’ because she was thirty-seven years old and it sounded so juvenile.

“This is Malcom Hodge. Malcom, this is David Lowe, Paige’s husband. ”

The two men exchanged firm handshakes.

“Nice to meet you,” David said.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Malcom returned, then, because he was nervous, added, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

David threw an Oh, really? look at Jules, who raised her hands in response. “All good stuff, I swear.”

David looked back at Malcom. “Is that true?”

“Yes. She said you were a good guy for the most part.”

“For the most part?”

David and Jules were now both staring at Malcom, David with a Tell me more look on his face and Jules with a What are you doing? look. Malcom quickly reached up to adjust his tie (a nervous habit), only to remember he wasn’t wearing one. “Yes, but she said the other parts were mostly in her head.”

David turned his attention to Jules. “And what other parts would those be? ”

“The parts where I didn’t think you were living up to the high standards I had for you when it came to Paige,” Jules answered. “And I won’t apologize for those parts, either, because she’s my girl.”

David’s expression grew thoughtful, as if searching deep in his memory bank. “You know, speaking of not apologizing, you never did apologize for calling me a cock-sucking wanker that one time.”

Jules blinked at him in shock. “Should you be using language like that with a child in the house?”

“Thanks for your concern,” he said with sarcastic politeness, “but Jacob is spending the night with my mom, so he’s not here.”

“Oh, good.” Then, in an aside to Malcom, she whispered, “See? You were worried about nothing.”

“You were worried about Jacob?” David asked, confused, having obviously heard the comment. “Why?”

“Oh …” Malcom gave Jules a hard look that said Thanks a lot.

“Well, it’s just that I don’t have a lot of experience with kids.

Not even with my two nieces, who are always busy with dance recitals, music lessons of some sort, and travel volleyball, so I hardly ever see them, except maybe at Thanksgiving dinner. ”

David seemed slightly amused at the amount of information he’d just been given and cleared his throat. “Well, it’s just adults here tonight, so … we can use all the bad language we want.”

Malcom turned to Jules. “Did you really call him a ‘cock-sucking wanker’?”

She nodded. “Yes, but he deserved it at the time.”

“No, I didn’t,” David countered.

”I thought you did, so same thing,” Jules said. “And I’m pretty sure I apologized for that. I feel like I did, anyway.”

“Well, I feel like you never did, so …”

Just then, Paige came down the hall, temporarily stopping the conversation as they all watched her approach.

She was now six and a half months pregnant and walking like a woman whose center of gravity had started to shift, but looked totally chic in black maternity pants and a lilac-colored blouse that buttoned up the front, draping over her baby bump, which had expanded since Jules had last seen it.

“There’s the birthday girl!” Jules said, noting her friend’s slightly flushed cheeks as they hugged .

“Sorry,” Paige apologized. “I was in the bathroom. It seems like I spend a lot of time in there lately.”

“Understandable,” Jules said. “You’re peeing for two, now, right?”

“That’s right.” Paige then took a few steps toward Malcom, holding out her free hand. “Hi, Malcom. It’s good to see you again after all this time.”

The last part was said with a quick side-eye at Jules.

He took Paige’s hand and shook it. “It’s good to see you, again, too … after all this time.”

“I can’t tell you how much David and I have been looking forward to tonight—”

“Please stop,” Jules cut in. “Don’t make him any more nervous than he already is.”

“Am I making you nervous?” Paige asked Malcom.

“Maybe a little,” he admitted. “I’ll get over it, though.”

David inclined his head in the direction of the kitchen and suggested to Malcom, “Why don’t we go get a drink?”

“Sounds good,” Malcom agreed.

Once the two men were out of earshot, Paige turned to Jules with a face-splitting smile. “I really am glad you and Malcom are here tonight,” she said, her voice crackling with excitement.

Jules gave her friend a questioning look. “Why are you acting like we’re members of the royal family?”

“I’m not,” Paige protested, only to laugh at herself. “Okay, maybe I am. I can’t help it, though. It’s just such a big deal—”

“I know, but you need to rein it in a little, sister, or you’re going to scare him off. If you don’t, this might be the last time you ever see us together, and it’ll be all your fault. Then I’ll have to be mad at you, because I’m really enjoying him.”

“Fine. I’ll rein it in.”

As they began following the path the men had taken, Paige grabbed one of Jules’ hands and placed it on her baby bump. “Can you believe how big this is getting?”

“It is pretty big,” Jules agreed, slightly weirded out to know a little human being was actually growing in there. “So, tell me, how much does this interfere with sweaty, needy, mind-blowing sex?”

Paige’s lips lifted up in a smile that was both sweet and filthy. “Not. At. All.”

“Well, that’s certainly good to know, because even with this big bump, you should be able to have all the sweaty, needy, mind-blowing sex. ”

“Well, I am. In fact, just before you got here, I had David cornered in the bathroom for a quick round.”

Jules abruptly stopped, her eyes narrowing a little as she stared at Paige. “So, you weren’t in the bathroom peeing.”

“No. I was actually cleaning myself up. That takes a while, especially since it’s gotten challenging to reach … things.”

“Isn’t that what David is for? To reach … things?”

“Well, he started to, but then he had to go answer the door.”

No wonder it had taken him so long. “Ah, I see.”

Paige tilted her head. “Since you brought up sweaty, needy, mind-blowing sex, what’s the status update on you and Clark Kent? Anything to report?”

Jules grinned. Then, lowering her voice, she filled Paige in on being eaten like a snack on Malcom’s kitchen island, the blow job in his walk-in closet, sex for the first time in his bedroom, then being bent over the counter the following morning as Jules was in the process of making waffles—which ultimately went awry.

When she was finished, Paige looked astounded. “Oh, my God,” she murmured. “You’ve been sleeping over!”

At that moment, David poked his head into the hall. “Are you two going to join us for dinner, or what?”

Despite his earlier nervousness, Malcom ended up enjoying himself immensely during the dinner.

That being said, it started off with a bit of a bang.

As they were all taking their seats at the table, an unexpected and jarring howl split the air, coming from somewhere in the loft.

Paige and David reacted with barely a jolt, obviously used to such a disturbance, but Malcom and Jules reacted like normal people.

“Holy shit,” Jules cried out, almost dropping her glass of wine on the table .

“Jesus Christ,” Malcom said, popping to his feet as if he might need to be a hero or something. “What was that?”

The howl ripped through the loft again.

“Sorry,” Paige quickly said. “That’s Marshmallow—one of our three cats.”

“Do they all … do that?”

“No. The other two—” she broke off to point to the top of the fridge, where a black cat and a gray cat were silently perched, “—are pretty quiet. Marshmallow is deaf, though, and sometimes howls like that, but it’s usually only once or twice a night.”