London Calling

Chapter 2

“Monica, dear, do we have a clear connection?”

“I can hear you very well, Sarah. How are you, darling? And why aren’t you here? St. Lucia just isn’t the same without you!”

“How sweet of you to say, Monica, but my daughter insists on doing Christmas here; you know how family can be. And then there is my newest great grandson.”

“Oh yes, sweet little Taylor. Carlyle and I were just looking at your latest pictures. Little Taylor is so like his famous uncle, isn’t he?”

“Why yes, Monica, you are quite right. I had a lovely Thanksgiving with Justin and his family at his country estate. He’s a bit eccentric; he lives way outside the city. You know how those artistic types are.”

“Oh yes, I know. Speaking of artists, have I ever thanked you properly for sending that wonderful Ethan Gold? He’s such a dear and sooo charming. He's been keeping company with my niece, but he could only stay a month. We were so sorry to see him go. The London household misses him. I hear he was very generous to the staff. Reuben was especially heartbroken.”

“Which one is Reuben, dear?”

“He’s the young man in charge of the cars and the garage. Our Rolls has never been so polished.”

“So have you let the house?”

“No, we haven't and I am very disappointed but Carlyle insisted that we fly down to the islands the first of December. You know how he detests the holidays; he finds them rather tedious.”

“I fully concur but one must keep up appearances at times. My brother-in-law insists that I represent the Kingsley family here, I would so much rather be in New York or Boston or London, but he is the eldest.”

“I know just how you feel. But Sarah, darling, what can I do for you? These island calls are so expensive.”

“Oh my dear, it’s not what you can do for me, but rather what I insist on doing for you! Justin Taylor will finally exhibit in London! Isn’t that so exciting?”

“Oh Sarah! Is he truly coming to town?”

“Yes, my dear, dear Monica. I know for a fact that his agent has been making arrangements to send some of Justin’s more memorable pieces.”

“Sarah, I had the opportunity to see his work in New York. He...oh, how can I put this delicately? He paints nude men, doesn’t he?”

“Only one, dear. If you’re agreeable, Monica, may I pass along your solicitor’s information to the young man. I believe he and his family may be planning to spend a month in London.”

“Please do, Sarah, I would forever be in your debt. I do so hate to leave my house unattended. Will he be bringing children?”

“I’m sure the youngest will be with him; their eldest is at university.”

“I must insist they bring their au pair. I can’t abide unsupervised children loose in my home.”

“Oh of course, Monica, we all have standards. But not to worry, the young lady in mind is quite remarkable. You have my personal guarantee.”

“My dear Sarah, I hope you don’t believe I would ever cast any aspersions on you? You have always sent me the highest caliber of guest. You have impeccable taste.”

“Thank you, Monica, so sweet of you to say. I believe I have your man’s card. Shall I contact him and make the overtures?”

“Please do, with my blessing.”

“Monica dear, have a wonderful holiday and I shall see you just after the New Year. We must do lunch.”

“Oh yes, darling, and bridge. You must make our fourth; Carlyle is a dreadful player.”

“I’m looking forward to it. Kisses, dear. I’ll see you soon.”

“Happy holidays, darling. Call me as soon as you arrive!”

 

*****
 

“Kinney-Taylor residence,” Bree said as she answered the phone for her Dada who was currently cracking eggs to make their breakfast omelet. “Who’s calling?” Bree asked politely.

“This is Sarah Kingsley. To whom am I speaking?”

“Hello, Mrs. Sarah Kingsley. This is Briana Victoria Kinney-Taylor.”

“Briana, my dear, aren’t you a little young to be answering the telephone? Where is your father?”

“My Dada is making breakfast and I’m big enough. I use a stool to reach the phone.”

“I see. May I please speak with your Dada?”

“Hold on, please,” Bree said as she held the phone close to her chest then addressed her Dada. “Dada, the Mrs. Sarah Kingsley wants to talk to you.” Brian turned away to wipe his hands on a towel, snickering while he did. He quickly regained control then took the phone.

“Thank you, Squirt. Good morning, Sarah, how may I help you?”

“Brian dear, you cook breakfast?”

“I do, and you’re welcome to join us anytime, Sarah. What can I do for you?”

“Are you aware Justin called me the other day regarding your trip to London?”

“Yes, ma’am, we have no secrets.”

“Justin mentioned that you’re considering renting instead of staying at a hotel.”

“We are considering that option. We value our privacy.”

“I fully understand, dear. Hotels can be so tedious.” Brian sighed, wishing Sarah Kingsley would get to the point. “Sarah, I don’t wish to be rude but I have an omelet to flip.”

