Page 228 of The Holy Grail
“—being in a love triangle—”
“Triad.”
“—hating Dad, going to therapy, writing a ‘Fuck You’ letter, and vandalizing his headstone. Have I left anything out?”
“Only the part about you being a dick.”
Martin’s expression hardened. “To be clear, I’m not trying to be a dick. This has been a rough week for me, because I lost a father I loved very much. He was a good father to me, and a good mentor. Now, I understand he wasn’t a good father to you—and you truly have all of my sympathy for that—but you need to understand and respect what he was to me, even if you might not like it.”
“I loved him, too, until it was made clear to me he didn’t love me in return, which is a most terrible thing to learn. It fucks you up, even when you’re forty-two years old, and makes you handle things poorly, which is why I’m getting therapy. I know you don’t think it’s helping me, but it is, and I know you’re pissed I vandalized Monroe’s headstone, but I don’t care. It was a lie—a lie he was putting out into the world to make himself look good.”
“Okay, I will agree the epitaph he wrote for himself was a bit indulgent—”
“Indulgent,” Malcomscoffed.
“—but instead of taking a chisel to his headstone like a teenage delinquent, you should have talked to me about it like an adult.”
“Would you have taken me seriously, if I’d called you and said I wanted part of his epitaph removed?”
“Well, I can’t think of a reason why I wouldn’t have. And we could have worked out a solution, together … which is, ironically, something we now have to do, anyway. It’s a shame we couldn’t have bypassed this whole vandalism situation, don’t you think?”
When Malcom didn’t respond, Martin continued, this time sounding very tired. “It’s getting late, and it’s been a long day for both of us, so why don’t we talk in a few days about what we’re going to do to fix Dad’s headstone? Because itisgoing to get fixed, and you’re going to pay for it.”
When Malcom arrived home, Evan and Jules were on the couch, watching TV.
They both looked over, and whatever they might have been about to say, or ask, died as they took in Malcom’s disheveled appearance. Not only was he very wet, but his hair was sticking up, and the knees of his Brooks Brothers slacks were stained with mud.
“What the hell happened to you?” Evan asked.
“Oh, my God, are you okay?” Jules wanted to know as she started climbing off the couch, concerned.
Evan was a little slower to move, as Dawn Corleone was stretched out on his lap, but as soon as he was able to transfer her to the couch, he was on his feet, too.
“I’m fine,” Malcom assured them. “I got into a little bit of trouble tonight—completely of my own making—and I’ll explain everything after I get out of these clothes and take a shower.”
“Forget the shower,” Evan said. “This calls for a bath.”
Chapter 77
For the love of God
Malcom had originally opted not to take any bereavement leave, but after the headstone debacle, he decided to take the two weeks that were part of his employee benefits at Klein & Schmidt.
He ended up going to see Lauren again, and her take was while it wasn’t his finest moment, it did tell her Malcom obviously had stronger, deep-seated issues with Monroe than Malcom had previously thought.
“Great,” he muttered. “Just what I needed … stronger, deep-seated issues.”
He spent a lot of the first week keeping to himself, mainly because once the adrenaline had worn off and his mind had cleared, he felt embarrassed by his behavior. Mortified, even, because it felt like the actions of an unstable teenager, who couldn’t control their emotions.
So, he practically lived in his little room, verbal journaling (as well as some written) and just thinking. His libido took another dive, as did his normal fastidiousness, and he shuffled around the house in sweat pants and T-shirts, sometimes not even bothering to put clean ones on in the morning.
On the third day home, Evan, who was with him most of each day, actually tossed clean clothes at Malcom and ordered, “For the love of God, go take a shower and then put these on … and maybe burn the clothes you’re wearing, because I don’t ever want to see them again.”
Malcom also found himself not sleeping very well, and baking in the middle of the night, which he found therapeutic, but by the end of the week had amassed dozens of cookies (and a few cakes), which Evan and Jules ended up having to get rid of.
While Evan took his brother and sister each a cake, Jules delivered cookies to Paige and David’s house. She then hung out with Paige for the rest of the afternoon, getting caught up on everything, while David and Jacob went to the park.
“You’ve done …” Paige trailed off to look down at Julian, as if making sure he wouldn’t overhear what she was going to say next. “Double penetration?”
