The Geek and His Artist (16 page)

“Hi! You must be Simon! Oh, I’m so happy to meet you.” She nearly bounced on her toes, like she wanted to launch herself at him.

“Amy,
really
,” Jimmy groaned. “Simon, my sister, Amy. Amy, this is, of course, Simon.”

Simon could only smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Amy took a couple of steps forward. “Can I hug you?”

Simon blinked and glanced up at Jimmy, who shrugged as if to say
I have
no
clue
, so Simon simply nodded.

Amy gave a tiny shriek and wrapped him up in a big—though still gentle—hug. Simon hadn’t been hugged much since his mother died, except by Jimmy, which was very different from this. He returned the hug and knew he was a little awkward, but he couldn’t much help it. He liked hugging, but wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.

“Oh, come on, come on!” Amy pulled back, spun on her toe, and grabbed Simon’s hand all at the same time. “You have to meet Dirk and Dad and, oh, you met Mom, that’s right, but you have to see her, she’s in the kitchen and dying to see you.”

“Amy!” Jimmy nearly shouted. “Take a breath and stop manhandling my boyfriend.”

She stopped abruptly and blushed. Simon liked her a lot, but he was kind of glad Jimmy had stopped her too. It was like getting caught in a hurricane. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“How do you ever manage to contain that in your work?” Jimmy asked.

She grinned. “With most of the kids, they like it. With others… I can, when I need to. You saw me ask first, right?”

Jimmy sighed. “Yeah, you asked. But for fu—goodness sake, take a breath.”

She laughed and turned back to Simon, who felt a little shocked. “I’m sorry. I get a little… excited.”

Simon found himself grinning. “It’s okay.”

“Do you want to meet the others?” she asked.

He nodded and looked up at Jimmy, who stepped up to him.

“I’ll be here. Don’t worry so.”

Simon turned back to Amy and nodded again, and she led him into the living room.

The furniture wasn’t the newest stuff around, but it looked comfortable. The plush blue sofa took up the biggest portion of the room. It looked big enough to accommodate Jimmy’s full height, and Simon guessed that was probably why they’d chosen it. Opposite the sofa, a large LCD TV hung on the wall. Under that sat a beat-up entertainment system, weighted down with an Xbox 360, a PlayStation 3, and a Wii. Controllers of every color for each of the consoles filled the rest of the space. A coffee table took up a spot between the entertainment center and the couch, and opposite the doorway they stood in, a matching loveseat provided more seating. The rest of the room held bookshelves. On almost every available bit of wall space, he saw either a full bookshelf or built-ins, most with a few scratches on them, which told Simon they were well-used. Even on the shelves, the books weren’t neatly lined up. They overflowed, stacked on top of other books, sitting in piles in front of the stacks, and he even saw some on
top
of the bigger sets of shelves.

He absolutely adored it. Simon had been so afraid he’d walk in and feel completely out of place in his jeans and comic book T-shirt. He should have guessed if Jimmy was the way he was, his parents weren’t likely to be all that different, not with the way Jimmy talked about them.

Some of Simon’s nerves started to fade.

Only to come back with a vengeance when the doorway in the back of the room was filled with a figure even taller than Jimmy by a good two inches. That could be none other than Jimmy’s dad, and Simon got a glimpse of what Jimmy would look like at forty-five. Which was to say, except for a few gray strands sprinkled through the goatee and a few laugh lines around the eyes, not much different. They could have passed for brothers.

Simon hoped they were still together then, because Jimmy was going to still be
really
good looking. The fact that Simon was looking at Jimmy’s
dad
only made the whole thing a little weird. He was going nuts and needed to focus on the now.

He swallowed, trying to fight the nerves, forgetting completely that he was still holding Amy’s hand. Jimmy’s landed on his shoulder—lightly, there were still a few sore spots—and Simon found he could breathe again. He realized Jimmy’s dad had said something.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Simon managed, blushing.

“Oh God, not sir, that makes me feel old. Dad, please.”

Simon blinked. “Uh, okay…. D-Dad.”

He smiled, and Simon saw Jimmy’s grin peek through the goatee. “Good. It’s good to meet you. I hope you’re hungry.”

Simon’s stomach decided to help him and growl. Simon didn’t find it very amusing, and instead wanted to sink through the floor.

But Jimmy’s dad just smiled wider. “Good! Good. My amazing wife has outdone herself today.”

Simon found himself smiling.