“Oh yes, I’ll get right to the point. My cousin, Lady Monica Rutledge owns a townhouse in London. She and her husband are wintering in St. Lucia. They would be honored if you and Justin would consider making their home yours while you’re in London. If you have pen and paper handy, I can give you the name of their representative. He’ll be happy to give you all the details.”

“Thank you, Sarah. This is very unexpected. I’d be very happy to cook you breakfast anytime,” Brian said in his most flirtatious and sexiest voice. Sarah giggled like a schoolgirl.

“I’m happy to be of help, dear, and I do apologize for disrupting your culinary exercises.” After Sarah gave Brian the information, she asked for Bree.

“Briana, dear?”

“Hi, Mrs. Kingsley.”

“Briana, what’s your favorite color?”

“I like pink the best, but I also like purple and yellow.”

“Thank you, Briana. Enjoy your breakfast. Goodbye now.”

“Goodbye, Mrs. Kingsley.” Bree carefully hung up the phone then helped her Dada get breakfast on the table.

 

*****
 

“Hello, mother,” Brian said into his phone.

“Brian, I haven’t talked to you in over a week.”

“I know. It’s that busy time of the year.”

“I … I wondered…”

“Wondered what, mother?” Brian asked with a frown. It wasn’t like his mother to beat around the bush. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no, nothing wrong,” Joan said. “I have something to ask you, and I don’t want you to get mad. If you don’t want to do it, you can just say so.”

“Tell me what you want before I begin to think you want a kidney or something.”

“Brian!” Joan said horrified.

Brian rubbed his hand over his eyes and down his face. “I didn’t mean that quite the way it came out. I’d give you a kidney if you needed one.”

“Thank you, but I don’t need a kidney. I wanted to invite you to the carol sing and concert at my church. Since I won’t see you after Christmas when you go to England, I thought it might be nice to go as a family, you and Justin and Bree, and Gus if he’s home.”

“When is this?”

“Thursday night.”

“Gus will be home by then,” Brian said slowly. The last thing he wanted to do was go to a fucking Christmas concert. They were already going to Bree’s on Wednesday night. Brian was about to turn his mother down when he thought better of it. Joan wasn’t getting any younger, and they were going away for at least a month, probably longer. It wouldn’t hurt him to spend some time with his mother before they left. “Okay, mother, I’ll talk to Justin, but I think we can be there.”

“Oh, Brian, this will mean so much to me. Thank you, dear.”

Brian could hear the happiness in his mother’s voice and he was glad he had accepted her invitation. “See you Thursday.”

“Come for dinner first,” Joan said. “I’ll make something special.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to. It’s for my son and his family. It has to be special.”

“Okay, mom,” Brian replied. “See you Thursday at dinnertime.”

 

*****
 

“Hey, Pop.”

“Sonny Boy, this must be my weekly phone call.”

“Pop, I’m sorry if you resent me limiting your calls.”

“Sorry’s bullshit … and I like yanking your chain. It’s good practice for the real world you’ll have to live in when you’re out of school.”

Gus laughed. “Thanks for the life lesson … I think. You’re not really mad, are you?” he asked uncertainly. He really was asking if his father was hurt that he didn’t want Brian calling and checking up on him every day, but he knew it wasn’t wise to phrase it that way with his dad.

“What did I just say?” Brian asked pointedly.

“That you were yanking my chain.”

“Right, so let’s move on to more important topics.”

“Like?” Gus asked, knowing what he wanted to talk to his father about. He wondered if Brian would bring up the subject most predominantly on Gus’ mind.

“Like when you’re coming home and what plans you’ve made for the holidays.”

“Um, I heard today that my class on Wednesday has been canceled. I could come home Wednesday … if I had a car to get there,” Gus added pointedly.

“No car till next summer.”

“Okay,” Gus sighed. “I figured that was what you’d say, but it was worth a shot.”

“Always worth a shot,” Brian conceded with a smile. What teenager didn’t press for a car? “So, are you coming home on Wednesday?”

“I’d like to, but the moms thought I was coming Thursday, and they both have work commitments for Wednesday. Neither can get away to pick me up.” Gus tried to make his voice sound pathetic without being too obvious.

“You’d like me to come get you?” Brian asked picking up on what Gus was driving at.

“Could you?” Gus said hopefully. “Everyone else is leaving early. I don’t want to be stuck here by myself. I’d rather be home.”

“There are things called Greyhound buses, you know. They travel all over Pennsylvania and beyond.”

“That sounds like one of Justin’s PSA’s.”

Brian chuckled. “They’re pretty inexpensive too,” Brian added.

“You want me to take the bus?” Gus asked in surprise. This didn’t sound like his dad.

“What do you think?”

Then the light dawned. “You’re yanking my chain again, aren’t you, Pop?”

“Maybe just a little.”

“So, can you come and pick me up?”

