The Weight of Words (The WORDS Series) (20 page)

Dean Grant moved around the table, pouring everyone their wine of choice while Gwen looked dejectedly at her sons’ appalling display of manners. “I honestly wonder why we spent all that money on private school, David. It doesn’t seem to have made a stitch of difference in their comportment.”

“We did what we could, dear,” her husband said with a smirk. “Unfortunately I don’t think UCC offers refunds.”

“UCC. That’s Upper Canada College, right?” I said, turning to Jeremy who was loading his plate with mashed potatoes. “Was it a good school?”

“Top-notch academically,” he said. “Kinda stifling, though. After being there from kindergarten all the way through, it was a relief to finally graduate and have a change of scenery, you know?”

“No girls, though, huh? How was that?” I asked.

“It sucked,” Bradley piped up, his mouth full of butternut squash. “Good thing all the Havergal and Bishop Strachan girls got their licenses and pretty cars for their sixteenth birthdays. It could’ve been worse.” Penny slapped his arm. He blew her an air kiss, and Jeremy laughed. Daniel shook his head.

“Bradley,” Gwen said, a note of warning in her voice. I can only imagine what a handful he must have been to raise.

“So do you work, or are you still going to school, Jeremy?” I asked, purposely avoiding Daniel’s eyes. Jeremy was so conciliatory; it was hard not to take advantage of his willingness to share.

“Jeremy wanth to be a danthah,” Bradley lisped.

Jeremy glared at his brother and threw a piece of roll at him.

“Boys,
please
,” Gwen pleaded. “We have a guest. I’d appreciate it if you’d behave civilly.”

She looked at me apologetically. I smiled back as if to say, “Oh, it’s okay, boys will be boys.” What I was thinking was,
Please carry on. This is entertaining as hell.

“Actually, Aubrey, Jeremy is a freelance graphic artist,” Penny said, coming to her future brother-in-law’s defense. “He’s working on an ad campaign for the National Ballet of Canada. He’s brilliant.”

“Wow, that sounds cool,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s a good gig. I’m still figuring things out. Up until about six months ago I was an A-and-R rep for Sony Canada, so this is a real learning curve,” Jeremy explained.

“Why’d you leave Sony? I think it’d be amazing to do something like that. I love discovering new music.”

“Yeah, it was a good job, but it was kind of sucking the joy out of music a bit,
having
to listen to new stuff, you know, making it feel like a chore?”

“Oh, I get that. I feel that way with reading a lot of the time.” I tried to focus on my plate, figuring I’d monopolized enough of the conversation. Gwen wasn’t having any of it, though.

“So, Aubrey, you’re specializing in English, right?” she asked, shooting Daniel another meaningful look.

He rolled his eyes and looked back down at his mashed potatoes, studying them as if the Rosetta Stone had magically appeared under the gravy, offering him untold linguistic secrets. He was hardly eating anything. He was enjoying the hell out his red wine, though, refilling his glass frequently.

“Yes,” I said. “I’ll graduate with a specialist in English and a minor in French.”

“French? How wonderful. Are you fluent?” she asked.

“I can’t imagine studying French at university and
not
being fluent. I’d fail every course.”

“The boys all speak French too. My family’s always had a house in the south of France. It was important to us that everyone be bilingual.”

Oh my, the plot was thickening. The picture forming in my mind of these young men was pretty damned impressive. Private-school educated, musically gifted, fluent in French, well-traveled. And absolutely gorgeous, all three of them.

“And, Daniel, how is Professor Brown’s class going?” Gwen asked.

Daniel’s fork fell with a clatter onto his plate. Beside him, Penny jumped.

“Sorry about that,” he said, reclaiming the utensil and looking for all the world like he wished the ground would open up and swallow him.

Mortified beyond words? I’ll say
.

“Daniel is a TA for a senior English course,” Gwen said to me by way of explanation.

Well, you don’t say
. Dean Grant looked at me, waiting for my response.

“I imagine that’s quite challenging,” I said vaguely.

“You did tell me it was a nice class the last time we talked,” Gwen said to Daniel. “Is everything still going okay?”

“Some of the students are bright and quite a pleasure to work with,” Daniel said.

I smiled at my potatoes.

“I gather you stayed in residence this week,” Gwen said, turning her attention back to me. “I hope you weren’t too bored. It must have been awfully quiet.”

“It was a bit of a ghost town,” I said. “It was nice, though. I went to the art gallery and the ROM. I was going to try to go to the Gardiner Museum too, but I didn’t get around to it.”

Gwen smiled at her husband.

“Oh, we adore the Gardiner, don’t we, David? I have a couple of complimentary tickets. Remind me to give them to you before you go. There’s a fabulous new exhibition in the main gallery.”

“That would be lovely. Thank you. Maybe I’ll try to go on Monday after class, before homework gets too crazy again.”

The easy conversation continued. What a wonderful family Daniel had. I’d adored Dean Grant from the first day I met him, but they were all so awesome. By the time everyone else had finished eating, Daniel had still hardly touched his food. He’d worked his way through several glasses of red wine, though, and was certainly starting to look a little more relaxed.

Gwen served dessert, finally having mastered the meringue nests. Fresh fruit was nestled inside each little frothy blob. It was divine. After dinner, everyone helped clear the table, but then Gwen shooed us out of her perfectly appointed kitchen, insisting we head back down to the basement. Dean Grant told me to let him know when I was ready to leave, and he would take me home.

We all headed back downstairs, Bradley rubbing his belly and belching loudly. Luckily his mother didn’t hear him.

“You feeling all right, love?” Penny asked Daniel, brushing his hair away from his eyes. “You hardly touched your dinner.”

Oh, how I longed to run
my
fingers through his hair and call him “love.”

