Page 75 of The Holy Grail

Not your average dinner party

Two weeks after Julian was born, Paige and David had a small gathering in their new home as sort of a housewarming party and baby launch all in one.

They had ended up making an offer on one of the houses they looked at back in May. It had closed ten days before Julian was born, and they’d been getting settled ever since. David had actually hired a moving company this time (to Evan’s relief), and so most of the house was in order.

The exterior of the two-story house was cream colored, with glossy black trim, shutters, and a matching front door. The front porch wrapped around one side of the house, and Jules knew Paige would be spending a lot of time on it, as soon as some outdoor furniture was arranged in the inviting space.

When Jules and Malcom arrived, they were greeted at the door by Jacob, who let them in like a little gentleman.

“Come in,” he said politely.

“Thank you,” Jules told him, then as soon as he’d closed the door behind them, she made introductions. “Jacob, this is Malcom. Malcom, this is Jacob, David and Paige’s oldest boy.”

Malcom extended a hand and was charmed when Jacob shook it. “Hi, Jacob.”

“Hi, Malcom.”

Jacob took them to the kitchen, where they found Valerie (David’s mother), Dolly (Paige’s older friend), Nate (David’s friend from college), and Andrea (the assistant Paige had when she worked at The Main Event), already there.

After more introductions were made, Paige took Jules and Malcom on a quick tour, showing them the entire house.

Paige was positively glowing as she pointed out things they would be changing, such as taking out several walls on the main floor and making the kitchen, living room and dining room one large, open concept space.

For now, though, the main floor was comprised of separate rooms but was still very homey.

When they went to the second floor with all the bedrooms, Jules handed a framed picture of herself to Paige, to put in the nursery, to be funny.

Returning to the kitchen, they saw that Evan had arrived. Malcom, Jules, and Evan had agreed he should show up at least fifteen minutes later, by himself, so as to maintain the appearance—at least for everyone except Paige—that the three of them didn’t have anything going on.

David was in the process of introducing Evan to Dolly, who he’d somehow not met at the wedding, but had heard plenty about.

“Evan, I’d like you to meet Dolores Harte, a dear friend,” David began, only to stop before completing the second part, when Evan all but brushed David aside to take Dolly’s hand and gallantly kiss the back of it.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dolores Harte,” Evan said.

“Why don’t you call me Dolly?” she told him. “All my friends do.”

David’s eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in disbelief, as Evan not only got to skip over calling her ‘Mrs. Harte’, but also skipped right past ‘Dolores’, neither of which David had been allowed to do. Getting to ‘Dolly’ had taken months.

Evan winked. “Dolly, it is.”

She actually blushed a little. “Oh, you’re trouble, I can tell.”

“You have a good eye.”

“My late husband, William, was a bit of trouble, so I know it when I see it.”

“Is that why you fell for him? Because he was trouble?”

Dolly leaned forward, as if sharing a secret. “Well, let’s just say it wasn’t a deterrent.”

“You know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking you’re a bit of trouble, too.”

“Me?” she asked with a hint of a giggle. “Not even a little bit.”

David, in the process of taking a sip of his beer, almost choked .

“That’s what people who are the most trouble always say,” Evan countered. “I mean, it’s what I always say.”

The introduction to Malcom, though, was perhaps the strangest one, as neither, Evan, Malcom, or Jules had anticipated it, so when David made the introduction, it was all very awkward, which actually gave the appearance nothing was going on more credibility.

Everett and Evelyn were also invited, and showed up together, followed by David’s assistant, Kim, and Marilyn, a former neighbor. Last, but not least, was Lauren.

With music playing in the background, a large buffet of food, along with cut up strawberries and pink fluff, and everyone enjoying beverages, there was a lot of mingling and laughter. The cats, not fans of all the people and noise, had disappeared, likely to hide on the second floor.

When it was time for Jacob to go to bed and Julian to be put in his crib, Paige and David went upstairs for a little bit, leaving the guests temporarily to their own devices in the living room.

Evan, who had been doing his best to not interact with Malcom and Jules too much, made eye contact with both of them before excusing himself from the conversation he was passively involved in with Everett and Evelyn, and headed into the kitchen.

A few moments later, Jules and Malcom joined Evan in the corner of the kitchen, near the end of the buffet table, by the strawberries and pink fluff.

“I think I’m going to head out, as soon as Paige and David come downstairs,” Evan said, before dipping a strawberry into the pink fluff and popping it into his mouth.

