Page 208 of The Holy Grail
“Sometimes,” she told him. “That being said, not a day goes by where I’m not happy with my decision to cut her out of my life, because I can never trust her again. It doesn’t matter how many apologies she gives me for not believing me, she chose not to when it really mattered, and that’s unforgivable to me.”
“She apologized?”
“Yes, but only after she found naked pictures of me in my uncle’s safe deposit box, so her finally believing me was the result of that. It was too little too late.”
Malcom was silent, pondering Paige’s situation and the choices she’d made—which she was obviously more than content with—and decided that’s what her recovery looked like.
“It’s a hard thing, cutting a parent out of your life,” Paige said quietly, leaning forward a little bit and clasping her hands together on the table. “It means getting to the other side, and never looking back. Ever.”
Chapter 69
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 anorangeorange.” 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’ framedPulp Fictionmovie poster, with Uma Thurman lying on her stomach and smoking, legs kicked up, her ankles crossed behind her.
The emptyformal 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 originalAmityville Horror, Breakfast At Tiffany’s,andThe 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.
