Page 257 of The Holy Grail
There had been numerous visits from family.
Beverly came several times—once at Christmas—while Evangeline, Richard, and Edie were only able to come twice. Paige and David also visited two times, once without kids and once with them. Martin even made the trip with Isabel, staying almost two weeks, with much of that time spent being shown around by Jules and Evan while Malcom was otherwise occupied with school. It gave Martin a better understanding of the triad relationship and also led to a respectful friendship with Jules and Evan.
The first thing they did when they got home was to spend a few weeks getting their house put back together. When that was finished, they paid a visit to the local animalshelter to adopt a cat, since Beverly had become so attached to Dawn Corleone, it didn’t seem fair to split them up.
They ended up getting two cats, instead, who were apparently littermates and needed to be placed in a home together. They were both male, brown tabbies with slightly different shades of green eyes. One was a little overweight due to his penchant for stealing food from his brother, and was given the name ‘Clemenza’, in honor of the portly ‘caporegime’ inThe Godfather.The second, thinner cat was named after Don Corleone’s other ‘caporegime’, the tall and slim Tessio.
From there, life went forward with a purpose.
The first year, the three of them worked together to bring Malcom’s dream of opening a restaurant to fruition, scouting existing restaurants for sale, to find one with the best location, good parking, architectural charm, and plenty of usable space inside. They were with him every step of the way, and he couldn’t have done it without them. Nor would he have wanted to.
In a strange twist, the restaurant they ended up buying was the one he had stopped to look at after reading his ‘Fuck You’ letter to Monroe at the cemetery.
They’d had to do a fair amount of remodeling inside, which had turned out to be a lot of fun, as they pored over design options for the dining room, kitchen, bar, menu, and logo. They flipped through books of wallpaper swatches, looked at hundreds of paint chips, countless linens, chair styles, lighting fixtures, silverware patterns, dishes, glasses, staff uniforms, and a thousand other things needed for a restaurant.
The plan was to create a place both elegant and comfortable (with whimsical touches to make it fun), serve excellent scratch meals, and have a great bar—a combination that would hopefully keep people coming back.
Now, as Malcom looked around from his seat at ‘his’ table, which was the closest to the kitchen and used almost exclusively by him, Jules, and Evan, Malcom surveyed what the three of them had created and felt immense pride because their vision had turned into something extraordinary.
The floor had been laid with wide-plank, gray tile that looked like wood flooring, and the walls were covered in a gray and cream striped wallpaper, with tiny pink pinstripes for unexpected pops of color. Black leather booths with high backs offered a little bit of privacy, each having their own tiny, crystal chandelier hanging overhead while larger chandeliers were hung around the rest of the room, providing the majority of the light.
Every table was laid with a crisp, buttercream-colored tablecloth and vibrant pink cloth napkins, which were rolled and placed in a silver napkin ring decorated with little, sparkling crystals, all of which created a nice contrast with the glossy black chairs.
All the trim and woodwork in the restaurant, including the wainscot in the hallway to the restrooms was painted to match the chairs, and ‘LADIES’ and ‘GENTLEMEN’ had been stenciled in bright pink, cursive letters on the bathroom doors.
The bar was a separate room, located off the dining room, and was decorated much the same, with the exception of the tables being high-tops, with black granite tops and taller chairs. The bar itself had a matching granite top with a black base, and the lighting in the recessed mirrored shelves holding the extensive alcohol glowed a soft pink.
The kitchen was a chef’s dream, with high-end appliances, dedicated work stations, and plenty of space to work in.
After spending countless hours debating the menu—wanting to keep it somewhat limited to exceptional dishes, but finding it hard to really narrow the selections down, Evan suggested having seasonal menus. One for spring, summer, autumn, and winter, with specific appetizers, salads, entrées, and desserts, as well as wine pairings, and they would have the added potential of bringing people in specifically to try new things. It would also make it easier to make the dishes, because none of the ‘ingredients’ would technically be ‘out of season’, thus eliminating too many supply chain shortages, especially if they shopped locally.
“That’s … genius,” Malcom had said, and immediately began creating four different menus, without any repeats.
Since the opening, the three of them had gotten to where their schedules were mostly aligned, usually working five days a week, from 4:00 p.m. to midnight, with Jules handling the administrative side in her back office, while Evan managed the bar, and Malcom oversaw the kitchen, doing a lot of the cooking himself.
It was a change for Jules and Malcom, but they became acclimated to it, as well as sleeping in every morning.
Most of those nights, like tonight, they would meet for dinner (with Malcom changing out of his chef’s whites), always trying to sample something different from the menu in the name of quality control, to make sure all the chefs were consistently serving excellent dishes. It also gave them a chance to observe the clientele and their reaction to the meals, as well as the service they received.
There were times when he felt as if he’d hijacked Jules’ and Evan’s lives, but they were always quick to reassure Malcom this was how it was meant to be, all together and working for one common goal, as partners—both inside the restaurant and outside.
It was fantastic.
No more working long hours that didn’t always coincide with the others’, and then going home to hopefully spend an hour or two with them before it was time to go to sleep and start the cycle all over again. Now, they usually worked the same hours and were mostly home at the same time.
Did they sometimes argue at work? Yes, they did.
Did they sometimes argue at home? Yes, they did.
It was still fantastic.
“Hey,” Jules said softly, as she sat down at the table.
At forty-five, she was possibly more alluring than she had been in her thirties, mainly because her beauty had become more refined and elegant as she aged, and less girlish. Her burnished, copper-colored hair was arranged in a simple up-do, and her make-up was simple and understated.
The red, wide-legged slacks and matching vest with its oversized lapels was one of the outfits she’d purchased from Chanel, as were the black and white patent-leather heels.
She was also wearing the red carnelian necklace she’d purchased years ago in the Groovy Crystals shop, and it dangled just above her cleavage, rather enticingly.
