
Every table in the dining room could be seen from all the others. They designed the space that way intentionally to keep it from becoming pretentious and cloistered. It wasn’t too hard noticing all the patrons were wearing the same basic expression as he stood up to take a bow. Other than the family, they were dumbfounded by hearing him, completely on the fly, turn a popular Beatles tune into the gayest love song of all time. After nearly ten years, he’d found his voice again.
Finn got his payback toward the end of the evening when Harry refused to do an encore unless “BoyFinn” sang their long-forgotten duet with Elijah first. How he’d come into possession of that arcane bit of knowledge, only Cindy and Jill could say with any degree of certainty.
Vocal cords are odd little critters. Even without exercise, they have an elastic memory and can pop right back into place. Since she was there, as his last song, Elijah sang the one he’d composed for Alexis after introducing her. To my ear, his pipes sounded better having lost the last vestiges of that boyish quality. He sounded like a man, albeit a highly-gifted one as the words flowed effortlessly from memory to mouth to every ear in the place.
Jason came out of the closed kitchen, placed a hand on Finn’s shoulder and they stood there in silence until he’d hit the last note and closed the lid of the piano. “Dude, that was seriously beautiful. And so is your sister by the way. Think you could hook me up?”
“Pimp your own ride, daddy. I’ll introduce you, but that’s as far as I go, stud.”
Nicole was asleep on the futon in Piglet’s room when they crept in to check on their reason for living. Finn quietly closed the door and they were both asleep in short order after an exhausting, but exhilarating opening night. Sometime around four, Elijah felt tiny fingers taking his ear off as Matthew David used it to pull himself onto the bed and carved a place for himself between his reasons for living.
Sundays were Nicole’s days off. She was gone when they were stirred awake by their son stating quite clearly as he shook Elijah’s shoulder, “Hungwee, Dada.”
“You’re also wet, Piglet. Let’s get you a new diaper. Then we can… Oh my God. Wake up, Finn. Your son just told me he’s hungry in berry, berry plain Engwish. Michael David, can you tell Poobah what you want for breakfast?”
He blinked a few times thinking about it and exclaimed, “Egg. Gum bear.”
‘Gummy bears’ were what they called his dried fruit, nuts and raisin snacks. The battle of the bottle had been epic, but they’d managed to wean him off two months previous. Finn was elated as his son toddled away in search of his sippy cup. Neither he nor Elijah connected the incident to someone else having found their own voice again…
They’d showered, dressed and even managed to bathe Aiden before Connick’s film crew arrived. Piglet had discovered the wonders of showering with his dads tossing him back and forth like a beach ball. Other than swimming, it was his favorite activity.
Boy did that kid remember uncle Harry. When he walked in the door, Matthew David went screaming from the room and brought back his fire truck. I thought they’d never stop laughing until the female producer picked him up and said, “I’m not feelin’ the love with this guy having a speaking part. You’re a trip, kid.”
Uncle Harry was tripping out over the fact of them not having a piano. “Dang! I was hoping to get another song from you, brother Elijah. You had Jill in tears last night.” Finn didn’t dare mention the two untouched keyboards gathering dust in the attic when his husband shot him the evil eye.
Four hours later after pitching a fit when he realized the film crew was packing it in, Piglet and his Poo Bear sippy cup went down for a nap. Poobah made his first of three trips to Hoffman’s for the day. After an early supper at six, he went again and came home at eight. Elijah asked why he hadn’t stayed when Finn picked up his keys to leave once more at ten.
“Because I want them to understand I could walk through that door at any time. But hear me good, Elijah Ballard. We’re not going to do this the way my mom and dad did. Once the staff figures out we mean business, I’ll back off. You and Piglet won’t be spending every night home alone. And by God, when that baby is fourteen, he won’t be slinging salads in a commercial kitchen. He can make them for us at home.”
Midnight had rolled around by the time Finn came home from the third and final tour of duty. Elijah was drinking hot cocoa and scribbling on a note pad. “Hey babe, how’d it go tonight?”
I don’t know yet. I’m still reeling over last night. Take a guess how much we made? What are you doing there?”
“I’m just playing around in my head. Thinking about song for Matthew David. I have no idea, Finn. Maybe $10,000?”
“Hell no. We made more than that downstairs. People seem to really like expensive wine to go with expensive food. Try $15,000 downstairs and $14,000 upstairs.”
“No shit? Yuppies and hipsters spent all that money on shrimp balls, crab dip and sushi?”
“Babe, we sold out of Korean BBQ. I wish pot was legal. Those people had some serious munchies. Kevin said we were pouring 400 drinks an hour. That hot bartender, Nate, made $600 in tips. At the staff meeting tonight, Jason told them to be on the lookout for another Greek God to sling cocktails. I hate to tell you this, but half the clientele upstairs was gay, is gay. It was the same way tonight.”
