Forever & Ever
Page 25
Jim’s eyes narrowed. “Is this a trick? Is Griffin hiding behind the door?”
“No!” Griffin said from behind the door. He peeked out. “You can answer the question, but only if you have almond milk in your coffee.”
“He drives a hard bargain, but that seems fair,” Matt said. “Now sit down so we can pick your brain.”
EVERY MONTH, Jim went to the doctor’s.
No matter what was happening with the play, Griffin took the day off to go with him.
It took a full six months of good reports before the dark shadows in his husband’s eyes fully disappeared.
Jim had the occasional thought about negotiating a return to work—part-time, consulting. No travel. But Matt and Helena made a great team, and Elizabeth’s summer internship had continued into the school year. Talk of the police academy drifted off, and then Matt was asking how much they should start her off with when she joined the company officially after graduation.
“Is she going to live at home rent-free for a while?”
“Yes. Because if she says she’s moving in with Ollie, I’ll have to start crumbling Valium in Evan’s coffee.”
Jim put his feet up on the ottoman. In the kitchen, Sadie and Caroline were helping Georgia make lasagna with zucchini and soy cheese, which sounded terrible.
“He’s been through this with three other children. Danny’s engaged, for God’s sake. Why is Elizabeth any different?”
“She’s the youngest.”
“By ten minutes.”
“Whose side are you on?”
“Elizabeth’s.”
Matt made hooting noises. “I cannot wait until Caroline starts dating and I get to remind you of this conversation. It’s going to be the best day of my life.”
JIM COACHED soccer.
He and Caroline planted a garden out back and built a fire pit.
Georgia taught him to cook more than meat on a grill and bacon and eggs.
Lois Lane was the most well-behaved beagle in New York State.
He played tennis at the club twice a week while the girls were in school, supervising their after-school activities while Daisy and Bennett were busy with the play.
Once a week, come hell or high water, he and Matt ate lunch at a diner halfway between their houses.
And every time Griffin asked, “Are you happy?” Jim kissed him and said yes.
12: Tony
APRIL 30
Jim 16:30
Tonys announced tomorrow. My house is overrun.
Matt 16:33
Who’s Tony?
Jim 16:34
If you weren’t my last oasis of nontheater talk, I’d curse at you.
Matt 16:37
Be nice. I have options. There’s a riveting convo in another window about training potties.
Jim 16:40
What the hell are you adding to that conversation? Assuming you’re not allowed to be crude.
Matt 16:44
I’ve typed “nice one!” about eleven times. No one has noticed.
Jim 16:45
I don’t know what will be worse—if they get the nomination or if they don’t.
Matt 16:47
That doesn’t sound like something a supportive husband would say.
Jim 16:50
Press. Tuxes. Press.
Matt 16:51
Embrace the spotlight.
Jim 16:52
So far I’ve gotten away with “husband Jim, retired from the police force” and being called supportive. If he gets the nomination who knows? They’ll want to SEE ME.
Matt 16:54
I would give a very large sum of money to see you on Ellen.
Jim 16:55
I hate you.
MAY 1
Matt 08:45
CONGRATULATIONS!
Jim 08:50
Thank you. And thank you from the crowd of people drinking champagne haphazardly in my living room.
Matt 08:51
When your husband wins a Tony, have him buy you a new carpet.
Jim 08:53
Bennett is buying me a new carpet. My husband is buying me tickets to Hawaii.
Matt 08:55
I sense a deal has been struck.
Jim 08:57
Pick up the New York Times on Sunday.
Matt 08:58
You know I’m going to make you autograph it.
Jim 08:59
Here’s a preview: fuck you, Love Jim.
Matt 09:00
Have you considered male modeling? The bald dad bod is in now.
MAY 5
Matt 10:10
I can’t believe I know a famous person now.
Jim 10:12
I’m going to tell Daisy you said that.
MAY 7
Jim 15:01
I AM AT A TUX FITTING. SEND HELP.
Matt 15:03
Wrong number.
Jim 15:05
Let me just say this: the measuring I just got was very thorough and might count as a threesome since Griffin was in the room.
Matt 15:07
Your life is so interesting now.
MAY 10
Jim 18:30
I am at a cocktail party. There is no beer so I am drinking champagne. The food is very tiny and weird. If you ever had feelings for me, you would call in a bomb threat.
Matt 18:35
Can’t talk. Eating a pizza and watching baseball in my underwear.
Jim 18:40
Bastard.
Jim 18:42
Griffin said he wanted a picture. He might be drunk.
Matt 18:50
Matt sent a picture.
You’re welcome.
Matt 18:55
Evan just threatened to take my phone away. I hope it’s for reasons of the perverted kind.