“Yeah, I don’t have much of an appetite, I guess,” he said.

As Bradley and Penny took their after dinner drinks with them to the sofa, Jeremy and I sat on the stools. Daniel poured himself another Guinness and then opened the fridge, grabbing a Stella and a Keith’s. He held them up, eyebrows raised in question.

“I’ll have another. Thanks,” I said.

“Cheers, bro,” Jeremy said. He took a swig and then rested the bottle on the bar. “Okay, I know this is going to sound weird,” Jeremy said, “but I swear I know you from somewhere. Like, I think we bumped into each other recently, but I can’t think where.”

“You’ve got to be kidding, Jer,” Daniel said. “Is that the best you can do?”

Jeremy shot him an annoyed look. “I’m serious.” He turned to me again. “You know what? Were you at the indie music revue a couple of weeks ago?”

“Yes, I was!” I exclaimed. “You were there?”

“Yeah, I went with a friend of mine who’s a music reviewer.” He snapped his fingers at me. “I knew I recognized you.” He gave Daniel a smug look. I thought for a second he might stick his tongue out. “I have to be honest, though, it was your friend who caught my eye.”

“Well, that’s not insulting at all,” Daniel said with a laugh.

“It’s okay,” I sighed, pretending to be deeply offended. “I’m used to playing second fiddle.”

“I find that difficult to believe,” Daniel said, looking at me over the rim of his glass as he took a long drink.

His voice was thick, and his words were beginning to run together. I picked at the label on my beer bottle, confused by this compliment, which came out of left field. Luckily Jeremy was now on a fact-finding expedition, and he filled what might have been an awkward silence by quizzing me about Julie.

“Is she single?” he asked.

“You’re talking about the blond girl, right?” I asked him.

“Yeah, blond and cute as hell. I don’t think she stopped singing along and dancing all night.”

“Yes.” I laughed. “That’s Julie. And absolutely, she’s very much single.”

Daniel shot me a surprised look.
Yes, Daniel, that Julie
, my expression told him.

“Do you think it would be super creepy if I got her phone number from you?” Jeremy asked. “And maybe you could tell her about me? Put in a good word? I was kicking myself for not asking for her number that night.”

Daniel snorted cynically.

“Hey, you should see this girl,” Jeremy said.

Well, actually
…Daniel must have been thinking. We shared another glance.

“She seemed feisty and cute and confident and sweet, all at the same time.” Jeremy had a faraway look in his eyes. “I didn’t even meet her, but there was something about her that struck a chord…that sounds bizarre, right?”

Daniel tilted his head pensively. “No, I think I know what you mean, Jer,” he said, locking eyes with me.

I looked away, trying to convince myself that I was misreading the signals he was sending me. I was desperate to ask him what he was thinking, but it was neither the time nor the place. I focused instead on Jeremy’s dilemma.

“Sorry, Jeremy, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to give you Julie’s number. Not without her permission, anyway.”

“Why don’t you take Jeremy’s number?” Daniel suggested. “You can pass it along to your friend and then the ball can be in her court.”

I tried to read Daniel’s expression. Was he really okay with the idea of his brother dating someone from Professor Brown’s class? I sure hoped so. Jeremy was a great guy.

I gave Jeremy my phone so he could type in his information. Then he asked for my number. I saw no good reason not to provide it. Daniel gulped his beer as he watched our exchange. With my phone safely back in my purse and Jeremy suitably placated, he and Daniel wandered off to join Bradley while Penny returned to the bar to refill her wine glass. At the pool table, Brad must have said something hysterical under his breath because Daniel started giggling like a nine-year-old girl.

“My God, he’s wankered,” Penny said. I looked at her quizzically. “Drunk,” she clarified.

“Right. Gotcha.” It was as if she was speaking a different language sometimes.

“Daniel’s awesome when he’s drunk,” she explained. “You know how some blokes get mean or angry? He gets silly. Listen to that laugh!” She smiled over at him affectionately.

It was true. He had the best laugh ever. I wanted to curl up in it and roll around.

“So, what do you think, love? You and Daniel?” Penny said, lifting her eyebrow and clicking her tongue inside her cheek.

“Oh, no, not at all,” I protested. “I barely know him.”

Oh, the lies
. I was marinating in them. I could have been basted, turned over, and served at the next family dinner. My face burned as Daniel sauntered back over to the bar, grabbing himself yet
another
beer. I’d lost track of the number of times he’d replenished his drink, and believe me, I was watching his ass every time he bent down to open that cupboard.

“So then you
are
seeing the bloke from Canoe?” Penny persisted.

“No, it’s not like that with him, either.”

Daniel surveyed his glass. “Tell me,
Aubrey
, is there someone with whom it
is
like that?” A trace of a smile danced on his lips. God, he was unreal! Nobody uses “whom” properly. How the hell was he able to do it when he was half wasted?

“Not at the moment, although I do have a few irons in the fire,” I replied.

“Really?” he said, his voice silky.

“How about you? Do you have any irons in the fire?” I asked.

“I don’t think he does, Aubrey, but I’m guessing there’s one fire he
wouldn’t mind
putting his iron in,” Penny said.

I quietly celebrated this confirmation of Daniel’s single status while Penny laughed at her own crude joke then walked over to cajole Brad and Jeremy into playing a game of darts, leaving Daniel and me alone at the bar. Between turns at the dartboard, Penny and Bradley cuddled and kissed. Poor Jeremy was an unfortunate third wheel in the proceedings.

“Oy! You two, get a room!” Daniel yelled across the room.

“Sod off, wanker,” Penny hurled back.

Daniel looked at me, the one-dimpled grin working its way to the surface. His face was flushed, and he looked like a vulnerable little boy. I returned his smile, but then I had to look away, certain that my face must be betraying every detail of the way I felt.