“Oh, shit,” Silver Fox said. His expression curdled with disgust, and he stepped back into the bathroom, tossing the condoms onto the counter. “Oh, Christ. You need to get dressed and get out of here.”
Carver sat up. The silver fox put the robe back on, then came over and gathered Carver’s clothes from the floor, flinging them at him.
“What the fuck?” Carver exclaimed.
“Your dad’s a friend of mine,” Silver Fox said, pointedly averting his eyes from Carver’s naked body. “We play golf together. Please just get out of here.”
Carver became suddenly and completely furious. He slid to the edge of the bed and yanked his briefs back on, then his pants. “Seriously? I can’t evenfuckin this fucking town?”
“Lower your voice, son,” Silver Fox commanded.
“Don’t call me son, Jesus Christ, you had your fingers in me sixty seconds ago.”
“Please stop talking.”
“I hope every time you look my dad in the eye, for the rest of your life, you think about that.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he spluttered.
“I don’t know!” Carver shouted, whipping his shirt on and doing up the buttons haphazardly. “I keep fucking waiting for someone to tell me!”
Silver Fox scoffed out a laugh. “Alright, now I know which one you are. You’re the basket case who works in private equity, the one who’s never home.”
Carver’s heart throbbed with sudden grief. “That’s me, motherfucker,” he said. He got to his feet and stumbled around in search of his loafers. “Tell your wife hello from the Novacks.”
“Look, we’re agreed that no one is finding out about this, correct?”
“Yes,” Carver scoffed. “First of all, I don’t even know your fucking name. What am I going to do, point you out and scream that you touched me? You’re not coming to theweddingor something, are you?”
He assumed the answer was no, but then he turned to see Silver Fox had a stricken look on his face.
“Jesus!” Carver said.
“My daughter’s friends with your cousin,” Silver Fox said. “Just, if you see me there, please play it off.”
“Yes! Oh my God, shut up.” Carver felt his pockets to make sure everything was there. “You are such a pathetic closeted old queen.”
Silver Fox glared at Carver as he ushered him out the door. “Pathetic closeted young queen,” he snapped, then slammed it on him.
Carver let out a sound of frustration and smacked the door in retaliation, then headed for the elevator with the meat of his palm stinging.
When he got back, Carver sat in the driveway for a few minutes before going into the house. He rang the doorbell, but no one answered, so he tried the knob and found it unlocked. The golden retriever greeted him, looking excited, and Carver stroked his sweet soft head for a moment before going down the hall toward the sound of female voices in the kitchen. For the life of him he could not remember this dog’s name.
He found Conway, Nora and his aunt Josie in the kitchen, looking flustered and sounding like they were frustrated not with each other but with some external situation.
“Hi,” Carver said, sidling into the kitchen. “What’s up, did the weather forecast change?” Fantastic, he sounded completely normal. Hell yeah.
They all looked at him, and Nora blew out a sigh. “No, but Letty and Sana were supposed to have their rehearsal dinner tonight at Mill Tavern, and they just called to tell us that a pipe burst in the kitchen and they have to shut down for the whole weekend.”
“Your mom generously offered to host it here instead, but we’re going to have to get some catering,” Josie said, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. Like Nora, her natural hair color was a graying dishwater blonde, but she opted to dye hers a chestnut brown instead of bleaching it. “And see if we can round up enough chairs. It’s like, twenty people.”
“Your sister’s going to decorate,” Nora said, reaching up to stroke Conway’s hair. Conway smiled reflexively.
“Good,” Carver said. “She’s good at that stuff.”
“She is. She has a feminine touch.”
“An artist’s touch, even,” Josie said, making eye contact with Carver.
