“Hopefully that will be rectified somewhat by my visit here,” Max said. “And to answer your question, my family is based in Europe and in England, but my life, for all intents and purposes, is in Las Vegas with Ethan.”
“Europe and England, huh?” Bob and Larry exchanged looks. “Fancy,” Bob muttered beneath his breath, though he looked intimidated rather than disapproving.
“We recently visited his parents in Barcelona. That’s Spain,” Ethan added casually when he saw Bob start to frown. “I did the whole fish out of water thing for all of us. It was pretty comical. I probably embarrassed Max.”
Max smiled at him. “Not at all. It was a wonderful trip.”
Ethan held his gaze. “It was.”
“Looking at how lovey-dovey you two are, I guess this wedding is the right thing,” Larry said after clearing his throat and reaching for a plastic-covered menu. “Kind of reminds me of Barbara and me in the early days.”
“Nowadays they pretend they don’t know each other,” Bob muttered.
“We definitely pretend we don’t know you,” Larry shot back. He tapped the menu. “So, we eating or what?”
Ethan’s smile was strained. “Oh, we’re eating.”
~~~~~
Conversation was as awkward as Ethan had expected for the first half hour or so, but with food in their bellies, Larry and Bob began to relax around Max and seemed to stop viewing him as an interloper. Ethan enjoyed hearing how Winnaker Security was doing— “same old, no cases worthy of a big shot Las Vegas bodyguard” —and news about their families— “Arlene’s got it into her head that we should start looking into buying a tiny house. Our house is already friggin’ tiny, you want to make it worse? That HGTV channel is the devil, I tell you.”
Ethan managed to eat half of his hamburger, with Max doing a bit better with his, before shoving his plate aside. Bob, who’d gotten up to use the restroom, came back with a spring in his step and slapped something on the table in front of Max.
With an elegant eyebrow curved, Max picked up the plastic card. “Rechargeable Power Card,” he read off the colorful card.
“Yeah, I feel like it’s my duty as Ethan’s good friend to make sure you’re worth him,” Bob said, grinning widely. “That’s a formal challenge, in case you didn’t get it.”
Max coughed into his fist. “I understood, yes.”
“Oh, jeez,” Ethan groaned, meeting Larry’s laughing eyes across the table. “Do you want to verify that Max offered enough camels, too, Bob?”
“What are you talking about camels for? I’m talking about me whooping his ass in games.”
“Challenge accepted,” Max said with a glint in his eyes as he stood up. “I’ll even allow you to select the first game.”
Unable to believe what he’d just heard, Ethan gaped as Max and Bob walked out of the bar area to head to the gaming side of the restaurant.
“Wow, never in this lifetime did I expect to hear those words come from Maxmillian Poole,” he said.
“Guy seems real classy.”
“That’s an understatement.” Ethan rested his forearms on the table. “But I hope you see him as more than that. I wouldn’t have fallen in love with someone shallow who only cares about money and appearances. You know me.”
“I do, as a matter of fact, which is why I’m not worried you made the wrong choice.” Larry leaned back in his chair. “I just hope you don’t forget who you are.”
Unease rippled through Ethan. “How could I forget that? I’m not a Vegas guy, Larry. Not at heart.”
“But you live there now and I’m guessing you’ll live there for a long time to come since his company is there.”
“True, but...” Ethan flipped through the words to express how he felt. “Our life there is glamorous, I guess. I won’t claim it’s not radically different from here. But it’s a city like any other once you get away from the lights. It’s full of people like me, people who moved there from elsewhere. Not everyone is rich. Not everyone cares about fine dining or gambling.”
“So, you’re saying you haven’t changed?”
“Well, of course I have, but—”
“Don’t get me wrong, Ethan. It’s no good to be an old stick in the mud like me. You’re young. You have to experience things and grow.” Larry spread his hands in a what can you do action. “But he—Maxmillian—seems like a strong personality. I just don’t want to see you lose yourself.” His smile held embarrassment. “I happen to like who you are, crazy as that is. You were my favorite employee.”
“You had only two,” Ethan said with a chuckle.
“Now I’m stuck with the worst one, Lord help me.”
A whoop rose up from the gaming area. Ethan shook his head and Larry grinned when they recognized Bob’s voice.
“I’d give a million dollars to film him and Max right now,” Ethan said. “You have no idea how out of character this is.”
“That’s kind of what I’m getting at,” Larry said in an unexpectedly gentle tone. “Will one day it be out of character for you to play air hockey?”
Ethan stared at the table for a few seconds. “It’s unfair to put this on him, Larry. Why aren’t you asking if I’m changing him? I’ve dragged him to Indiana. A lot of people wouldn’t want to come here. He did. He wants to see where I grew up, he wants to meet my friends. He wants to be a part of this life, even if it’s unfamiliar to him. It’s far more pleasant for me to slide into his kind of life. It’s not so easy for a man like him to live this one. But he’s doing it. For me. Look, I’m going to change and I want to change. He can teach me things just like I can teach him things. I don’t see what’s so wrong with that. We’re supposed to grow, right? Isn’t that what couples do?”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
Tipping his head back, Ethan groaned. “You tricked me.”
“Wouldn’t call it tricking,” Larry said, but his grin was smug. “Just wanted to hear it straight. For the record, he kinda scares me, but I can see he’s over the moon for you. That’s what I would have wanted from anyone you ended up with, Ethan. I just had to make sure that you hadn’t lost your head over him or anything.”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, but I absolutely have lost my head over him.” Ethan smiled. “He’s the only one for me, Larry.”
“If you’re going to get mushy, I’ll call Barbara. She’s better at handling that stuff.”
“She’ll love the wedding, then.”
“About that.” Larry’s expression was dubious. “You really intend to hold it here? Your man’s from ‘Europe and England’,” he said in a comically deeper voice. “Why the hell would want to hold your wedding in the VFW hall here?” He leaned forward suddenly. “Please tell me you’re not doing it in the VFW hall.”
“No, it won’t be there.” Ethan was getting a kick out of his former boss’s reactions. “We’ve reserved a venue that’s beside a manmade lake.”