Amy chose that moment to tug on his hand. “Let’s go. Dirk’s in the kitchen, probably trying to steal bites.”

He let her pull him along but made sure he held on to Jimmy too, so that they made a funny chain. They passed through a dining room Simon could only glance at, filled with a long table, built-in china cabinets, and a window seat, before they went through another door.

The kitchen wasn’t really built for so many people at once, and Simon immediately started to back out, but he came up against Jimmy and was forced to stop. Amy tugged on his hand again—the woman must have hands of steel to be able to hold on to him through all that—and pointed at the other man in the kitchen. “That’s Dirk, my dork.” She giggled and Dirk rolled his eyes. He had thick, rust-colored hair, a full beard to match, and even sitting Simon could tell he was shorter than Simon’s six feet. His eyes got lost in his chubby cheeks, complete with freckles and dimples, when he smiled.

Dirk stood and crossed the room, and Simon saw he was stocky and probably weighed a small ton—and could very likely lift it too. He had muscles that were very defined, even through the loose sweatshirt he wore, proclaiming the Panthers the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl—
that was a bowl?—
Champions in 2013. “Hi, nice to meet you. It’s good to see Jimmy’s got someone.”

“Uh, thanks. It’s nice to meet you too.” Simon took the hand offered and shook it, grateful his wasn’t sweaty.

Dirk grinned at him and leaned in. “If you like pie, I bet she’d let you taste the filling before it goes in the oven. She always likes the son-in-laws better.” He winked at Simon, who put a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing.

“I heard that!” Jimmy’s mom said as she stepped away from the stove and around Amy. “Hi, Simon, it’s good to see you again.” She raised an eyebrow at her daughter, then smiled at Simon. “And Dirk’s right. The son-in-laws are usually better behaved.”

Simon blinked at her.
Son-in-law?
But he followed her when she put an arm around him and guided him to the stove.

“Mom! Don’t scare him. Good grief. We’re not married.”

“Yet,” she said, with a snicker, and Simon’s eyes flew up to Jimmy, but Jimmy was smiling and shaking his head, so Simon returned the smile. “Now, the rest of you: out. Let me spend some time with my boys.”

“Hey! I’m your boy,” Jimmy protested, but his mom waved the cooking spoon threateningly and Jimmy held his hands up. Before he left, though, he leaned in to Simon. “Are you okay?”

Simon nodded. “Your family is… a lot, but I like them,” he whispered back.

Jimmy’s smile was immediate and wide. He dropped a kiss on Simon’s cheek, which earned him an “aww” from Amy, then hurried out of the kitchen.

Simon turned back to Jimmy’s mom.

“Now that they’re gone,” she said, turning to her cooking. “First, do you have any allergies or anything you can’t eat?”

Simon shook his head, then realized she couldn’t see it. “No, ma’am.”

“Mom. Not ma’am, I told you that. I’m not old. And not ‘Mrs. Bennet’ either. That’s my mother-in-law. Mom is it.”

“Mom, sorry,” Simon said, and found himself grinning. “No, not that I know of.”

“Good. Anything you really don’t like?”

“No,” he said honestly, though he was sure there was stuff. He had the culinary range of a teaspoon. He’d been living on Hamburger Helper, mac and cheese, and the like since his mom died.

She nodded again. “Good.” She gave the pot she was working on another stir, then set the spoon down and moved over to another counter. She fiddled with a big electric mixer, then turned and held out a beater coated in something brown to each of them. “Brownie mix?”

Simon grinned and stepped up to take it. Dirk took his and winked, and Simon couldn’t help but return the wink. As Simon started licking the beater, he found himself hoping again that he and Jimmy stayed together for a while. Simon had a feeling he could fall in love with Jimmy’s family almost as much as he’d fallen in love with Jimmy.

He reminded himself of Jimmy’s vow in the car. It wasn’t exactly wedding vows, wasn’t exactly “I love you,” but Simon had hope that those words were buried in there somewhere and he’d hear them, maybe even soon.

S
IMON
HAD
helped pour batter, been sent with Dirk to get cans of pop out of the basement, and had even stirred the filling for the peach pie. Once he’d finished that, Jimmy had come back and grumbled something about slave labor, though Simon hadn’t minded one bit. Jimmy’s mom had made him feel like part of the family.