Jim 18:57
Griffin said he wanted a picture of that too.
Matt 18:59
Cut him off.
Jim 19:01
Are you kidding me? That’s the only way this evening is going to be redeemed.
Matt 19:04
Evan said he wanted a picture of that.
Evan 19:07
No he didn’t.
MAY 15
Jim 09:10
I left two tickets at the box office for you and Evan.
Matt 09:11
Please leave a message at the beep.
Jim 09:15
You promised.
Jim 09:19
This is Griffin. YOU PROMISED. Get your ass down to the theater and get some goddamn culture. Then you can buy us all dinner because you’re literally the last human beings in our lives to come and see our TONY-NOMINATED PLAY which makes you terrible friends.
Matt 09:21
BEEP.
May 16
Matt 21:10
Where are you?
Jim 21:11
Hiding backstage. Where are you?
Matt 21:14
Buying a drink, or at least standing in a line that might lead to a drink. Not sure. Might be the bathroom line.
Jim 21:15
What do you think?
Matt 21:17
There should be more bartenders.
Jim 21:19
I’ll send Griffin out to sit with you for the second act.
Matt 21:22
Don’t tell him this, but it’s good. I like the cop character, but he seems a bit familiar if you know what I mean.
Jim 21:23
Of course. I figured even you would notice.
Matt 21:24
Even I would notice that’s me?
Jim 21:25
What?
Matt 21:27
What?
Jim 21:28
Harold is based on me. As my husband is the writer of the play, who else would it be?
Matt 21:29
Yes, but Shane is the cowriter and we all know about his massive man crush on me.
Jim 21:31
Good point. I’m sending Shane out
to sit with you during the second half so he can explain the metaphors. Evan can hang backstage with me. We have a full bar.
Matt 21:32
Son of a bitch.
MAY 19
Matt 11:11
Nervous?
Jim 11:12
Cone of fucking silence—I am freaking out. I haven’t been this nervous since Caro was born.
Matt 11:14
Has Griffin noticed?
Jim 11:15
No. He’s weirdly calm.
Matt 11:16
Freaky Friday Tony Edition.
Jim 11:18
He slept late this morning! I’ve been awake for three days.
Matt 11:20
You need to take a Xanax or something and chill out. You know this is the calm before the storm. And either you’re going to be consoling a group of sad drunk artists or you’re going to be getting your celebratory sex on. Either way, you need your rest.
Jim 11:22
I really want him to win. He’s worked so hard for so long, got screwed over. Gave stuff up for me, for Daisy, for Caro. He deserves this.
Matt 11:25
Have you told him that?
Jim 11:27
What if he loses? Then he’ll feel terrible. Like he let me down.
Matt 11:28
He’s Griffin. He’ll think that anyway.
Jim 11:30
True.
Matt 11:32
So tell him what you think.
Jim 11:33
brb. He’s calling me from upstairs.
Jim 17:40
Sorry about that.
Matt 17:41
I don’t think you can use brb for six hours.
Jim 17:43
He couldn’t find his lucky cufflinks and it pretty much devolved from there.
Matt 17:44
Body switch complete?
Jim 17:45
He’s a wreck. I took a nap. Everything is back to normal.
MAY 20
Evan 20:01
Good luck! We’ll be watching. The girls are keeping Caro and Sadie distracted for as long as they can, but I’m assuming you’ll be able to hear their screams all the way in the city.
Katie 20:02
OMG GOOD LUCK! WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR YOU!
Elizabeth 20:02
Everything is crossed and I lit a candle at three churches!
Matt 20:04
Good luck, man. Fully convinced we’ll be celebrating at the beach house this weekend.
Matt 20:05
Also Harold is totally based on me.
Katie 21:02
WE JUST SAW YOU GUYS ON THE RED CARPET LIVESTREAM OMG! YOU LOOK SO HANDSOME!
Matt 21:04
Damn. You kids clean up nice. Also I’m deaf now because the girls have been screaming for an hour.
Matt 23:00
HOLY SHIT.
Katie 23:00
AHHHHHHHH! OMG!
Evan 23:01
Matt’s crying.
Matt 23:04
Am not.
Matt 23:05
And I told you Harold was based on me.
MAY 21
Jim 11:00
Party Bus group text to Griffin Drake, Daisy Baylor, Bennett Aames, Matt Haight, Evan Cerelli, Shane Lowry, Helena Abbott, Miranda Moran, Kent Moran, Katie Cerelli Hill, Austin Hill, Danny Cerelli, and Elizabeth Cerelli:
The party bus leaves from our house at 9:00 a.m. sharp. NO EXCEPTIONS. If you forget anything, Bennett will buy you a replacement.
