“Love is certainly never safe, but it’s absolutely worth it.” --Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown
Joe shows up six months later with a bag of Vietnamese takeout. To his surprise, Booker already has the relevant condiments in his pantry. Booker shrugs; Quỳnh always is absent whenever one of the family visits. He’s not going to push it.
“I wasn’t sure I’d see you,” Booker says.
“I wasn’t either.”
And they both say, “Nicky was,” and laugh.
“He got me to come by betting me it’d take me nine months to work up the nerve,” Joe admits.
“So you’re visiting me just to win?”
“Absolutely,” Joe agrees amiably. Booker thinks he’ll have to thank Nicky somehow. Maybe a knitted scarf? He picked up the hobby a century ago and hasn’t touched a set of knitting needles in years, but Nicky had sent a photo of a knit sweater with a goose on it recently saying he loved how whimsical knitting had become. “So I hear you have a book club going.”
“Uh, yes?”
“Great, here’s your next book.” Joe plops a book on the kitchen counter, a romance judging by the illustrated cover. “I’ll be back in three weeks! I’ve sent you a calendar invite. Gotta go!” And then he’s gone.
It’s a bit of a whirlwind, but Booker doesn’t mind the brevity of Joe’s visit. Joe was probably gauging how much he still wanted to punch him.
*
After Joe’s impromptu visit, Booker asks Quỳnh what exactly her plans are on seeing the rest of the group. “I know you’re taking it slow,” he says, “but if they’re going to drop by unannounced…?”
She waves her hand. “James already knows about me. We’ve talked.”
“You talked,” he repeats faintly. He imagines Quỳnh shocking the poor man, and once she leaves, Copley researching all the seeds of goodwill Quỳnh sewed long before photographs were in use.
“We’ve an arrangement, just like you and I. I will introduce myself when I am ready. Don’t worry, I can stay ahead of them; I was always the best at hide and seek.” Booker isn’t sure if that’s a joke or not, but she takes mercy on him and winks. “If they already know and mention me, it’s alright, but…” she details what she’s comfortable with him mentioning. Not much more than that she’s here, alive, and will come back when she’s ready. “They know this already,” she says. “So, let me read this book of Joe’s, since I know you’re going to wait until the last week…”
*
With two weeks until his phone call with Joe, Booker tears through the romance novel, and immediately suspects the book is a message for him. “A woman with a bucket list of things to make her life worthwhile?” he asks when Joe appears on his computer screen. “A little heavy handed don’t you think?”
Joe chuckles. “Since when did you do subtle? Andy all but fell onto your dick before you…”
Booker covers his face. “Enough, enough, you’ve made your point!”
Joe shakes his head. “Mostly I just wanted to know what you thought of the book. The additional life coaching was a bonus.” He leans back in his chair, and then adds, “Andy and Nicky told me they each did a second book as a getting to know you thing. So I brought another book.” He holds up his copy to the camera. This book has a pink cover, also illustrated, although the characters look decidedly young.
Booker takes it. “Three weeks again?”
“Sure, but I don’t think you’ll need that much. I’m here for another two days.”
When Booker grabs a copy from the bookstore, he realizes he won’t even need a full day; it’s a comic book.
*
When Quỳnh comes home from the gym (“I have a lot of conditioning to catch up on,” she says primly, “although being kept in salt water was great for my skin”), Booker asks her a long overdue question. “Does it bother you that Andy and I have slept together?”
“No.” She putters into the kitchen with bare feet, deciding what to eat from the fridge. “She is not a painting to be possessed. She’s had a long list of lovers over the years, but it is I she returns to in the end.” She shrugs. “Are you worried I’m jealous?”
“A bit?”
She looks at him out the side of her eye. “If I slept with you, would it even the score?”
Booker turns red. “Uh…”
“Men aren’t normally who I seek out, but we used to joke sex was part of the welcome to being immortal package,” she notes nonchalantly. “It wouldn’t be romantic love between us; it would be an activity between friends.” She plucks the smoothie he made this morning out.
He remembers the affront on Andy’s face when he turned her down the first time, so he tries to strike the right tone in his careful reply. “Thank you, but no.”
Quỳnh laughs. “If you could see your face!”
*
When Joe arrives for their in person book club, the first thing he says is, “So, did you cry?” before he’s even removed his sunglasses.
“I gave a manly sniffle.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not the one wearing sunglasses to hide their red eyes.”
“It’s from jet lag!”
“Uh-huh…”
They settle onto the couch, and work their way through the charcuterie board. Joe demolishes the brie while Booker starts with the salami. They rally back and forth about teenage awkwardness, the use of empty space, and monkhood as a time-honored method of avoiding one’s problems.
Booker also asks a question for Quỳnh, “What did you think of the fashion?” Joe’s gives him a meaningful look, rubbing a hand over his beard. “If only we could all be that daring in our fashion choices. Quỳnh would love a dress that made her look like the devil’s wench, or to make people faint with her provocative choices.”
Booker has a reply on the tip of his tongue about the extremely expensive lingerie and atelier catalogs she’s looked through, one of which is titled Riot! Designs. But he bites another bullet instead. “I assumed Nicky and you would pick romances. But neither of you picked romances. Where’d I go wrong?”