Jimmy got sent to retrieve a tablecloth from the basement for his trouble, but when he came back with it, he’d grabbed Simon and escaped. Simon couldn’t really argue, because he ended up sitting with Jimmy on the loveseat, with Jimmy’s arm around him. Mr. Bennet was currently battling a pack of grunts, and Simon watched him dispatch them before moving on to their elite leader. He’d played
Halo 4
a few times over at Deck’s, but he’d never been the best at the first-person shooter games.

Jimmy’s dad, on the other hand, was kicking serious ass. Simon couldn’t decide if he wanted to watch the screen or Jimmy’s dad, who was moving around with the controller and shifting on the couch as he played.

“Dad kind of gets into his games,” Jimmy said and Simon laughed.

“I can see that. It’s funny.”

“Are you doing okay? They’re not too much for you, are they?”

Simon looked up and shook his head. “No. I like your family. I wish I’d had one like this. Mom tried, but….”

Jimmy nodded. “Yeah, well, they like you already. Amy wouldn’t stop talking about you while you were in the kitchen. Good thing that’s one of my favorite things to do too, or I’d probably have duck-taped her mouth shut.”

Simon blinked. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to laugh at the idea of Jimmy taping his sister’s mouth shut, or be awed by the fact that Jimmy liked to talk about him. He settled on chuckling and kissing Jimmy’s cheek.

They went back to watching his dad, but a few minutes later, Amy poked her head out of the kitchen. “Mom says you have to finish your mission and save, Dad.”

“Okay,” Mr. Bennet said, but Simon wondered if he’d registered what she said.

Sure enough, a moment later, Jimmy’s mom popped her head in. “Joseph?”

“Yes, dear?”

“Kill the pig.”

“Yes, dear.”

Simon slapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. Jimmy was shaking as he controlled his own mirth.

“I’m running away to Jamaica and buying a boat.”

“Okay, dear,” Mr. Bennet said.

“I’ve been having sex with the neighbor,” she continued, and Simon struggled to keep in his snort.

Jimmy’s dad hit the Xbox button on the controller and looked over his shoulder. “Be sure to offer him some of the bacon on your way to Jamaica.”

Simon lost it, laughing harder than he could remember laughing in a long time. Jimmy and Amy were nearly hysterical, and Dirk was guffawing from the window seat in the dining room.

Mrs. Bennet crossed over to her husband and dropped a kiss on top of his head. “Dinner’s about ready. Save and quit.”

“All right, love.” He looked up and puckered his lips, and once she’d sighed dramatically and kissed him, he saved his game.

“Your parents are awesome,” Simon said when he’d finally gotten control of himself.

“Yeah, they’re pretty good. I got really lucky.”

Simon nodded. “Very.”

They settled in at the big table in the dining room. Mrs. Bennet had pulled out what she called her “nice” dishes—though Simon thought the ones in the regular cupboard looked plenty nice—and silverware, both of which had vines of ivy decorating them. Cloth napkins sat folded under the silverware, and stemmed glasses held their drinks: Coke for Amy and Dirk, Mountain Dew for Mrs. Bennet and Jimmy, and Dr. Pepper for Mr. Bennet and Simon. Jimmy had leaned over as they’d approached the table and told him not to take any of it too seriously—his mom liked a nice table, but they were far from formal.

Simon figured the pop-filled wineglasses only reinforced that.

The middle of the table was filled with more food than Simon had ever seen at one time, even on Thanksgiving. Meatloaf, which smelled divine, couscous, roasted potatoes, a green bean casserole, some kind of corn that had cream cheese in it, and a basket piled with rolls that had just come out of the oven. The peach pie and brownies were cooling on the counter for later.

“Simon, hand me your plate. I’ll dish up some of this meatloaf,” Jimmy’s dad said.

Simon passed his plate down and watched as Mr. Bennet forked up a huge slab. “Thank you, sir. Uh… not that—”

Jimmy’s dad put a second large slab on his plate. “You have to eat a lot, or we’ll insult her,” Mr. Bennet said, tilting his head toward Jimmy’s mom. “It’s the best meatloaf in the world. You don’t want to miss this.”

“Kiss-ass,” Jimmy’s mom said, snorting as she took the plate, then piled corn and green bean casserole onto it.

Simon grinned when Amy, Dirk, and Jimmy snorted too.

“Hell, yeah. I know where my bread’s buttered.” Mr. Bennet winked, and Simon felt himself blushing.

“Dad! Can you please keep the sex jokes away from the table? At least until my boyfriend gets used to you?” Jimmy’s cheeks were turning bright red.