Page 70 of The Holy Grail
“Sort of.”
“Then just talk about boy stuff.”
“Okay. I can probably do that.” He took a deep breath, before asking, “Do I look all right?”
Jules took in his jeans and the blue crew-neck sweater she’d picked out at Macy’s. “You look great.”
Despite her look of appreciation, he wasn’t convinced. “I think I’m under dressed.”
Jules knocked on the door. “No, I’m justoverdressed, because that’s what women do. David will probably be wearing cargo pants and a polo, if that makes you feel any better.”
When almost a minute passed without anyone coming to the door, Jules knocked again, this time louder. Finally, just before she was on the verge of knocking a third time—and wondering what the fuck was going on—the door opened.
Surprisingly, it was David who stood there, looking slightly disheveled … in cargo pants and a polo.
“See? I told you so,” Jules whispered to Malcom, before turning back to David with a smile. “Hi, David.”
“Hi, Jules.” David returned the smile, then greeted Malcom with a pleasant, “Hello,” before stepping back so they could file into the entryway. “Glad you both could make it,” he added, closing the door behind them.
“Thanks for inviting us,” she told him. She and David had experienced some ups and down in the past but he made her best friend ridiculously happy, so Jules was usually able to forgive him in times of his stupidity. “David, this is my—” she broke off, unable to say the word ‘boyfriend’ because she was thirty-seven years old and it sounded so juvenile. “This is Malcom Hodge. Malcom, this is David Lowe, Paige’s husband.”
The two men exchanged firm handshakes.
“Nice to meet you,” David said.
“Nice to meet you, too,” Malcom returned, then, because he was nervous, added, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
David threw anOh, really?look at Jules, who raised her hands in response. “All good stuff, I swear.”
David looked back at Malcom. “Is that true?”
“Yes. She said you were a good guy for the most part.”
“For the most part?”
David and Jules were now both staring at Malcom, David with aTell me morelook on his face and Jules with aWhat are you doing?look. Malcom quickly reached up to adjust his tie (a nervous habit), only to remember he wasn’t wearing one. “Yes, but she said the other parts were mostly in her head.”
David turned his attention to Jules. “And what other parts would those be?”
“The parts where I didn’t think you were living up to the high standards I had for you when it came to Paige,” Jules answered. “And I won’t apologize for those parts, either, because she’s my girl.”
David’s expression grew thoughtful, as if searching deep in his memory bank. “You know, speaking of not apologizing, you never did apologize for calling me a cock-sucking wanker that one time.”
Jules blinked at him in shock. “Should you be using language like that with a child in the house?”
“Thanks for your concern,” he said with sarcastic politeness, “but Jacob is spending the night with my mom, so he’s not here.”
“Oh, good.” Then, in an aside to Malcom, she whispered, “See? You were worried about nothing.”
“You were worried about Jacob?” David asked, confused, having obviously heard the comment. “Why?”
“Oh …” Malcom gave Jules a hard look that saidThanks a lot.“Well, it’s just that I don’t have a lot of experience with kids. Not even with my two nieces, who are always busy with dance recitals, music lessons of some sort, and travel volleyball, so I hardly ever see them, except maybe at Thanksgiving dinner.”
David seemed slightly amused at the amount of information he’d just been given and cleared his throat. “Well, it’s just adults here tonight, so … we can use all the bad language we want.”
Malcom turned to Jules. “Did you really call him a ‘cock-sucking wanker’?”
She nodded. “Yes, but he deserved it at the time.”