Joe leans into the couch, arms spread across the back. With the city behind him, he looks like he belongs in one of Quỳnh’s fashion magazines. “I do love a good romance,” Joe says, “but what could compare to real life with Nicky? Besides, with the work we do, we see the cruelty of the world.” He taps the book against his knee. “This book is a good reminder that no matter how much the world changes, there is sweetness and kindness, and that is worthwhile.”
Booker nods, throat thick.
“Please tell Quỳnh that too, ok?” Hearing her name at last from one of the others still takes Book by surprise. “When Nicky came back from visiting you and started baking that bread he always talked about with Quỳnh, but only when Andy wasn’t around, I knew. So I asked Nile. I know Quỳnh’s gotta do her own thing, but tell her that for me, okay?” Joe’s voice is insistent, a bit of a quaver sneaking in.
“I will,” he promises. “Can I also ask you… how did you believe there would be good things, not just with Quỳnh, but everything?”
Joe gives a deep sigh. “It took practice. To see the good in small things, then in the long scheme of things. And honestly, sometimes it is only bearable because I believe no matter how terrible it gets, there will always be honey.” He takes a deep breath. “And no matter the mistakes our family makes, they’re still family.”
“I’m sorry,” Booker says, knowing it’s not enough, and won’t be for many years. But perhaps, one day in another century, they’ll find a way to laugh about this, even if it seems impossible now.
“Love is never safe, but it is worth it,” Joe says calling back to their first book. “We’ve had plenty of good times too, and there will be in the future if I let you and let myself. And I want that, I just need some time to work through my own anger, and I think you need time to work through your shit too.”
Booker nods. “Therapy is a lot easier these days with the Internet.”
“No shit.” They spend a moment in silence.
“Speaking of family, she wanted me to give you this.” Booker hands Joe a beautifully wrapped chartreuse package, topped with a red bow. He’d helped her tie it just so, so it looked like the kind in commercials.
Joe carefully unwraps it, pocketing the ribbon too, and shakes out a silk scarf the color of the sea off of Malta. “For my hair! I always complained how hard all the travel we did was on it.” He presses it to his face, as if he can smell her. “Tell her thank you, and that I miss her, and I understand. And I’ll be waiting with a great big hug when she is ready. I’ll even do fishtail braids for her like I used to.”
Booker tells Quỳnh this later, and she replies, “Soon enough, we will.”
Frances: Why are you doing all this for us?
King: Look around. In a world where department stores exist, where do kings and princes even fit in anymore? When I first learned the truth, I thought Sebastian’s life would be ruined. But seeing you, I realized everything would be fine.
Books for Booker 5/8
Joe shows up six months later with a bag of Vietnamese takeout. To his surprise, Booker already has the relevant condiments in his pantry. Booker shrugs; Quỳnh always is absent whenever one of the family visits. He’s not going to push it.
“I wasn’t sure I’d see you,” Booker says.
“I wasn’t either.”
And they both say, “Nicky was,” and laugh.
“He got me to come by betting me it’d take me nine months to work up the nerve,” Joe admits.
“So you’re visiting me just to win?”
“Absolutely,” Joe agrees amiably. Booker thinks he’ll have to thank Nicky somehow. Maybe a knitted scarf? He picked up the hobby a century ago and hasn’t touched a set of knitting needles in years, but Nicky had sent a photo of a knit sweater with a goose on it recently saying he loved how whimsical knitting had become. “So I hear you have a book club going.”
“Uh, yes?”
“Great, here’s your next book.” Joe plops a book on the kitchen counter, a romance judging by the illustrated cover. “I’ll be back in three weeks! I’ve sent you a calendar invite. Gotta go!” And then he’s gone.
It’s a bit of a whirlwind, but Booker doesn’t mind the brevity of Joe’s visit. Joe was probably gauging how much he still wanted to punch him.
*
After Joe’s impromptu visit, Booker asks Quỳnh what exactly her plans are on seeing the rest of the group. “I know you’re taking it slow,” he says, “but if they’re going to drop by unannounced…?”
She waves her hand. “James already knows about me. We’ve talked.”
“You talked,” he repeats faintly. He imagines Quỳnh shocking the poor man, and once she leaves, Copley researching all the seeds of goodwill Quỳnh sewed long before photographs were in use.
“We’ve an arrangement, just like you and I. I will introduce myself when I am ready. Don’t worry, I can stay ahead of them; I was always the best at hide and seek.” Booker isn’t sure if that’s a joke or not, but she takes mercy on him and winks. “If they already know and mention me, it’s alright, but…” she details what she’s comfortable with him mentioning. Not much more than that she’s here, alive, and will come back when she’s ready. “They know this already,” she says. “So, let me read this book of Joe’s, since I know you’re going to wait until the last week…”
*
With two weeks until his phone call with Joe, Booker tears through the romance novel, and immediately suspects the book is a message for him. “A woman with a bucket list of things to make her life worthwhile?” he asks when Joe appears on his computer screen. “A little heavy handed don’t you think?”
