Away From the Spotlight (39 page)

“I really didn’t have a whole lot of time to do much while I was in law school and, then in college, I spent my free time socializing more, so I haven’t seen a lot of movies in years.  It wouldn’t have occurred to me that someone
who does what
Will
does for a living
would hang out
in the type of place I met him.  T
hen, of course, he didn’t volunteer the information.”  I grimaced at Will jokingly.

A bell sounded from the back of the house and Will’s mother
stood
. 
“Are you ready for lunch?”

“That would be
great
.”  I picked up my mug of tea, still full
.  I
had spoken so much that I didn’t have time to drink it.

Lunch was a
much
more formal affair that I had expected.  It was more like dinner
in the U
.
S. 
Margaret had prepared
steak
, potatoes, vegetables and salad
, all displayed elegantly
in
her
formal dining room
.

At some point
during the meal
, Margaret
must have begun to believe
that I might
possibly
be good enough for her son. 
S
he
then ceased the inquisition
and
acted
as gracious
ly
as she
had
when she greeted me at the door.

Will’s father, on the other hand, appeared to like me from the outset.  “Did I hear you say you liked sport?”

“Yes.  American football and the
USC
Trojans in particular.”

“
USC
?”

“
University of Southern California
, my alma mater. 
I went there undergrad
and
for
law school. 
Our team is called the Trojans.  We have one of the best
American football
teams in the country every year.”

“I’ve seen a little
American
f
ootball
on the te
lly
here, but I haven’t figured out the
rules
yet.  You’ll have to explain
them
to me sometime.”

“
Anytime
.  I
can’t wait to take Will to a game. 
It’s a
n
all
-day event.
There’s a lot of pomp and circumstance and a crowd of 100,000 fans
all
wearing cardinal and gold filling the stadium.  There’s nothing like it.”

“Sounds like it.
D
o you like our football?”
Iain
continued on the sports theme.

“Oh, soccer.  Yes, I like it.
”  I tried to sound enthusiastic.  “
It’s popular to play in the United States, just not as popular to watch.  I’ve seen a few
World Cups though.  It’s fun.
”
  Of course, I didn’t want to mention that my friends and I watched the World Cup
matches
more to check out all the good-
looking men on the
field
than for the games themselves.  I had to stifle a
giggle
when I thought of that.

At that point,
I tried to change the subject and move it off the topic of me.  I looked at Will’s mother, “Will tells me you decorated his flat in London.  You did a
wonderful
job.  It’s beautiful.”

“Thank you.  I enjoyed it.  It was older and needed a little bit of work.  I tried to make it light and airy like California.  I had
hoped
that Will would come home a little more often now that he had his own home
here
.”  She looked at him and frowned.

“I’m here now
,
aren’t I?”

“Yes, and I’m so glad.  We don’t see you nearly enough.”

Lunch continued pleasantly and
,
when it was over and we were ready to leave, Margaret and Iain asked me to come back and visit them
.
 
I guess
ed that
the lunch was a success.  I had been accepted.

Once
we got in the car and were on our way, I
glared
at Will.  “You ambushed me.  Why didn’t you just tell me where we were going?  I could have
prepared
myself.”

“You
were
brilliant
. 
T
hey really liked you.  Besides, I met
your
parents.”

“Yes, but it was my graduation.  I had no choice.”

“You mean you wouldn’t have introduced me otherwise?”  He sounded
hurt
.

“Yes, I would have
,
eventually,
a
nd I would have warned you
in advance
.”

“Fair enough.  I
had told them about you
so
they wanted to meet you.
  I wanted to show you off.
”  He smiled and added, “I could’ve ambushed you worse, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Wait until you meet my sisters.”

“Is that on the schedule?”
  I
asked with a little f
ear reflected
in my voice
.

“Not this trip. 
My oldest sister, Olivia, and her family d
on’t live
close and
my
other
sister, Emma,
is on holiday in Spain until
after you’re
off traveling
-
s
o you’ve been spared.”