Brian was tempted to respond that he could always cum, but thought better of it. That line was so out of the past, and this was his son he was talking too. “Sure, but I’d prefer to pick you up Tuesday night. Bree’s Christmas concert is Wednesday night.”

“You could come Tuesday? That would be great.”

“For you, Sonny Boy, anything!”

“Pop, you better stop yanking on that chain or I’m going to croak,” Gus joked.

“So, Tuesday night it is.”

“If you came Tuesday afternoon…” Gus suggested hesitantly. “My last class is done by four p.m., and I’ll be sure to be ready. I could maybe spend the night at the cottage with you and go to my moms’ later in the week.”

“That works for me. Should I get you a ticket for Bree’s concert? It’s Wednesday night.”

“She’d love that, wouldn’t she? Sure, Pop. I’ll tell the moms what we’ve decided and I’ll see you on Tuesday,” Gus said happily.

“It’s a date. Oh, and we have some other things to discuss on the drive home.”

“We do?”

“Yeah, see you soon,” Brian said before cutting the connection. Let his son mull that over.

 

*****
 

Gus looked at his phone after his father cut him off. With a frown he hit the speed dial and waited.

“Hey, Gus,” the voice replied.

“Ray, my dad wants to talk to me.”

“So?”

“That usually means something serious. Maybe he won’t let me come to your place for New Year’s.”

“Did he say that?” Ray asked disappointment evident in his voice.

“No, but…”

“Hey, don’t jump to conclusions.”

“I can’t help it.”

“I’m sure it will be fine. But … call me as soon as you know.”

“I will. I miss you.”

“You too,” Ray said. “I gotta go. I’m on my way to class.”

“Yeah, talk to you soon.” Gus cut the connection and stared out the window of the lecture hall. His own lecture would be starting soon. He wondered if he’d be fucking able to concentrate at all. Damn! What was his father going to tell him? And then it hit him, maybe his dad was yanking his chain once again. Gus sure hoped so.

 

*****
 

“Honey, I’m home,” Justin called as he came in the door.

“Daddy!” Bree squealed as she raced to the front door and threw her arms around Justin’s waist or as close to his waist as she could reach.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Justin said leaning down and hugging his daughter. “Did you have a good day at school?”

“Yep, we’re getting ready for our Christmas concert Wednesday night. You and Dada are coming, aren’t you?”

“Of course we are.”

“Good.”

“Where’s Dada?”

“Cooking.”

“Oh, glad to hear that,” Justin said as he headed for the kitchen.

“Hey, blondie, you finally decided to come home to your loving spouse,” Brian snarked.

“Yes, I did, my poor, mistreated spouse.”

“You got that right,” Brian said but smiled to show Justin that he was just kidding. “Come here,” Brian ordered as he pulled Justin into a kiss, and handed him the knife he had been using to get potatoes ready for supper.

“Thanks,” Justin said with a sigh.

“Just kidding,” Brian said taking the knife back. “Pour yourself a glass of wine and tell me how your meeting with Sidney went.”

“I think we’ve got most of the details worked out.”

“Good.”

“How was your day?”

“Busy. I have to pick up Gus at Penn State late Tuesday afternoon. Do you have to meet with Sidney again?”

“Probably, he seems to find more and more shit that we need to decide on.”

“I talked to Mrs. Sarah Kingsley,” Bree said proudly as she sat at the kitchen table listening to her fathers.

“You did?” Justin asked. Bree bobbed her head.

“Bree did a very professional job of answering the phone,” Brian offered. “I contacted the person Sarah told me to call. All the info for a townhouse in downtown London is on the computer. The representative of Lord and Lady Rutledge sent me all the specs. You can have a look after dinner.”

“Great,” Justin said with a smile. “I’m sure it will be quite the place if they’re friends of Sarah Kingsley.”

“Will there be lots of ‘do not touch’?” Bree asked with a worried look.

“It will be our house while we’re there, sweetheart,” Justin said. “We’ll put all the ‘do not touch’ away.”

“’Kay, Daddy,” Bree said happily.

“Oh, and I promised my mother we’d go for dinner on Thursday and accompany her to her church’s Christmas carol sing,” Brian added.

“You did?”

“I said I’d talk to you first,” Brian said quickly. “We can back out if you need to.”

“Not at all. I think we’re going to have lots of Christmas spirit this year.”

“Certainly looks that way,” Brian added, and he didn’t seem too upset at that prospect at all.

“I like Christmas spirit,” Bree said swinging her feet under the table.

“You have been a busy boy today, my big smoosh,” Justin said with a wink.

“And later tonight I’ll expect a big reward for services rendered.”

“Goes without saying,” Justin grinned.

“Huh?” Bree asked.

“So what are you making for dinner?” Justin said quickly.
 

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