Joe chuckles. “Since when did you do subtle? Andy all but fell onto your dick before you…”
Booker covers his face. “Enough, enough, you’ve made your point!”
Joe shakes his head. “Mostly I just wanted to know what you thought of the book. The additional life coaching was a bonus.” He leans back in his chair, and then adds, “Andy and Nicky told me they each did a second book as a getting to know you thing. So I brought another book.” He holds up his copy to the camera. This book has a pink cover, also illustrated, although the characters look decidedly young.
Booker takes it. “Three weeks again?”
“Sure, but I don’t think you’ll need that much. I’m here for another two days.”
When Booker grabs a copy from the bookstore, he realizes he won’t even need a full day; it’s a comic book.
*
When Quỳnh comes home from the gym (“I have a lot of conditioning to catch up on,” she says primly, “although being kept in salt water was great for my skin”), Booker asks her a long overdue question. “Does it bother you that Andy and I have slept together?”
“No.” She putters into the kitchen with bare feet, deciding what to eat from the fridge. “She is not a painting to be possessed. She’s had a long list of lovers over the years, but it is I she returns to in the end.” She shrugs. “Are you worried I’m jealous?”
“A bit?”
She looks at him out the side of her eye. “If I slept with you, would it even the score?”
Booker turns red. “Uh…”
“Men aren’t normally who I seek out, but we used to joke sex was part of the welcome to being immortal package,” she notes nonchalantly. “It wouldn’t be romantic love between us; it would be an activity between friends.” She plucks the smoothie he made this morning out.
He remembers the affront on Andy’s face when he turned her down the first time, so he tries to strike the right tone in his careful reply. “Thank you, but no.”
Quỳnh laughs. “If you could see your face!”
*
When Joe arrives for their in person book club, the first thing he says is, “So, did you cry?” before he’s even removed his sunglasses.
“I gave a manly sniffle.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not the one wearing sunglasses to hide their red eyes.”
“It’s from jet lag!”
“Uh-huh…”
They settle onto the couch, and work their way through the charcuterie board. Joe demolishes the brie while Booker starts with the salami. They rally back and forth about teenage awkwardness, the use of empty space, and monkhood as a time-honored method of avoiding one’s problems.
Booker also asks a question for Quỳnh, “What did you think of the fashion?” Joe’s gives him a meaningful look, rubbing a hand over his beard. “If only we could all be that daring in our fashion choices. Quỳnh would love a dress that made her look like the devil’s wench, or to make people faint with her provocative choices.”
Booker has a reply on the tip of his tongue about the extremely expensive lingerie and atelier catalogs she’s looked through, one of which is titled Riot! Designs. But he bites another bullet instead. “I assumed Nicky and you would pick romances. But neither of you picked romances. Where’d I go wrong?”
Joe leans into the couch, arms spread across the back. With the city behind him, he looks like he belongs in one of Quỳnh’s fashion magazines. “I do love a good romance,” Joe says, “but what could compare to real life with Nicky? Besides, with the work we do, we see the cruelty of the world.” He taps the book against his knee. “This book is a good reminder that no matter how much the world changes, there is sweetness and kindness, and that is worthwhile.”
Booker nods, throat thick.
“Please tell Quỳnh that too, ok?” Hearing her name at last from one of the others still takes Book by surprise. “When Nicky came back from visiting you and started baking that bread he always talked about with Quỳnh, but only when Andy wasn’t around, I knew. So I asked Nile. I know Quỳnh’s gotta do her own thing, but tell her that for me, okay?” Joe’s voice is insistent, a bit of a quaver sneaking in.
“I will,” he promises. “Can I also ask you… how did you believe there would be good things, not just with Quỳnh, but everything?”
Joe gives a deep sigh. “It took practice. To see the good in small things, then in the long scheme of things. And honestly, sometimes it is only bearable because I believe no matter how terrible it gets, there will always be honey.” He takes a deep breath. “And no matter the mistakes our family makes, they’re still family.”
“I’m sorry,” Booker says, knowing it’s not enough, and won’t be for many years. But perhaps, one day in another century, they’ll find a way to laugh about this, even if it seems impossible now.
“Love is never safe, but it is worth it,” Joe says calling back to their first book. “We’ve had plenty of good times too, and there will be in the future if I let you and let myself. And I want that, I just need some time to work through my own anger, and I think you need time to work through your shit too.”
Booker nods. “Therapy is a lot easier these days with the Internet.”
“No shit.” They spend a moment in silence.
“Speaking of family, she wanted me to give you this.” Booker hands Joe a beautifully wrapped chartreuse package, topped with a red bow. He’d helped her tie it just so, so it looked like the kind in commercials.
Joe carefully unwraps it, pocketing the ribbon too, and shakes out a silk scarf the color of the sea off of Malta. “For my hair! I always complained how hard all the travel we did was on it.” He presses it to his face, as if he can smell her. “Tell her thank you, and that I miss her, and I understand. And I’ll be waiting with a great big hug when she is ready. I’ll even do fishtail braids for her like I used to.”
Booker tells Quỳnh this later, and she replies, “Soon enough, we will.”