“What do you mean ‘spared’?”

“I’m the little brother and they are
very
protective of me.  Their questions would have
no doubt
gone in
a more
personal
direction
.”
  His tone of voice made it obvious what he meant.

“
Great,” I said with deep sarcasm, adding, “
Something to look forward to.  How about
,
when we get to that point, you allow me to divide and conquer?  I don’t think I want to take them
both
on at once if that’s the way it’s going to be.”

“Good idea.”  He
chuckled
and then changed the subject.
 
“
W
e have some time on our hands now
for a while
.  Why don’t you call Pam and see if she
and
Jane
are in
town
today
?
  Maybe we could
catch up with
them
.”

When
I
called
, I found
that
Pam
and
Jane
were
, in fact,
in town shopping. 
I
agreed t
o
call
after we got
back
to
Will’s place
. 
Pam would
let me know
where to meet
them at that time
.

Upon
return
ing
to Will’s
place
,
we saw
from a distance
that the
photographer
was
again
loitering
outside Will’s flat. 
Consequently, w
e detoured
such that
Will parked a little farther away
on a side street
out of the view of the
photographer.

As w
e
w
alked
from the car
in the direction of
the
T
ube
,
I called Pam
again
. 
She
wanted us to meet the
m
at Trader Vic’s at the Hilton.  I laughed. 
What a very English thing to do
:
drink extra-strength rum dr
inks at a Polynesian-themed bar!
 
Will told me
that it would be time consuming to get to Trader Vic’s via
the
Tube and so we caught a cab there instead
.

We arrived
at
Trader Vic’s at
about four in the afternoon
to find Pam and
Jane
with
very
large drinks in their hands.  They both seemed a bit too happy and I imagined that they weren’t holding thei
r very first drink of the day.

We exchanged hugs and cheek kisses
,
and
joined them at their table
.  Will and I decided to order a Scorpion together.  After I took a sip, I realized that these
drinks
were almost as lethal as the pink drinks served
to girls
at fraternity parties.

When
Jane
started to slur a little,
it was clear that we were going to have to get something to eat into Pam and
Jane
pretty soon.
 
Will excused himself to try to get us a table in the restaurant
for an early dinner
.
  He returned successful and led us
to
a host who
, in turn,
led us to a table in the back corner of the restaurant.  It would hav
e been romantic had it
been
just
Will and me
.

Will and I held hands under the table throughout dinner. 
Jane
, who wasn’t as used to Will as Pam
had become
, fawned over him
.  She
ask
ed
him questions about the
Midnight
movies and what could be expected in the fourth installment
soon to be
filmed.  Will was gracious and answered all of her questions.  I could tell that
Will
had
had
a lot of practice at this.  Only
I
knew that he would much rather have
had
a normal meal and not talk
ed
about his work.  I squeezed his hand in thanks
because
it was clear that he had made
Jane
very happy.

By
the end of the meal
that
was
, not surprisingly
,
Will’s treat,
it appeared
that
we had sobered
up Pam and
Jane
enough for the
ir
train ride home.  We all walked to the Hyde Park Corner Tube Station together and rode the tube one station to the Victoria Line at Green Park.  We separated there
and said our goodbyes
as they were going south to Victoria to catch the Britrail Train and we were going north on the Victoria
L
ine to catch up with the
Northern
Line to Hampstead.
  Although it had been somewhat crowded on the trains, we didn
’
t attract
too much attention other than a few stares.

By the time we arrived at Hampstead
, it was
a
lmost
eight
o’clock
. 
It was still light outside as it didn’t get dark th
at
time of year until almost nine in the evening, but it was near sunset.
  As we exited the Tube station, I noticed that we weren’t headed in the direction of home.

“Where are we going?” I asked as I wondered what other surprises Will had in store for
me.

“I thought I would give you a more traditional English experience
after Trader Vic’s
.”

“Meaning?”

“A pub, of course.  It’s Sunday nig
ht, a big night for that here.”