Page 96 of The Holy Grail

Moving day

Malcom made the decision to hire a moving company to move all of Evan’s and Jules’ belongings into the house, because it was going to be too much for the three of them to do themselves.

The day started early, with Evan’s truckload arriving first and getting unloaded before Jules’ truck arrived at noon. Malcom had deliberately requested a staggered delivery schedule, so there wouldn’t be complete pandemonium.

Plus, he didn’t think his neighbors would appreciate two large trucks parked on the street at the same time.

The three of them had discussed furniture placement in the house a little bit, wanting to mix everything together as much as possible, so every room had something of each of them in it.

Any furnishings they ended up not having a place for (duplicates or otherwise), would be stored in part of Malcom’s basement until they could be donated.

Since none of them knew what to do with the formal dining room—they didn’t see the need to have a formal eating space, nor was any table they currently owned big enough for the room—Malcom and Evan were surprised to see both Evan’s and Jules’ kitchen tables had been placed in there.

“I know we said we’d probably get rid of both tables, but I think we need to keep them,” Jules said when she found the two men looking in the room, obviously confused. “And make this our game room.”

Evan raised his eyebrows. “Game room? ”

“Yes. This is going to work out great. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner.” She waved a hand in the air. “We’ll paint it a fun color, like yellow—or maybe even orange—”

“Orange?” Malcom asked, a little startled.

“Yes, a nice orange, like a creamsicle orange, not an orange orange.” She smiled, seeing it in her mind. “We can hang my TV there—” she pointed to the long wall, “—and my rectangular table will be perfect for putting puzzles together—”

“Puzzles?” the two men asked together.

“Yes. I love doing puzzles.” After a bit of a pause, because neither one seemed to know what to say, she continued. “Evan’s round table will be great for playing board games on—”

“We don’t have any board games,” Evan pointed out.

“You’re right.” Her expression turned to one of exaggerated disappointment. “Damn, if only there were stores that sold them …”

She then turned and left the room, leaving Malcom and Evan looking at one another.

“Did she say ‘orange’?” Malcom repeated.

Evan nodded. “We’re going to love it.”

“How do you know?”

“Because what other choice do we have?” Then, with a quick kiss, Evan headed off in the direction Jules had gone, leaving Malcom by himself.

By the time Paige and David came over in the afternoon with Jacob and Julian, the house was in the mid-stage of controlled chaos.

The side table in the entryway was now flanked on both sides by Evan’s throne-like, Buckingham Palace/brothel high-backed chairs, somewhat shocking the senses the minute you walked in the door, with their gold painted arms and legs, and pink, red, and purple floral-patterned seat cushions.

Waiting to be hung in the space, but currently propped against a wall, was Jules’ framed Pulp Fiction movie poster, with Uma Thurman lying on her stomach and smoking, legs kicked up, her ankles crossed behind her.

The empty formal living room was nicely filled with a blend of Evan’s and Jules’ living room furniture.

Evan’s white shag rug, green velvet couch, and end tables were arranged with Jules’ coffee table, peacock-blue side chairs, and brass lamps.

Evan’s TV was placed on Jules’ shabby-chic TV stand, and four more of her framed movie posters ( The Shining, the original Amityville Horror, Breakfast At Tiffany’s, and The Godfather ), were going to be hung in there, as well.

Paige and David brought pizza for everyone, and after they ate, Jules, holding a sleeping Julian, took Paige on a quick tour of the house.

In the master bedroom, Jules watched with amusement as Paige’s eyes widened at the sight of the enormous bed, then widened even further when she saw the mirror on the wall.

Jules could tell by the curious—and intrigued—expression on her friend’s face, that she wanted to ask a few questions, so Jules waited.

“Is that for … sex?” Paige finally asked.

“Yes,” Jules answered. “It even tilts down, for a better angle.”

“It isn’t weird … watching yourself?”

“Not at all. It’s actually pretty helpful, because you can see things you might not be able to see, depending on what position you’re in.”

Paige blinked at that information, then began looking around the room, searching for something less sexual to talk about, only to spot the mermaid lamps on the nightstands. In an instant, her mild embarrassment flipped to annoyance.

“Those fucking lamps,” she said.

As they were heading back to the kitchen, and Jacob dashed past them with one of Malcom’s chocolate chip cookies in hand, something occurred to Jules. Stopping, she asked Paige in a low voice, “What, if anything, did you and David tell Jacob about me, Evan, and Mal moving in together?”