“It’s still pretty early,” Jules protested.

“I know, but being here with you two, but pretending I’m not here with you two, is becoming a real drag. It’s also a lot harder to basically be ignored than I thought it would be.”

Jules’ expression clouded, as did Malcom’s.

“I’m sorry,” she said, pulling Evan in for a kiss and a hug.

“It’s not your fault,” he told her. “We agreed not to say anything, but I think I’m done for the night.”

Malcom turned Evan’s head for a kiss as well. “We’ll leave shortly after you and meet back at my place.”

Evan nodded. “That sounds good. Maybe we can get up to some fuckery and end the night on a good note. ”

In agreement, they all turned slightly away from the buffet table, and stopped abruptly at the sight of Dolly in the kitchen doorway, staring at them from ten feet away.

“Oh, shit,” they all murmured, almost in unison.

“You know, at every dinner party I’ve ever gone to, there’s always that one moment, when things start to get really interesting,” Dolly said, slightly bemused. “And I believe this is that moment.”

“What moment is that, Dolly?” Paige asked, as she and David came into the kitchen, having finished putting Jacob to bed and Julian in his crib. Both were carrying a few empty glasses for drink refills, ever the vigilant hosts.

When there remained silence in the room, David asked, “What’s going on right now?” as he stopped at the island where the liquor was laid out. Malcom, Jules, and Evan all had matching deer-in-the-headlights expressions on their faces.

When it was clear Dolly was waiting for either Evan, Jules, or Malcom to speak, Evan stepped up.

“All right. Look, we—” he paused to indicate him, Jules and Malcom, “—were going to do this at a better time, like not in the middle of a dinner party. But here we are, in the middle of a dinner party, and I’m not sure what the best way is to say this, but—”

“The three of us are together,” Jules announced in a rush.

“I was getting to that,” Evan said.

“You were taking too long,” she chastised, before turning her focus on Paige and David. “Anyway, obviously now isn’t the time to really get into this, so why don’t we talk about it later, after everyone leaves?”

“Talk about what later?” Everett asked from the kitchen doorway, Evelyn at his side.

There was another long silence, which again got broken by Evan. “About the three of us being together,” he answered, indicating him, Jules, and Malcom again.

“What?” Everett couldn’t have looked more shocked. “The three of you are together?”

“Yes.”

“ Together, together?”

“Yes.”

Everett pointed a finger at Evan. “I thought you said you weren’t banging the accountant.”

Jules gave Everett a dirty look, who quickly defended his choice of words. “I was simply referring to that specific moment, when you were just the accountant.”

Evelyn put a hand on Everett’s arm, as if to silently tell him to quit talking. “Evan, is this true? ”

Evan kept his focus on his brother. “I wasn’t banging her then, but now, obviously I am.” Then to his sister, he said, “Yes, Ev, it’s true.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“A couple of months.”

Paige adopted a shocked expression and locked eyes with Jules. “Are you crazy?”

The question was delivered without any of the honest disbelief and indignation in which it had originally been delivered the other day, instead coming out sounding stiff and completely not believable.

It was also more than a little delayed, and Jules gave Paige a What the almighty fuck was that? look.

“Is who crazy?” Valerie asked, as she entered the kitchen with Nate following behind her, momentarily distracting David as she sat down on one of the bar stools in front of the island and slid her empty wine glass over to him. “Just a half-glass, please.”

“Jules,” he answered, pouring his mom the requested half-glass of Pinot Noir, then sliding it back to her. “And the answer is, and always will be, ‘Yes’.”

“Do you need help making those drinks, or what?” Nate asked as he joined David on the other side of the island. “I don’t remember you being this slow in college. I mean, after you turned twenty-one, of course,” he added, with a quick look at Valerie.

Valerie nodded with as much seriousness as she could muster. “Of course,” she said, turning her attention to the three in the corner, where Evan was giving Jules a hard look.

“When did you tell Cat Lady?” he demanded.

Looking slightly annoyed at the nickname for her daughter-in-law, Valerie murmured, “I wish he wouldn’t call her that.”

David gave her a You must be joking smile. “You might as well wish for a million dollars, Mom, because that could actually happen.” Then to Nate, he said, “Why don’t you make yourself useful and grab a Moose Drool out of the fridge for me?”

With a shake of his head and a muttered, “Still a beer snob,” Nate went to do as requested.