Bennett 11:01
Hey.
Jim 11:02
Please notice the latest champagne stain on my rug.
Bennett 11:04
Whatever you need.
Jim 11:05
Food’s been ordered, as have libations. Georgia has kindly agreed to take an obscene amount of money to come along and wrangle the children so the adults can have a little relaxing time.
Austin 11:06
God bless you.
Shane 11:07
Do we need to bring anything?
Jim 11:08
Just your clothes.
Shane 11:09
Can I bring my Tony?
Daisy 11:10
And mine?
Griffin 11:11
And mine?
Bennett 11:12
And mine?
Matt 11:13
Who’s Tony?
Jim 11:15
I hate you all.
13: A Big Bow on It
THE MEETING was an annual tradition: Matt and Evan’s dining room table, Chinese food on the sideboard, lots of wine, notebooks and pens provided from whatever Bennett remembered to bring home from the office. And calendars. No one was allowed in the house without their calendars.
Evan grumbled a lot, but secretly this was his favorite part of the holiday.
The roots reached back to that started-terrible-ended-great Christmas with Matt’s appendix: a holiday celebration with their beloved group of friends. The meeting started with “what do the kids want for Christmas?” and “what can I bring to the potluck?” and segued into “how do we accommodate in-laws and shared holidays and still get together?” plus the other stuff on top. They were pushing twenty-five people at this point, and with actively fertile couples in the baby-making business, there was no telling when that number would hit capacity.
Bennett and Daisy’s beach house became their de facto location, with a full weekend of fun, food, and festivities for Fake Christmas. Babies were born, people were married, and Bennett built an extra wing.
“Okay, that weekend is good with everyone?” Daisy asked, giving everyone in the room a once-over. Extra chairs, the card table, and television trays filled every spare inch of floor space as all the adults sat poised with phones and paper lists. “We’ll be there Friday morning and we’re staying through the New Year, so—get there before Saturday breakfast and leave when you want. Leave and come back. We don’t care.”
Toddlers shrieked in the next room as a fight broke out over… something.
“Yours or mine?” Katie asked her sister.
Miranda leaned closer to the doorway, listening intently. “Both mine. Brigit and Clancy, you stop that right now!”
Josiah slunk into the room with his giant pair of ever-present headphones. He perused the Chinese buffet, poking around the egg rolls before taking two. Evan remembered the bouncy little boy who had come into their lives eight years before, now about to hit his teen years. He liked music and building robots and still spent occasional weekends with his grandfathers, eating pizza and getting Matt to play games with him.
“How is it in there?” Austin asked as Josiah moved one earpiece to hear him.
“The twins only want to play with the same toys, but everyone else is casual,” he said, surprising Evan with how deep his voice had gotten, even in the past month. “Toni put on a show about penguins that Mattie likes, so that’s good.”
“Thanks for keeping an eye on them.” Katie handed her son a napkin, which he took with a good-natured eye roll.
“When are the girls getting back from soccer practice?”
Griffin checked his phone. “Twenty minutes or so.”
Josiah grunted as he lowered his earpiece, then headed back to the living room.
“How many times has Josiah asked when the girls are coming home?” Jim asked as Shane held up his hand with five fingers outstretched. Then he mouthed, “Five.”
“Huh,” said Helena.
“What’s huh?” asked Bennett.
With a prelude of galloping feet announcing their entrance, Shelia and Nathaniel darted in and dived under the table, aiming for Matt’s lap.
“Pop Pop, can you come play with us?” Shelia asked, bouncing next to Matt’s chair once she and her cousin crawled the entire length of the dining room table. “You’re more fun than Josiah.”
“Shelia!” Kent admonished her. “That isn’t a nice thing to say about your cousin.”
A
ustin opened his fortune cookie. “It’s actually a compliment. He’s more mature than Matt, is what we’re saying.”
“Kent, you’re my favorite son-in-law now,” Matt said, putting his arms around his grandchildren. “Ollie’s in second place.”
Nathaniel leaned against Matt’s arm. “Pleeeease. Pleeeeeease,” he whispered.
“Listen, Frick and Frack, Pop Pop will come play as soon as we’re done. We’re planning Fake Holiday Weekend right now,” Katie said, pouring another round of wine into every glass she could reach. “Go keep an eye on the twins and Mattie, please.”
“If I’m not out in ten minutes, pull the fire alarm,” Matt stage-whispered, giving them each a kiss on the cheek.
The cousins shared identical expressions of delight even as Kent started to explain that was just a figure of speech and please don’t look for any alarms to pull….