Page 39 of The Holy Grail

Amused at the overplay, Jules told Monroe, “It’s not as glamorous as being a lawyer—” she broke off as Malcom gave a quick snort, then quickly camouflaged it by clearing his throat, “—but I do love it. ”

“What do you love about it?” Monroe asked, as Yvonne returned with his new drink.

“Numbers don’t lie. They’re black and white—or rather, black and red—and finding that sweet spot for a business, where costs are minimized and profits maximized for a healthy margin never gets old. I’ve brought more than one small business back from the brink, and it’s ... exhilarating.”

“It certainly sounds rewarding,” Beverly said.

“It is, and I honestly can’t imagine doing anything else. My dad always told me if I loved my job, I’d never work a day in my life, and he was right. It’s important to love your job, because if you don’t, you won’t find fulfillment.”

Monroe looked at Jules over his glass. “What does your dad do for a living?”

“He was a mechanic. He retired last year and now spends his time restoring classic cars.”

“And your mother?”

“She’s a retired school teacher.”

Jules could tell Monroe was less than impressed with those resumes, when he said, “Both admirable professions,” while trying to sound magnanimous, but mainly coming off as condescending.

As the dinner progressed to the next course, he began asking more personal questions. Some of them, which bordered on too personal, might have made the average person shy away or get offended, but Jules took them in stride, answering them with blunt-force honesty.

“So, you’ve never been married?” Monroe asked.

“No.”

“That’s a bit unusual. You’re what? Thirty-five? Thirty-six years old?”

“I just turned thirty-seven. And I don’t know if it’s unusual or not to be unmarried at this age. I only know I’m not … and I’m fine with that.”

It was obvious Monroe didn’t know what to do with her response, and there was a pause before he asked, “You don’t want to be married?”

“I didn’t say that. I said I was fine with currently not being married, since being married has never been a life goal for me, in and of itself.”

“But marriage brings stability and—”

“Not according to the national divorce rate.”

“The national divorce rate is likely high due to people not taking their vows seriously and putting in the effort to keep their marriage intact,” Monroe said, with a quick glance in Malcom’s direction .

“Not every marriage is worth saving,” she countered, finding Monroe’s attitude quite hypocritical, given he was twice divorced; self-awareness was obviously not one of his stronger qualities.

Monroe decided to shift gears a little. “Are your parents still married?”

“Yes. Forty-five happy years and counting.”

“I’m surprised you don’t want that for yourself.”

Jules’ response was delayed for a moment as she watched Monroe hold his empty glass out to Yvonne again, who came over and took it.

Before going into the kitchen, however, she looked at Beverly, who gave a subtle head shake, which Jules took to mean Monroe was to be cut off.

“My parents have an amazing marriage, but what works for them probably wouldn’t work for me, so no, I don’t want that for myself. ”

“So, you have no plans to get married and settle down,” Monroe mused with obvious disapproval, sending another quick glance at Malcom, as if to say, Why are you even wasting your time with this woman? “Does that mean you’re not planning on having any children?”

Jules took a bite of her perfectly cooked salmon before answering.

“Well, as you know, marriage isn’t a requirement for having children anymore,” she told him, noting he’d all but abandoned his own dinner, which was a shame since it was delicious.

“But that being said, no, children are not in my plans.”

“How can you be so sure? You’re still relatively young.”

The ‘relatively’ was likely meant to annoy her, but it bounced right off. “Thank you, but at thirty-seven, I don’t see myself wanting to have children the older I get.”

Monroe frowned. “How do your parents feel about that?”

“Monroe,” Beverly warned rather sharply. “That’s not our business.”

Monroe ignored her, his eyes on Jules. “I’m asking, because it would displease me if my son chose not to have children of his own one day.”

“Well,” Jules paused to take a sip of her sidecar, before continuing with, “I’m fortunate the happiness of my parents doesn’t depend on my having children, so I don’t have to live with the burden of that expectation.

I think it would be soul crushing, to be honest, to feel like I had to provide my parents with a grandchild in order to please them, especially since I really have no desire to be a mother.

Not everyone is meant to be a parent, and unfortunately there are too many people out there who are parents, but aren’t necessarily very good ones.