“Just that the three of you were moving in together,” Paige answered.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. He accepted it was happening and didn’t ask any questions about it, which told me he wasn’t very curious—if he was, he would have asked a ton of them.

And if he had asked any questions, like why you three were moving in together, we would have told him you guys liked each other a lot and wanted to live in the same house.

You know, keep it simple, give him just enough information to satisfy his curiosity, because what he’s not meant to understand right now doesn’t need to be put out there.

But later, as he begins to understand more things, he can be given more information, as needed. ”

“So, he probably just thinks me, Evan, and Mal are good friends and roommates?”

“Probably.” Paige lifted a shoulder. “If he even thinks about it all—”

“Squirt, where do you want this?”

Both women turned to see Evan holding up Jules’ framed poster of The Godfather.

“Squirt?” Paige asked.

For a moment, Jules sort of froze, and Evan patted her on the head, before smoothly answering, “It’s because she’s tall. It’s an ironic nickname.”

Paige seemed to buy it, but David, who’d also heard the explanation as he exited the half bath, simply raised his eyebrows in suspicion, before walking away.

With Paige watching (and also with a baby in her arms), Jules was unable to give Evan an elbow to his ribs, so she turned her attention back to the poster. “I thought it was going in the formal living room with a couple of my other posters.”

“I decided to switch yours out for mine, because I think mine looks better in there.”

“You have one, too?” Paige asked Evan. Then, remembering the one hanging in the regular living room that belonged to Malcom, she added, “God, you all do.”

“Great minds think alike.” Turning back to Jules, Evan prompted, “Well?”

“Switch it back, because I want your poster to go in the formal dining room.”

“You’re going to hang a poster of The Godfather in your formal dining room, and formal living room?“ Paige asked. “You guys are so weird.”

“The formal dining room is going to be our game room, and his poster is the one with Brando holding a cat, so it’s kind of fun. As for the formal living room, it’s not very formal.”

At that moment, Jacob came running back over to them. “Malcom has a room with crystals in it!”

It was said with such childish exuberance that the three adults chuckled. Jacob then took Paige’s hand and pulled her toward the journaling room, to show her.

“Wasn’t the door to that room closed?” Jules asked.

“It was, but he’s a kid, and closed doors aren’t much of a deterrent,” Evan pointed out, before picking up the heavy framed poster and heading back toward the formal living room to make the switch.

Once Paige, David, and the kids left, the work began again in earnest.

Each of them picked a room and began going through boxes.

Malcom took the kitchen, so he could go through all of Jules’ and Evan’s kitchenware. Some of it would be kept, but most of it was likely going to be donated. When it came to kitchenware, Malcom was a total snob.

Jules took the boxes in the formal living room, unwrapping hers and Evan’s knick-knacks, and displaying them throughout the house.

Evan emptied all the bathroom boxes, mixing his and Jules’ towels with the ones Malcom had, so each of the three bathrooms were equally uncoordinated, with yellow, aqua blue, and gray-and-white striped towels.

When it came time to put all their personal products in the master bath, Evan marveled at all the shit Jules had—and that was before he started to unpack the boxes of her clothes.

Thank God the master closet was so huge, otherwise the two men would likely be putting their clothes in the guest room closets.

When he was finally done (but knowing Jules would probably rearrange things a bit), he took a moment to admire all of their clothes taking up space together in the closet.

It looked good. Really good.

By the time they called it quits, it was almost midnight, but all the rooms were mostly done (including the two guest bedrooms, one of which had been filled with Jules’ bedroom set, and the other with Evan’s), except for the pictures that needed to be hung on the walls.

As they trudged up the stairs, Malcom couldn’t help but notice how the house no longer echoed, now that each room had furnishings in them to absorb sound.

For the first time since buying the place, it felt like an honest-to-God home … and he loved it.

In the master bedroom, the three of them flopped down on the bed.

“Jesus, I’m beat,” Evan said with a loud groan. “I’m even too tired for sex.”

“Same,” Malcom said. “Wake me up in two days.”

“Wrong,” Jules told them. “I don’t care who, but one of you needs to come and get on top of me.”

“Are you serious?” Evan and Malcom asked together.

“I’m dead serious. Our first official night in the house together needs to be celebrated.”