Page 230 of The Holy Grail
“Are you sure? Because—”
“I’m sure. One hundred percent.”
“Do you … need to check with Evan and Malcom first?”
“No. Consider it set in stone.”
When David and Jacob got home, Paige told David about Jules agreeing to watch the boys the night of the concert, and for a moment he simply blinked at her. “For the entire night?”
“Yes, the entire night,” Jules said.
“Yay!” yelled Jacob, almost making Jules flinch.
“Inside voice, Jacob,” David admonished, before turning back to Jules. “Evan and Malcom will be there, too, I assume?”
Just to be contrary, she countered, “And if they weren’t going to be?”
“Well, then—” he broke off as Paige gave him a warning look. “Then, that would be … fine ... obviously.”
When Jules arrived home, the first thing she did was put the half dozen colored pictures Jacob had given her on the fridge. As she was finishing, Evan came into the kitchen with Dawn Corleone on his heels, looking like he’d reached his limit for whatever the day had thrown at him, but smiled when he saw the pictures.
“These are really good,” he noted.
“They are,” she agreed.
After grabbing a beer, Evan hopped up onto the island and was immediately joined by Dawn Corleone. “How was your visit? How’s Cat Lady? Julian? Jacob? David? Their cats?”
“The visit was great. Paige was great and so was Julian. I didn’t see much of Jacob and David, or their cats.”
“I’m glad you had a good time.”
Jules went to stand in front of him, moving his knees apart so she could get closer. “I had such a good time that I volunteered to watch Julian and Jacob two weeks from tonight, while Paige and David are at the Foo Fighters concert.” She rubbed his thighs with her hands. “For, um, the whole night.”
“The whole night? Like all night?”
“Yes. I figured with the three of us here, it shouldn’t be too difficult of a task. Three adults, two kids … easy peasy.”
Evan pulled his phone out of his back pocket and pulled up his work schedule. “Not so easy peasy. I’m working that night.”
“Not anymore, you’re not. I need you here.”
“Mal will be here.”
“Are you kidding? He’s as helpless as I am when it comes to kids. You need to be here, because Paige is trusting me to do this. And David doesn’t trust me, so there’s no room for error.”
Overlooking the obvious flaws in her logic, he sighed. “Fine. I’ll see if I can switch with someone.”
“Thank you,” she said, leaning in to kiss him. Then, because Malcom still hadn’t made an appearance, she asked, “Where’s Mal?”
“In his room.”
“How’s he been today?”
“I don’t know. I’ve hardly seen him, actually. I did get him to take a shower and put on clean clothes, though, so that’s a win, I guess.”
“We’ll count it as a win. Did he shave?”
“No.”
