Lewis into making several cakes and pies. X’s family had decided to contribute salads and roasted vegetables.
Sheri and Jason—both of whom were free of any familial ties—were bringing three glazed hams from a local specialty shop. I had once asked Phil about Jason’s family, but he had been loyally mum about it and said he’d need to be sure Jason was okay with me knowing about them before he told me anything.
Flipper wouldn’t be joining us. He and Vivian were going to their family and would be announcing to all their kindred that they had decided to be in a serious relationship.
“So, you never know,” Flipper had said darkly when he informed Phil and me about what he and Vivian planned on doing. “We just might end up there anyway, if it goes fuckin’ ugly.”
The four of us happily hung out with Connor after Da left.
“So, can you guys tell me what an uncuith yuith is?” asked X after the front door closed behind Da.
“Uncouth youth,” replied Alys, who suddenly looked as though she were fighting off more laughter. Her delicate nostrils began to flare.
“Ah…” said X. “Yeah, he’s right about that. Are we still youths?” he asked Phil.
“I think we are to Da,” replied Phil. “I’m pretty sure, technically, we’re just uncouth.”
Connor brought out two acoustics and an upright bass, and the three of them jammed out for Alys and me. Connor and X switched between the guitar and bass. Bass was Connor’s true love—except you wouldn’t know that from the way he kept looking over at Alys, who dutifully kept her eyes on her man.
One day, that woman is going to have to tell me what the fuck that is all about. Did they hook up at some point, and neither of them told me? That fucking sucks! I would have loved for them to be in love with each other! Wouldn’t they know that?
Obviously, they had not. Now, it really was too late. Alys was in love with X. I could see and feel it between them. And X flat-out worshiped her.
“Man, you’re fuckin’ brilliant,” X told Connor after a few jams. “You say you’re moving back here, yeah?”
“I’ll be back permanently after Christmas break,” Connor replied.
X looked at Phil, who nodded.
“Good,” was all X said, and the three of them continued.
Alys and I exchanged a look. I guessed we’d know soon enough what that was all about.
In fact, we had hardly pulled out of the neighborhood before X crowed, “Dude, he has to join the band! He’s got everythin’ we’re lookin’ for!”
“What?” Alys and I both gasped in shock.
Phil was nodding. “We’ll talk to the guys, but yeah, I think we found him.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” demanded Alys.
“We’ve been lookin’ for a fifth member for the band,” explained Phil, his thumb caressing over the top of my hand. “When we’re in the studio, I play the rhythm guitar parts, and our roadie, Scott, plays during the shows. We thought about making him the fifth member, but he’s not really cut out for what we do on a regular basis. And in all honesty, we need someone who has the talent to be a second lead guitarist. Jason wants to try out different types of instruments, do different sounds, so we need someone who can take a lead role while Jason fucks around on a banjo or some such shit.”
“You want my brother to be in NOLA’s Junk?” I asked weakly.
Phil smiled, and his eyes glowed warmly. “Fuck yeah. Flipper and Jace will have to meet him and see if they agree, but I think they will.”
“Oh my God…” whispered Alys. “He’s going to freak.”
X dropped Alys off at her parents’ before heading back to the Plantation House.
Phil and I walked through the backyard, hand in hand, over to my place.
Lili came home not long after with Lewis. She helped me out with my contribution to the feast while Lewis and Phil went to pick up some equipment Lewis had offered to loan for the dinner tomorrow.
“Lewis has been teaching me to bake today. The restaurant is closed this week, and we made apple pies, pecan-fudge pies, that ginger-pumpkin spice cake you tried to make that year…” she chatted on.
I was really interested in the spice cake—truly, I was—but my brain was elsewhere.
“Do you know if anything ever happened with Alys and Connor?” I blurted, interrupting her.
Her face went into complete shock. “What?” she screeched.
“Something had to have happened between the two of them.”