” She said that last part looking directly at Monroe, before adding, “And for all I know, I could end up being one of those. ”

He seemed surprised by her admission. “You don’t think you’d be a good parent?”

“Well, I like my life to be relatively unstructured and unencumbered, so I think that makes me a little selfish, for lack of a better word. I’ve always just wanted to live my fullest life—to travel and do whatever I want, whenever I want, with total freedom.

That, to me, is the dream.” She glanced at Malcom for a second before turning back to Monroe.

“Now, if at some point in the future, living my fullest life were to involve someone I wanted to share my life with, I would want to be his sole focus, since he would be mine. I’d want to be able to give him all of my love and attention, and get all of his in return, and not share him with anyone. ”

From across the table, Beverly caught Jules’ eye and smiled, then waded into the conversation. “You said your parents have been married forty-five years?”

The abrupt change of topic threw Jules for a moment. “Yes. Why?”

“It just struck me they were married for about eight years before you came along. Does that mean you have a few older siblings?”

“No, I’m an only child,” Jules answered, then went on to further explain, “My parents tried for several years to conceive naturally, before turning to adoption.”

“So, you’re adopted,” Beverly said.

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s wonderful.”

Jules smiled at her. “I agree.”

Monroe was looking at Jules like she’d actually lost a few more points in his estimation at this revelation. “So, do you know anything about your real parents?”

It wasn’t the first time she’d been asked that question, so Jules was ready with her answer. “My real parents are Richard and Edie Shaw, and I know everything about them.”

“I meant your biological parents,” he clarified, a little impatiently.

“Then you should have specified that, because ‘real’ and ‘biological’ are two entirely different things.”

Clearly not appreciating being schooled by Jules, Monroe glanced around, ostensibly for Yvonne and his replacement drink.

After coming to the conclusion it wasn’t coming, he speared Beverly with an aggravated look, before turning his attention back to the conversation and rephrasing the question.

“So do you know anything about your biological parents?”

“I don’t know anything about my biological father, but I know my biological mother was in high school when she got pregnant.

I don’t know why she put me up for adoption—maybe because she was young, didn’t have the resources or support to raise a child, or didn’t think she would be a good mother.

What I do know is she got pregnant, chose not to terminate the pregnancy, and put me up for adoption, making it possible for me to have a wonderful life with the Shaws. ”

“You were lucky. Thousands of children don’t get adopted.”

“I’m aware of how lucky I was. Which is why I’ve always been driven to live my life to the fullest, and not waste the gift I was given.”

From there, Monroe seemed to withdraw from the conversation, letting it flow around him, although he continued to watch Jules, as if he was worried she might try and steal the family silver if he took his eyes off her.

After the final course was cleared away by Yvonne—a delicious chocolate cake, which Jules unapologetically finished off in unladylike record time—Malcom brought the evening to a close.

As goodbyes were exchanged, Jules felt a definite warmth from Beverly, and a distinct lack thereof from Monroe.

He was polite enough, but Jules knew he didn’t approve of her for his son and was likely hoping the relationship would be short-lived.

Probably because of that, Jules felt the need to give him an almost over-the-top, warm handshake, while saying, “It was so nice to meet you!”

Once in Malcom’s car, he surprised her by turning to her with a resigned look on his face. “I’m never going to see you again after tonight, am I?” he asked.

“What?” She laughed at the ridiculous statement. “It takes more than someone like your dad to run me off.”

“Really? Because I wouldn’t blame you at all. He was in rare form tonight.”

“Is he usually not like that?”

“No, he is, but he was a little more than usual.”

“Part of that might have been my doing. I tend to rub assholes the wrong way.”

“You were definitely rubbing him the wrong way. Did you see the way he was looking at you?”

“Of course. I was right across from him—and it didn’t bother me at all.”

“Really?”

“Really. I’m not afraid of your dad,” Jules said, patting his knee. “Which is probably one of the main reasons why he doesn’t like me … although I did give him plenty to work with tonight.”

He chuckled softly. “Gwen used to kiss his ass. God, I hated that.”

“Gross. I would never do that, so nothing to worry about there. ”

“My mom definitely liked you, though.”

“I hope so.”

Just then, Malcom’s phone pinged with an incoming text. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he looked down at the message from his mom and smiled, before showing it to Jules.

BEVERLY: She’s delightful.