Page 180 of The Holy Grail
“I’ll try one, too,” Evangeline chimed in.
“Three gimlets, coming right up,” Evan told them, quickly getting to work.
When he was finished, he brought the drinks to the women, and they toasted to ‘Getting to know one another’, and proceeded to do just that while Malcom was putting the final touches on the meal and Evan prepared the salad.
Not surprisingly, Beverly’s attention was mostly focused on Evan during dinner, since he was the ‘newcomer’ and she spent a great deal of time talking to him, while Evangeline spent a lot of time talking to Jules and Malcom.
They also talked about the weekend spent with Jules’ parents, which livened up the conversation a bit.
“Jules’ dad looks like a short Bruce Willis, and I’m not going to lie. He was a little intimidating,” Evan said.
“Intimidating? In what way?” Evangeline asked.
“In the way he threatened to dispose of my body, if necessary.”
“And mine,” Malcom threw in.
“Define ‘if necessary’,” Beverly said.
“In the event Jules was hurt,” Malcom clarified.
Beverly waved a hand. “That’s just good parenting. I’d do the same.”
“You’d help me dispose of a body?”
“Absolutely.”
He tried to picture his mother helping him do such a thing, perhaps digging a hole in her garden with her perfectly styled hair and pearl earrings, and almost snorted. “Sure, Mom.”
“Would you help me?” Evan asked Evangeline.
“Absolutely. I might have to do some research first, but you could count on me. Oh, and you’d have to do the heavy lifting, of course.”
“Of course.”
When it was time for Beverly and Evangeline to leave, and Jules was giving them both hugs, she told them, “The next time we all get together, you need to bring Mal’s and Evan’s baby books so I can look at them.”
“That’s not fair,” Evan protested. “We can’t see yours.”
“You had your chance,” Jules pointed out. “You could have asked at any time during the visit with my parents, and my mom would have brought them out in a heartbeat.”
“That didn’t even occur to me.”
“Me, either,” said Malcom. “Well … shit.”
As Evan walked his mom to her car, he asked, “So, what’s the verdict, now that you’ve met Jules and Mal?”
“I liked them a lot,” Evangeline replied. “And I think you’ve chosen well.”
Malcom, who was walking his mom to her car at the same time, was extremely pleased when Beverly told him, “I can see why you love them both.”
After both women had driven off, the two men walked back into the house together, hands clasped tightly.
Chapter 60
Dinner, interrupted
Malcom glanced at his watch, then shared a look with Evan, just as both of their phones buzzed with an incoming text in their Ménage à Trois group chat.
