Chapter One
Ethan picked up the phone on the second ring. “Ethan Winter, speaking. How may I help you?”
“Ethan, honey, it’s me!”
He set down the pen he was using and leaned back in his chair, a smile on his face. “Hey, Mom. What’s going on?”
“Look! Can you see me?”
Bemused, he reflexively turned to the window of his office, but of course his mother wasn’t standing outside in the hallway.
“How...how can I see you, Mom?”
“I’m waving at you. You can’t—? Hmm, I’m not sure this thing is working.”
Ethan frowned in confusion and then sat forward when he remembered that today was when the technician Max had hired was going to be installing a special video phone at his parents’ house.
“Are you trying to use the video phone, Mom?”
“It’s not showing anything. I can see me, but where are you?”
He tried to picture the device in his mind, but he’d seen it only briefly when Max had showed it to him on the internet.
“The video will only work if you’re calling someone who also has a video phone,” he told her. “You can also use it for Skype calls with me. Did the tech show you how to do that?”
“Oh, dear. No, he—well, I may have told him that your father and I have a handle on it and that we’d figure out the rest on our own. I felt embarrassed admitting how little we know, Ethan. We’re just a couple of old fuddy-duddies, I’m sorry to say. So...you really can’t see me?”
“I’m afraid not. We won’t be getting our own video phone until later.” He felt badly for her. It was Ethan who’d brought up the idea of the phones since he figured his parents wouldn’t be able to figure out how to use video calling via cellphone or computer. The special phones with their tablet-sized screens were meant for people like his parents who weren’t technically savvy and struggled with social media.
“I suppose we’ll have to call the young man back,” his mom said, with a sigh. “I just didn’t want to waste his time...”
Ethan laughed gently. “It’s okay, Mom. He’s being paid to help you. In fact, the longer he needs to help you, the more he gets paid, so for him, it’s better if you take it slow. Feed him some pie or something.”
“Oh. Well, I'm relieved to hear that.” She sighed again. “I’m so sorry, Ethan. Your father and I should have made a better attempt to keep up with the times. But everything began moving so quickly and without a computer...we were left behind.”
“You’re not the only ones who were, so don’t worry about it. We’ll have the tech come back and show you everything you need to know. And if you end up feeling uncomfortable using the phones, we can ditch them. I just thought they’d be fun for you to use with Max’s parents.”
“Oh, I certainly want to see them,” she rushed to say, making Ethan hold back more laughter.
His parents were dying to learn more about Philip and Marcela. When Ethan and Max had returned from Spain, the first social call he’d received had been from his mother, asking how the trip had gone, what Max’s parents were like, and what it was like to eat in a foreign country. He’d had an Iberian ham leg mailed to his parents’ home in Indiana and when it had arrived, his mother called him in a panic, asking him what to do with it since the specially cured meat was so firm. She’d thought the meat had gone bad.
Now, the prospect of a wedding was on the table, and Ethan’s parents—well, his mother—was consumed with the planning of it and was even more eager to interact with Marcela to collaborate. The video phones would hopefully help with that, assuming they were up and running.
“They’re eager to meet you, too,” Ethan said, which might be an exaggeration, but was true in spirit. The Pooles were too reserved to be called ‘eager’, though they had certainly transformed into different people by the time he and Max left the country. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that their true selves had finally come out. Marcela had even given Ethan the traditional European double kiss, and on his cheeks, no less. That practically made Ethan a favored son, or so he’d teased Max.
“I’ll call them and let them know you’ll get in touch with them next week,” he told his mother. “That should give the technician time to come back and show you how to fully use all the features.”
“Alright. Hopefully this young man can return tomorrow or the next day. I can’t help feeling that time is running out.” His mother laughed, sounding slightly embarrassed. “Can you tell I’m excited for this? Your poor father. I keep dragging him to the florists to look at arrangements. He probably hopes you and Max will change your minds and get married at the courthouse. Please don’t do that,” she added hastily.
He wished he could squeeze her hand to reassure her. “We wouldn’t do something like that to you, Mom. Everyone knows how much moms love to plan weddings. It’s in your DNA or something. I’m just grateful you haven’t been looking at wedding dresses for me.”
“Ethan! Bite your tongue.”
Laughing, he spun lazily in his chair and checked the time on his computer. “Hey, Mom, it was great hearing from you. I have to go in a bit. Is there anything else I can help you with? Oh, and how’s Dad?”
“Your father is your father. I let him pick out his own suit for the wedding and he chose a very nice one. Be sure to compliment it when you see him in it. He’s so handsome,” she said proudly.
“Well, of course he is. He made me.”
As she giggled, he straightened up. “Okay, well, I have to go, but I can call you back after my meeting if you need me to?”
“No, no, I shouldn’t have called you during work hours. Be good for Maxmillian and tell him we love him.”
“Alright, will do. I’ll give the tech a call when I get back. Love you, Mom. Tell Dad he looks sexy in his new suit.”
He hung up with her scandalized laugh in his ears. He missed them. Though he spoke with them frequently by phone, it wasn’t the same as being in the same room with them, and he looked forward to the wedding if only because he’d be reunited with them.
But of course, it would be more than that. It would be his mother fluttering around him and Max, a hundred times more delighted than during Ethan’s high school prom days. He groaned at the memory of how long he and his date had been forced to pose for photos back then. He’d better warn Max about what lay in store for them.
As he headed down the hallway, he noted that, once again, the office was nearly completely empty. It was a great sign. It meant most of the agents were out on assignment with clients. The Elite Poole Worldwide had been booming for several months now, ever since the ad campaign featuring Max and Ethan. Ethan himself had been booked consistently every week and he was grateful to be doing what he enjoyed and helping to grow his husband’s dream.
Soon-to-be husband, he reminded himself with a smile.
He knocked and waited for Max’s crisp “Enter” before letting himself into the large office. The seating area, which comprised half the space, was no longer useful to Max for chatting with clients. Boxes of potential wedding supplies had usurped the chairs and loveseat and were stacked against the wall beneath the windows. While their mothers had taken charge of the wedding, Max contributed by helpfully ordering products that Ethan’s mother was afraid to consider due to their cost. Through Ethan’s trickery, Max learned which favors she was interested in and which decorations, and ordered them with his own account. She might have refused the shipments if they were sent directly to her, but Ethan knew that if he sent photos of the products, already opened and spread out on the carpet, she’d resignedly (yet delightedly) accept that they should keep them.