Page 3 of Evading Exodus
I pursed my lips and gave him a sly look.
“Damn. I can’t believe he told you that story.”
Terry returned with blackened chicken Caesar salads and received a mean look from Ace.
“What’d I do now?” Terry asked.
I snickered, shaking my head as I waved Terry away. “Go quick. I’ll hold him back.” I wrapped my arms around Ace and squeezed, letting Terry escape as Acepretended to struggle against me.
Once Terry was in the clear, I nipped Ace on the neck before releasing him. He turned around, and we met for a simple kiss.
We dug into our food, making appreciative sounds and crunching on crispy croutons. It was a few moments before I broke our easy silence. “So…Passover.”
Ace nodded. “Yes, you should come for Seder at my parent’s house. One more won’t be a problem, it’s already a full house.”
“Really?” I asked. “How many people will be there?”
“Let’s see.” He started counting on his fingers. “This year it will be my parents, me, my brother, his wife and their son. Jake and Terry, and Jake’s parents. That’s nine. Finn, Josey and Bunny, but she doesn’t really count. Finn’s parents. Thirteen… you’d make fourteen, but you never know with my folks. Sometimes, they invite their neighbors or other friends over, too. One year we had twenty-three!”
“Impressive. The most my parents ever hosted was fifteen. Usually it’s just me, my sister, her husband andkids. So, seven.”
“Hm… We go up and down. Lately though, it’s up with the newest family additions.” Ace beamed, probably thinking of his newest nephew and Bunny.
“I didn’t know Finn was Jewish.”
“He’s not, but Josey is. We joke that he’s an honorary Jew, though, because he’s always been a part of all my family’s celebrations.”
I grinned at his terrible sense of humor. “You know, your mom isn’t the only mom that’s going to be happy.”
My cell phone suddenly began singingMother knows best. Take it from your mumsy. On your own you won’t survive…“Speak of the devil,” I muttered, pulling it out of my pocket and showing Ace the picture of my mom displayed on the screen.
“Go on, take it,” he said. So I did.
“Mom! Hi.”
“Darren, sweetie. How are you?”
“I’m fantastic.” Ace and I locked eyes.
“Why…?” Definite nervousness in her voice.
“’Cause I just learned my boyfriend’s Jewish.” I lifted the phone away from my ear as she whooped withjoy. We laughed at her enthusiastic antics.
When she calmed, I returned the phone to my ear. “I’m glad you called, Mom. It saves me calling you to tell you I won’t be home for the holiday.”
“Of course not. You’ll be staying there with your man. His family is celebrating?”
“Yeah, they’re hosting.”
“Good, good. You’ll call and tell me all about it afterwards, right?”
“You’ll be my first phone call, Mom. Look, I gotta go, we’re eating dinner.”
“Darren, it’s almost eight o’clock!” She giggled.
“Bye, Mom.”
“Bye, sweetheart.”