“My love, I could care less as long as they have opposable thumbs and disposable incomes. You and Jason done real good, baby. How are we on reservations?”
“Try January 15th to get a table downstairs.”
That’s crazy. We’ve been open two days and we’re already booked six week out?”
“You have Matt to thank for that. We should do something really nice for him.”
“See if he wants a Volvo. I know a guy that can totally hook us up.”
“Hooking up reminds me. Guess who’s got the hots for Alexis?”
“Any straight guy with a dick and a pulse?” Elijah replied laughing.
“Blow me, bitch,” Finn said while slapping him. “It’s Jason. Gimme a kiss. I’m going to bed, Dada, if you’d care to join me.”
Hoffman’s downstairs is closed Mondays. It was a damned good thing it happened to be closed that first Monday after opening. Matt was the point-man fielding the calls about the Waco properties from the business broker and Realtors. He got a whopper mid-afternoon. Some snow bird with money to burn, was offering exactly $4.8 million dollars cash for the entire package, minus the Hoffman name emblazoned on the building.
Cindy was at a doctor’s appointment when Dave accepted the offer and hung up so Matt wouldn’t hear his voice cracking at the thought of a stranger sleeping in his bedroom or cooking in his kitchens. It made the joy of the news bittersweet, but life isn’t for the faint of heart.
Carlos took the news well when informed he was out of a job. They’d been together a long time. “I’ll come down to tell the crew myself,” the boss offered.
“Don’t do that, Dave. Don’t put yourself and Cindy through it. Everyone knew it was the end of the road when you left. I’m not worried about it. I know you’ll take care of me. But let me take care of this. When it’s over, I’ll bring Marcella up and those crazy kids of yours can buy us dinner. We looked at the menu on-line. She’s dying to try the Million Dollar Meatloaf.
They couldn’t call it Kobe beef legally. Cindy had decided on the new name because she understood how Texans think. The more it cost, they better it had to taste. Even Matthew David knew that. In no uncertain terms, it was what he preferred for his din-dins. I had to look away when one of the boys would put ketchup on his plate. I also looked away when Dave signed the papers selling the house, two acres of land beneath it, and the four others under the restaurant after Christmas.
Trudy wasn’t able to make it. Her vacation time had been used up with London and a quick trip to Dallas weeks before. She sent gifts along with sincerest apologies. Matthew David’s present may have been prescient on her part, but it appeared to be an innocent gesture. She was delighted to hear he liked it.
Clever device, the keyboard would light up where little fingers were supposed to follow. If he hit them in the correct order, it played a children’s song. The lights could be switched off and it had to be done from repetition, memory and most importantly, the driving interest in making music rather than simply noise.
Shortly before New Years the phone rang. “Sir, the invoice says it’s to be delivered to 104 Carillon Circle. Are you Finn Hoffman? We were given your number as the contact.”
“But I didn’t order a piano. Who did? This must be some sort of mistake.”
“I doubt it, Mr. Hoffman. People don’t usually send this nice a piano to someone by mistake. My purchase order is signed by a Jill Connick. I can have the office call and say you refused it.”
“No, don’t do that. Can you come tomorrow morning?”
He’d been off the phone ten minutes when someone knocked at the door. Peering out the window he saw a pair of great legs jumping in a Fed-Ex truck and driving away. It was a Christmas card only a few days late. ‘Happiest of Holidays from our family to yours. May your home be filled with love, laughter and the sounds of the season. —Harry and Jill.’ At the bottom of the card were three stickers of red firetrucks neatly lined in a row.
“Babe, I know we have to pay it forward. Send them a fat check made out to the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, mon chéri. Harry’s been fishing for a donation to the Musician’s Village. We have to go down there soon and take a tour, Finn. Piglet and Aiden have never been on a real road trip. By the way, have we done anything nice for your brother yet?”
“I’ve fished around, Elijah. He doesn’t seem to want anything.”
“Then he’s a lucky man, lover. But don’t you find it weird none of them are married except us? And we’ve been together how long?”
“Including all those trips you made to the salad bar?”
“Yeah, including the salad bar.”
“This is absurd, but I think about fourteen years. Can that possibly be right? It only seems like…”
“Yesterday. Yeah, I know, Finn. I thank my lucky stars when I wake up next to you every morning.”
Shows what the hell I knew. I thought Elijah would be waking up next to Alexis. My aim had been off by a narrow margin, but dealing with time, space and unique personalities, it may as well have been the broad side of a barn I’d hit with my quiversful of arrows. Nobody would remember beyond myself and Elijah eons in the future my best shot piercing the tiny diamond embedded in his beating heart. Karma told me I’d gotten lucky it hadn’t shattered into a million pieces.
“It’s been broken before. Elijah will survive. He and Finn are going to get through this. Chaos isn’t amusing anyone but herself.”