3. Character reference
Character reference
Jules flipped through the channels on her TV, utterly and completely bored.
In the six weeks since New Year’s Eve—and her resolution regarding Malcom—she’d experienced several more moments where she’d thought of him. It was almost like he was popping into her thoughts even more, now that he was forbidden.
It was both annoying and inconvenient.
On this particular Sunday night, with no work to be done at Three Amigos and nothing but the TV to keep her company, her mind began drifting.
She’d always told Paige as soon as men got introduced to her ‘crazy’, they ran away like babies, and for the most part that was true.
But as Jules gave it more thought, it occurred to her to wonder if she was choosing the wrong men …
men who she knew would run away. Was she afraid of really investing herself emotionally into a relationship and then possibly being discarded?
She prided herself on her honesty, but what if she was being dishonest with herself? Or worse, what if she was being a coward?
What if she took a chance with a man who was really looking for long-term, and he didn’t run away?
Slightly unsettled, Jules began flipping through the channels on her TV, barely registering the shows she clicked past, until she came to a showing of The Godfather .
She immediately stopped, just in time to see Michael killing Sollozzo and police captain McCluskey in the Italian restaurant in the Bronx.
The violent and bloody scene made her think of Malcom, which made her think it would be enjoyable to be watching it with him.
Not surprisingly, this led her to wonder what he was doing at that moment, if he was possibly watching the movie right now (maybe with a woman), or if he was doing something entirely different (also with a woman).
He was a very attractive man, and it was unlikely he hadn’t found someone in the past year.
An attractive man looking for long-term? Yeah, he’d probably found a woman smarter than Jules.
But what if he hadn’t?
She took Malcom’s card out of her purse and held it for several moments.
The card was fairly worn, because she’d looked at it many times, reading the words written on the back in a neat, masculine hand: For a character reference, feel free to call my mom.
Her name is Beverly. She thought back to the meeting with him at the restaurant for probably the hundredth time, pondering the possibility she hadn’t gotten rid of the card because deep down she knew it had the potential to lead to something, but at the same time, she hadn’t called the number on the back, either—for that same reason.
Because she was a coward.
Suddenly the urge to call the number was all-consuming, because she obviously hadn’t forgotten about him, or ripped up his card, which made her resolution pure garbage. But it had now been fifteen months …
Had she missed her window, regardless?
There was only one way to find out … and she needed to find out.
She picked up her phone and saw it was almost 8:00 p.m. A voice inside her brain told her it was too late and she should wait until tomorrow, but another voice told her she wouldn’t be able to wait that long, and she should go for it.
Fuck it, she was going for it.
Before she could change her mind, she quickly dialed the number on the back of the card, telling herself if she found out Malcom was seeing someone else during the course of the character reference conversation, then Jules would tear up the card and not think about him anymore.
And if—by some miracle—he wasn’t? Then she would contact him, apologize for taking so long, and see if he was still interested in going out to dinner with her.
After two rings, a woman answered, “Hodge residence. ”
For a second, Jules didn’t know how to respond. The tone was professional, not like how the woman of the house would answer. “Hello,” Jules said slowly. “Is this Beverly?”
“No. This is the housekeeper, Yvonne.”
“Oh. I was hoping to speak with Beverly. Is she available?”
“I can check. May I tell her who’s calling?”
“My name is Jules Shaw, but she doesn’t know who I am. I’m an acquaintance of her son, Malcom.”
There was a pause, and then, “Please hold for one moment.”
Jules heard the phone get set down (she’d obviously called a landline) and waited until it was picked up and another woman’s voice (this one less formal) said, “Hello?”
“Beverly?”
“Yes.”
“Hi, my name is Jules Shaw, and I’m calling because your son, Malcom, gave me your number.”
“He did? For what reason?”
“A character reference.”
There was a pause on the other end and then, “A character reference? For whom?”
“For … Malcom.”
This time the pause was longer and Jules could only wonder what Beverly’s expression looked like, given that Jules had never seen the woman.
“You’re calling for a character reference for my son, Malcom?” Beverly repeated.
“Yes, I am.”
“Is this some kind of a joke?”
