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"Beer would be nice," I replied, preferring a beer over wine when given the choice.
He went to a small built-in chiller and pulled out a bottle of beer from some local craft brewery, which impressed me.
"Thanks," I said and removed the cap, placing it into the trash beside the counter. "I love a good craft beer."
"Me, as well," he replied. "I'll have one, too."
That was a good sign
. He was at least trying to be friendly with me. Drinking beer with me was like a message that the two of us men could be on good terms.
At least, I hoped it was...
I watched while he opened the bottle of chilled white wine and poured a taste for Mrs. Carlson. She took it and smelled the wine's bouquet before taking some into her mouth. So, she was a wine aficionado. I'd have to remember that.
"It's nice," she said, and Governor Carlson poured two glasses for Ella and her mother.
For the next hour, we sat in the living room and listened to some jazz on the sound system, then talked about nothing important, carefully avoiding all talk of current politics. Instead, we talked about the weather, the stock market, my brothers and their various occupations, and of all things, Brexit. It was the closest we came to anything political. I was glad Governor Carlson was being a good boy. I did my very best to be one as well.
We had a very nice dinner, and then I was careful to drink the wine that he chose for the meal. I didn't know a great deal about wine, but it was clear that Ella's parents did and took pleasure in commenting on the wine and its quality and vintage.
Ella sat beside me and we held hands beneath the table, our legs touching.
Finally, after a delicious dessert, we went back to the living room and Governor Carlson played some Christmas music on the sound system and we opened one present each, which was a tradition in the family.
Luckily, I had made sure to buy something for both Governor Carlson and Mrs. Carlson, based on what Ella told me about each of them. I bought a biography of FDR for the Governor which was topping the charts at the time and which was published by none other than Macintyre Publishing. I bought a literary work for Mrs. Carlson -- one of her favorite authors. And for Ella, I gave a beautiful diamond necklace that had once been my mother's.
Both Ella's parents seemed pleased with their gifts from me, but it was the look in Ella's eyes when she saw my gift that made my night.
"Oh, Josh, you shouldn't have," she said and stared at the necklace. "The diamond is so huge."
"It was my mother's," I said softly. "She would have wanted you to wear it."
Ella held her hand over her heart. "Oh, Josh..."
We kissed and I saw Mrs. Carlson smile, while Governor Carlson kept an impassive expression on his face.
It looked like our two days stay in Concord might turn out all right.
3
Ella
Our stay in Concord turned out better than I expected. Besides the initial moment when my father behaved badly towards Josh, bringing up the past with his father, they got along quite well. Christmas morning, we opened the rest of our gifts and had a nice brunch, and then did nothing but watch old movies for the rest of the day until it was time for Christmas Dinner. My father had invited some of his friends over for dinner and so we all got dressed up in our best clothes and spent an hour before dinner having cocktails with the invited guests, and then a very delicious meal of roast turkey and all the trimmings.
Josh and I sat beside each other so I could talk to him when the conversation lagged, just in case, but he didn't need much help. He had quite an animated discussion with one of my father's best friends about the military, even getting down to the nitty gritty about troop deployments in the Middle East, and America's role as the police force for the world. At times, I worried that the discussion would get too political, but luckily, they were all on the same page politically and about the military and so it was a good discussion instead of one that devolved into a battle.
After the guests finally left close to midnight, we all went up to bed and I kissed Josh at his door, winking at him that I'd try to sneak in during the middle of the night if I was able to wake up enough.
"Don't worry," he said and ran his thumb over my cheek. "We'll be together at David's place. Have a good sleep. I'll see you in the morning. We have to drive back to New York and catch our plane."
"Okay," I said and kissed him again.
Then I went to bed and slept like a proverbial log.
* * *
In the morning, after I had a shower and dressed, I bumped into Josh on the stairs as he was coming up from the main floor.
