Page 244 of The Holy Grail
“But what about you two?” Malcom asked. “I mean, I could possibly be there for three years, or maybe more.”
“Well, obviously we’ll stay here and let you go alone,” Jules said.
Malcom’s eyes widened.
She and Evan started cracking up.
“Your face, man,” Evan said. “Oh, my God.”
“Obviously we’d want to go with you,” Jules told Malcom, once she’d stopped laughing. “Duh. It’sParis.”
“You two are such assholes,” Malcom muttered.
They just sat and smiled at him, not offended in the least.
“It’s a huge ask,” he said, after a few moments. “You have jobs, friends, and family here—”
“First of all,” Evan said, leaning forward, “Even though my job has gotten much better, I still don’t love it, and I’d have no problem giving it up for a while. And as for my friends and family … I’ll miss them, but we have phones, and my mom would probably come visit.”
Jules nodded. “What he said. I mean, I love my job, but I can also give it up for a while. And I’ll miss Paige, but maybe she and David could come visit—with or without the kids—and the same goes for my parents.”
Malcom swallowed hard. “You guys are serious.”
“Hell, yes, we’re serious,” Evan assured him. “We’ll follow you to Paris. First class, of course.”
“Oui,” agreed Jules, only to add, rather excitedly, “You know what? It might be a good idea to get the Rosetta Stone and start learning French as soon as possible. What do you think?”
“That’s a good idea,” Evan agreed.
“I have to apply first, you know,” Malcom reminded them.
“Then get busy and apply,” Jules and Evan said together.
In the face of their utter exuberance, Malcom felt himself give in. “Do you guys have passports?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Then, if I get accepted—”
“When,” Evan stressed.
“WhenI get accepted,” Malcom corrected himself to please Evan, “we’ll have to get visas to travel to France.”
They all agreed to keep this new development under wraps until Malcom got accepted, just to be on the safe side. He was also quick to stress that even if everything did go in his favor, they wouldn’t be leaving until July. There simply wasn’t enough time to get ready for the session starting in February, so he would have to wait for the August session.
“So … Paris in the fall?” Jules asked. “That’s fine by me.”
“Moi aussi,” Evan said.
“What?” Jules and Malcom asked together.
He sighed, as if they were peasants. “Me, too.”
Chapter 86
Adventures in babysitting
