Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“I wanted to tell the whole family in person, when we all met up at Christmas.”
“I still don’t understand why you wouldn’t come to me first, but that’s not important right now.” He made some sort of rolling gesture with his free hand. “Come on, then. Put your young man on the phone. I want to meet him.”
I glanced at Embry, who was looking amused, and asked, “Are you up for a quick video chat with my granddad?”
Embry immediately dove into the frame and threw his arm around me. “It’s such a pleasure to finally get to meet you, Mr. Baudelaire,” he gushed. “Bry goes on and on about you.”
“Hang on, I need to see you clearly.” My screen filled with a view of my grandfather’s ceiling for a few moments, while we heard him rummaging around. When he reappeared, he was wearing his glasses, but he still held the phone very close to his face as he scrutinized Embry. “You’re a good-looking young man,” he finally said. “But do you mind if I ask how old you are?”
“I’m twenty-eight, sir.”
“That’s a relief. For a minute there, I thought Bryson had gone out and found himself a college student. But a nine-year age gap, that’s not so bad. Now, listen. I know you two must have thought it was terribly exciting to elope, but don’t you want a big, romantic wedding ceremony?” That was directed at Embry, not me. He already knew my answer. “We can call the first wedding practice and have the real one here, at my brother’s vineyard in the springtime.”
Embry was pure, doe-eyed innocence as he said, “Our wedding was very romantic, sir. I get nervous sometimes and don’t do well with crowds, so Bryson made sure the ceremony was just the way I wanted it.”
“That’s lovely, but I wish you’d included me. Didn’t you think I’d approve?”
“We didn’t know.”
“Well, now you do, and I want to welcome you to the family, Embry.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I can see you’re still in your pajamas, so I won’t expect you by lunchtime. But I’ll instruct the staff to set two more places at the table for dinner.”
“We have dinner reservations for my birthday,” I explained. “That’s why we’re planning to come tomorrow.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “Reservations can be changed. I’ve waited long enough to meet your young man, so you’re coming today. End of discussion.”
I glanced at Embry. He shrugged almost imperceptibly, as if to say, why not? I turned my attention back to the screen and said, “Fine, Granddad. You win. We’ll be there in a few hours.”
“Dinner’s at eight, but cocktail hour begins at six sharp. Don’t be late.” With that, my grandfather ended the call.
I muttered, “Fuck,” and sat down on the kitchen floor. Then I stretched out on my back and stared at the ceiling.
“I’m sorry. I know you were looking forward to that fancy restaurant.”
“It’s not that. I feel horrible about lying to him. I expected a lot of push-back and disbelief, which would have made it easier somehow. But he welcomed you to the family and didn’t even question any of it.”
Embry smirked, just a little. “Because he thought you were gay all along.”
I sat up and exclaimed, “And he bet on it! I can just see him and his brother Charles, having a chuckle about my total lack of a love life over brandy and cigars. At some point, Gramps says, ‘I bet the kid is gay.’ And Chuck comes back with, ‘Nah, he’s just a total wash-out with the ladies.’ They argue about it for a while, until one of them says, ‘Let’s put five bucks on it.’ Honestly, who does that?”
“That might not have been how it happened.”
“It’s annoying no matter how it played out.”
“I get that.”
I got up and said, “I still feel bad about lying to him, though.”
“Good. That means you have a conscience. But just remember, he pushed you into this by giving you that weird ultimatum—get married or get nothing. He should have just stepped up and helped you when your restaurant was struggling, instead of trying to control your life.”
“I never told him how bad things got when the restaurant started to fail. I was too embarrassed.”
“Well, anyway, it’s too late to take it back. You already told the lie. The wheels are in motion.”
“Yeah. They are.”
Embry said, “We still have a little time before we need to get on the road. Healdsburg is what, two hours north of here?”
“Something like that, and Uncle Charles’ place is maybe twenty minutes outside of town. He’s my great uncle by the way, my grandfather’s brother. But that’s too wordy, so I just call him ‘Uncle.’ Which you probably figured out.”
“I did. Let’s go relax for a while, maybe eat some more cake…”
“And cancel our coveted reservation at the hottest new restaurant in town. But hey, my colleague who managed to slip us in can probably do it again, a year or two from now.”