Jules could feel herself starting to get a little nervous, which rarely happened. “No.”
There was another pause. “Then may I ask why you’re calling for a character reference? On a Sunday night?”
Beverly was clearly confused, which led Jules to believe this had never happened before and was a point in Malcom’s favor.
It obviously wasn’t a schtick he used on women.
However, Beverly also seemed a little perturbed at the timing of the call, and that was not a point in Jules’ favor, causing her nervousness to grow.
What she’d thought would be a cute phone call was turning into something awkward, with the potential to end badly.
“I apologize for calling and interrupting your evening,” she quickly said. “I just … I know this might sound strange, but I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to find out if Malcom was still … available. ”
“Available? For what?”
“A date.”
“A date?”
“Yes. You see, I met Malcom in a restaurant and during our conversation, he asked me out on a date, and—”
“He did?” Beverly interrupted. “When was this?”
Not wanting to say exactly when it had been, in case the woman hung up on her, Jules stretched the truth a little. “It was several months ago, I’m embarrassed to say. I would have called much sooner, but I had some … personal issues … to deal with first.”
“Okay. So, how does the character reference come into it? Do you screen all your prospective dates this way?”
“No.” Jules chuckled softly at that and felt her nerves settle a bit.
She then proceeded to give Beverly a brief rundown of the encounter with Malcom at Kyoto, starting with Brent and ending with Malcom’s business card.
The only thing that got left out was the reference to glasses being worn during ‘sex and whatnot’, and when Jules was finally done, she finished with, “He told me to call him if I decided I did want to go out with him, and on the back of the card, he’d written your phone number and the words, ‘For a character reference, feel free to call my mom. Her name is Beverly’. ”
There was silence on Beverly’s end for several seconds. “Well, I must say, that was all rather interesting—not to mention amusing. Especially The Godfather part … although, a more challenging question for him would have been the name of the horse whose head ends up in the movie director’s bed.”
“Oh, my God, you’re right,” Jules agreed with a laugh, wishing she’d thought of it herself at the time.
“It was also very surprising,” Beverly continued, her tone now contemplative.
“Surprising in what way?”
“Getting me involved. He’s never done that before,” Beverly revealed. “Plus, his approaching you in the restaurant is really out of his comfort zone. He can be quite shy when it comes to women.”
“Really?”
“He’s learned to hide it pretty well, but yes, he can be.”
Well, shit. That actually made Jules feel even worse, knowing he’d probably taken a real chance to talk to her that night. “I wouldn’t have expected him to be shy, given how … attractive … he is. ”
“His looks have always made him uncomfortable, to be honest. Sometimes it draws the wrong kind of women, so his asking you out tells me he must have been more than a little smitten with you.”
Double shit. Jules now felt like a total asshole.
“So, what would you like to know?” Beverly asked, getting back on track. “I’ve never given a character reference before, so maybe you should just start asking me questions.”
“Well, first I need to know if he’s even available to go on a date. Because if he’s not, then a character reference is unnecessary.”
“As far as I know he is available. He was seeing a woman recently, but that didn’t last, and he hasn’t mentioned anyone new.”
The relief was real, and Jules felt her heartbeat spike in response to that good news. Of course, it didn’t mean that Malcom would automatically want to see Jules again, but at least there was the possibility of it happening with that other woman now out of the way.
“That’s … what I was hoping to hear,” Jules said. “I had told myself if he was seeing someone, I would rip up his card and not think about him anymore, so now I don’t have to.” She paused for a moment before adding, “Unless of course his character reference falls short.”
“Of course,” Beverly agreed, sounding amused. “So, what’s your next question?”
“You know, I probably should have had a list ready, but I don’t, so I’ll have to wing it, I guess. Maybe you could just start by listing some of his attributes? What makes him stand out?”
“Okay, but you’ll have to keep in mind that as his mother, I’m a little biased.”
“I understand, and I’ll take that into consideration. In fact, I’ll make a point of only believing half of what I hear. How’s that?”
“That’s fair.” There was a soft chuckle. “So, let me start off by pointing out he has excellent manners. He actually started holding doors open for me when he was only five years old. It was very sweet.”