Page 19 of The Holy Grail
“I appreciate your optimism, but—”
“It’s not optimism. I simply know my son, and there was obviously something about you which brought him to your table, something he couldn’t resist. That being said, he might be a little upset with you for taking so long, but I’m thinking you can get him to change his mind.”
Jules was struck by how nice Beverly was being, rather than telling Jules to take a hike. “Well, I’ll do my best.”
“Good,” Beverly said, before adding, “And good luck.”
Chapter 4
Fifteen fucking months
Malcom was sprawled on his couch with a bottle of Sam Adams in one hand and his feet up on the coffee table, watchingThe Godfather, when his phone rang. Glancing over, his brows drew together when he saw the call was from his mother, so he quickly answered.
“Hi, Mom,” he greeted her, immediately wondering if something was wrong, since it was a really odd time for her to be calling.
“Hi, honey,” Beverly said. “Am I … interrupting anything?”
“No, I’m just watching a movie,” he told her, sitting up and turning the sound on the TV down.
“Oh? What movie?”
“The Godfather.”
“Really?”
“Really.” There was amusement in her voice, and he attributed it to the fact she knew he’d probably seen it twenty times already and could actually recite way too much dialogue from it. “So, what’s going on? Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine,” she assured him, before saying, “I just wanted to talk to you for a minute.”
“Oh? What about?”
“Well, I just got off the phone with a woman named Jules Shaw.”
It took him several seconds to realize what she’d just said, and he sat up even straighter, complete disbelief punching him in the face, hard. “What? You did?”
“Yes. I take it you remember her?”
“Yes.” He remembered Jules like one would remember a particularly bad case of food poisoning. “Vaguely.”
“Vaguely?”
“Yes, vaguely. So, you justnowgot off the phone with her? Like, what, a few minutes ago?”
“Yes. She called to get a character reference for you.”
Jules had called his mom for a character reference? After fifteen fuckingmonths? “She … did?”
“Yes, she did,” Beverly confirmed. “We had a very nice conversation, actually. We talked for almost twenty minutes.”
Hearing that his mom and Jules had had averyniceconversation somehow elevated the disbelief and anger coursing through him until he was at DEFCON 2, and he chugged the rest of his beer. “So, tell me about this very nice conversation you had with Jules,” he demanded.
There was a pause, and then Beverly said, “You sound angry.”
“I’m not angry,” he lied, moderating his tone to be as neutral as possible. “I’m just surprised to hear she called you, because it’s, uh, been a while.”
Like fifteen fuckingmonths.
“Yes, Jules did say it had been fifteen months since you two met, but she explained there were some personal things she had to work through, which kept her from calling sooner. And while that’s certainly unfortunate, it told me after all this time she hasn’t forgotten about you.”
