Page 17 of The Holy Grail
“Yes. You see, I met Malcom in a restaurant and during our conversation, he asked me out on a date, and—”
“He did?” Beverly interrupted. “When was this?”
Not wanting to say exactly when it had been, in case the woman hung up on her, Jules stretched the truth a little. “It was several months ago, I’m embarrassed to say. I would have called much sooner, but I had some … personal issues … to deal with first.”
“Okay. So, how does the character reference come into it? Do you screen all your prospective dates this way?”
“No.” Jules chuckled softly at that and felt her nerves settle a bit. She then proceeded to give Beverly a brief rundown of the encounter with Malcom at Kyoto, starting with Brent and ending with Malcom’s business card. The only thing that got left out was the reference to glasses being worn during ‘sex and whatnot’, and when Jules was finally done, she finished with, “He told me to call him if I decided Ididwant to go out with him, and on the back of the card, he’d written your phone number and the words, ‘For a character reference, feel free to call my mom. Her name is Beverly’.”
There was silence on Beverly’s end for several seconds. “Well, I must say, that was all rather interesting—not to mention amusing. EspeciallyThe Godfatherpart … although, a more challenging question for him would have been the name of the horse whose head ends up in the movie director’s bed.”
“Oh, my God, you’re right,” Jules agreed with a laugh, wishing she’d thought of it herself at the time.
“It was also very surprising,” Beverly continued, her tone now contemplative.
“Surprising in what way?”
“Getting me involved. He’s never done that before,” Beverly revealed. “Plus, his approaching you in the restaurant is really out of his comfort zone. He can be quite shy when it comes to women.”
“Really?”
“He’s learned to hide it pretty well, but yes, he can be.”
Well, shit.That actually made Jules feel even worse, knowing he’d probably taken a real chance to talk to her that night. “I wouldn’t have expected him to be shy, given how … attractive … he is.”
“His looks have always made him uncomfortable, to be honest. Sometimes it draws the wrong kind of women, so his asking you out tells me he must have been more than a little smitten with you.”
Double shit.Jules now felt like a total asshole.
“So, what would you like to know?” Beverly asked, getting back on track. “I’ve never given a character reference before, so maybe you should just start asking me questions.”
“Well, first I need to know if he’s even available to go on a date. Because if he’s not, then a character reference is unnecessary.”
“As far as I know heisavailable. He was seeing a woman recently, but that didn’t last, and he hasn’t mentioned anyone new.”
The relief was real, and Jules felt her heartbeat spike in response to that good news. Of course, it didn’t mean that Malcom would automatically want to see Jules again, but at least there was the possibility of it happening with that other woman now out of the way.
“That’s … what I was hoping to hear,” Jules said. “I had told myself if he was seeing someone, I would rip up his card and not think about him anymore, so now I don’t have to.” She paused for a moment before adding, “Unless of course his character reference falls short.”
“Of course,” Beverly agreed, sounding amused. “So, what’s your next question?”
“You know, I probably should have had a list ready, but I don’t, so I’ll have to wing it, I guess. Maybe you could just start by listing some of his attributes? What makes him stand out?”
“Okay, but you’ll have to keep in mind that as his mother, I’m a little biased.”
“I understand, and I’ll take that into consideration. In fact, I’ll make a point of only believing half of what I hear. How’s that?”
“That’s fair.” There was a soft chuckle. “So, let me start off by pointing out he has excellent manners. He actually started holding doors open for me when he was only five years old. It was very sweet.”
Jules tried to picture a young Malcom holding doors open for his mother and found herself smiling at the image. “That is sweet.”
“And despite being shy, he can be very charming. But not in a contrived way, if that makes any sense.”
“It does. I could tell he was charming at the restaurant, and had excellent manners,” Jules said, then asked, “What about a sense of humor? That’s at the top of my list for a date to have because I love to laugh.”
“He’s always been sort of serious, but I do think he has an amazing sense of humor when he lets it out. It’s a little on the dry side, so hopefully that’s something you can appreciate.”
“One of my favorite movies isAirplane!so I can totally appreciate that.” Jules thought for a moment before throwing out another question. “Is he easily offended, or have an overly sensitive temperament? Because either one of those could be a problem, since I can be …”
