Page 275 of Handsome Devil
Dane
Seven weeks later…
Well, this was interesting.
My mother, Christiana Davenport, was at the same party as a bunch of bikers.
Somehow, I’d never pictured exactly how this would go down until it did. When it came time to plan my thirtieth birthday party and my wife realized I had no plan, she basically took over, which was totally fine with me.
Devi asked me what I wanted and I gave her three directives. Small. Private. Open bar. I also gave her a guest list. And here we were.
The party was in the opulent bar of the same hotel where Devi had crashed a gala and impressed my mother for the first time. Some of my staff were here, including Wiley, who I’d moved to Vancouver so he could keep working with me on a day-to-day basis, and Velma, who’d flown out for the party with her husband.
My mother had flown out, too, annoyed as fuck that I wasn’t having this party in Toronto.
But why would I have it in Toronto? I didn’t live in Toronto anymore.
My grandmother didn’t fly out; she traveled less and less these days, and coming all the way here for a loud party where I’d probably just end up drunk and sneaking out to screw my wife obviously wasn’t high on her priority list. I didn’t blame her. I’d be seeing her next week when I was in Toronto instead, for a well-mannered family birthday dinner.
Probably for the best.
Loud rock music was playing. Lex was doing shots with his buddies. Shane was already drunk and Johnny’s whole band was here. I’d told my friends to bring a few friends of their own if they wanted to.
What kind of party would it be without friends?
Lex had arrived about ten minutes ago with three other dudes in leather jackets, who were obviously of the biker variety. About five seconds after my mom walked in.
I grabbed myself a champagne from a passing waitress. Surely the liquor and my wife would help me get through this night. And of course, my good mood would help.
My mother had already complained about having to come out here, twice, when I greeted her. But I just let it roll off.
Myself, I was coming to love the west coast.
I had Devi. I had my old friends. I had Lex. And I had my office, which I’d officially moved out to Vancouver. I’d still be back and forth to Toronto and keep an office there, at head office, of course. But my home was now in Vancouver.
Devi and I had even bought a house in West Point Grey, not far from Katie and Jesse’s.
My grandmother wasn’t thrilled that I’d moved away. But her disapproval no longer bothered me. One day, Valhalla would be my company, so in the end, it would be run however I wanted to run it. And both my mother and my grandmother would just have to deal.
As I stopped by Johnny’s table to say hello, I looked around for Devi. She’d been in and out, on her phone, and greeting people. And when I saw her walk back into the bar now, with Chaz and some friends, I pulled out my phone and sent her a text.
Me:Hey. I love you.
She probably had a hundred texts like that on her phone now. I sent them to her daily. I told her I loved her, right to her face, even more. It was like I was trying to make up for lost time.
Not just four weeks in Australia. But twelve years, when I could’ve—should’ve—been saying those words to her.
You look beautiful. What do you have planned for today? By the way, I love you.
It just slipped out all the time.
She stopped to talk to Shane and some guys he’d brought with him, so I decided to check in with my mother. She’d beat a path to the bar after greeting me, and I found her there, Manhattan in hand.
She saw me coming in the mirrored wall behind the liquor bottles and turned to me. “Well, this is a lovely party,” she said as I walked up, and I assumed by the tone of that “lovely” she meant elegant yet too rowdy for her tastes. “Devi arranged this for you?”
“Yes.” I kissed her cheek, which had now become my habit. She seemed to be getting used to it, gradually.
She even kissed me back.
