Page 178 of The Holy Grail
“I picked this one up at an auction several months ago,” Richard said.
“Are you restoring it for yourself?”
“No. I actually find and restore one a year, then sell it. Last year was a 1969 Pontiac GTO, and that one was actually really hard to let go, but the guy paid way more than it was worth, so … I had to part with it.”
They talked a little more about Richard’s hobby/side hustle, and then he steered the conversation to the triad.
“I’ve given this some thought since Jules told us about this—obviously not theparticulars—but I find myself wondering what happens if two of you start having stronger feelings for each other, and the third person suffers for it? No relationship is set in stone, but when you add a third person, the odds of success would seem to go down, in my opinion.”
“That is a possibility, I suppose, but all I can tell you is that right now, I love Jules and Mal differently, but equally. I need both of them, and I’ll work to keep the three of us intact, as I hope they’ll both work to keep us intact. I don’t know what ten years from now will look like—no one does. But I know what I want it to look like, which is the three of us together, and that’s what I’ll be working every day for. I’ve loved Mal for eight years, and Jules for two, and they mean everything to me.”
Richard took a moment to consider Evan’s words, and to gauge his sincerity. Finally, Richard said, “Despite what you think, I do like you. From what I’ve seen so far, you seem like a nice, kind person, but if you hurt my daughter—”
“You’ll dis-member me?”
Richard smiled and shook his head, looking even more like Bruce Willis than ever, right before he started shooting bad guys in Nakatomi Plaza. “No. She’ll do that because I raised her to be able to take care of herself. What I was going to say is if you hurt my daughter, I’ll help her dispose of your body without a second thought, and not lose any sleep overit.” He put an arm around Evan and led him to the open barn door, then pointed over at the large fire pit. “Either in that, with a modified Viking funeral, or I’ll strip you naked and leave your carcass out there for the coyotes who roam around here at night,” he said, pointing toward the wooded landscape at the edge of the lawn. “You get my drift, son?”
Evan met Richard’s eyes, looking down a little to do so. “I absolutely get your drift. And if I ever do anything to irrevocably hurt your daughter, I’ll accept either one of those punishments as rightly deserved.”
“Good. Now, why don’t you make yourself useful and get us another cup of coffee, then help me work on this car?”
Malcom spent most of the afternoon with Edie in her kitchen.
She was very easy to talk to, and he ended up telling her about his desire to attend culinary school and open a restaurant one day, at which point she got up and brought out a box of family recipes, much to his delight. While he was looking through them, she told him stories about each one, and what family member had come up with them.
He ended up taking so many pictures on his phone that she offered to let him take the box home and make actual photo copies of the recipes, as long as he promised to return them.
Together, they made Saturday night’s dinner—a spaghetti casserole with grilled chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and mushrooms, covered in a creamy garlic sauce—and had a lot of fun.
After dinner, they all went out to the fire pit with glasses of wine, and at one point, Evan and Richard exchanged a glance over the flames.
Jules catching the glance, asked, “What’s that look for?”
When Richard remained silent, Evan answered, “Your dad was mentioning something about Viking funerals earlier today, and this fire reminded me of that.”
Jules looked over at Richard. “Dad.”
Once the fire died down, they went inside and decided to watch a movie.
“I vote forDie Hard,” Jules teased.
“Do you haveThe Sixth Sense?” Evan inquired. “I love that one.”
“What aboutArmageddon?” Malcom asked.
Richard took Malcom golfing on Sunday morning, and when they returned, Edie asked how it went.
“It was fine, although I’m pretty sure he let me win,” Richard answered.
“Did you let my dad win?” Jules asked.
Malcom was quick to shake his head. “No, he beat me fair and square.”
“There’s no way you didn’t throw that game, son. I mean, no one ends up in the sand traps that many times, unless it’s on purpose. I don’t even spend that much time in them.” Richard went to Edie and gave her a kiss. “But a win is a win, I guess.”
Mal nodded, and when he went to change and clean up, Evan joined him.
“So, how did it really go?” Evan asked. “You look a little rough.”
