WHO: Elvera MacLaver and Henry March WHEN: Shortly after Elvera’s date with Tad HamiltonRhett Wyatt WHERE: Henry’s home SUMMARY: Elvera and Henry talk about her date with Rhett over some wine. WARNINGS: Sexually suggestive, nothing explicit.
“Are you in a red or a white mood today?” Henry asked as he looked over the neatly stacked wine rack. The bar was built into the wall, a simple push to the paneling revealing it. It was always nice, having secret little spaces even if he was the only one who ever really needed to know.
He glanced over his shoulder towards Elvera with the slight hint of a smirk. “Or am I making something harder than that?”
“Oh, behave,” she scolded as she tried to keep her smile (the kind that drew from experience), from growing. She sat on an armchair, facing away from him as to buy herself a little more time to get her damn face under control. From over her shoulder she called, “Anything is fine, really.”
“Careful, anything could get you a double.” He mused, fingers running distractedly over bottles before picking one. There was half a memory of Elvera enjoying this vintage before.
“But I told you to behave!” Cork was popped, wine poured, and Henry came back with two glasses. One was offered up to Elvera before he took a seat in the chair next to her, tilted perfectly for the conversations he rarely had here.
“So,” Elvera pulled her legs underneath her-- feet bare, as she would never dream of putting her shoes on his furniture-- with the kind of difficulty she thought would be impossible when she was 22. Stiff. Tired. Joints. Aging. Etc. “How have you been?” Toeing around what she knew must have been on his mind.
“Fine.” he gave with the best kind of descriptive and cryptic smile. “Went out of town for a few days. Shame I missed the auction. You know how much I love donating to the community.”
Elvera let her eyes roll. A true sign of comfort and familiarity as she sipped her drink to force a small little pause. “There’s always next year. And the time in between, even. Charity is charity no matter the day.” Her smile almost mimicked his. Almost. She doubted she would ever be able to curl her edges with the same kind of wickedness he did.
Henry shrugged, waving his free hand easily in the air to brush that suggestion away. “What’s the point if no one gets to give you credit and tell you how amazing and generous you are? Or to pick up all the useless things no one bid on. I’ve gotten some very nice things that way. Half of your birthday presents.” he sighed before taking a sip. “Of course I heard someone else showed me up.”
“Nothing gets by you, Henry.” The way she laughed, soft and playful, suggested she meant nothing by the comment other than a playful, friendly jab.
“I like to pretend I’m very smart.” Henry chuckled easily, comfortable and familiar. “And not that literally no one in this town can keep quiet about something like that.”
“It was… I felt a little bit like the sacrificial townie, to be honest with you? He’d said he’d always meant to spend that much, and thanked me for being a good sport.” She held her cup with two hands now, brows knitting together and eyes staring into her wine as she recollected the moment. Her lips pursed, sealing away a sheepish smile despite the fact that she couldn’t hide the pink tint to her cheeks. “He’s very sweet.”
“Well I can attest that you look amazing in sacrificial white.” he offered as if that would be even the least bit helpful. “Or is this a naked sacrifice. Because that’s equally good.” he smirked at that while she rolled her eyes.
His head tilted back slightly, amused at the description of the random actor attempting to piggyback his resurrection on Henry’s family tragedy. He supposed there could be worse options. “Sweet? Sounds just your type.”
The implications of this went over her head. Elvera sipped at her wine again, savoring the taste; Henry knew how to pick them.
“He’s also a bit… Well, he rented out a mattress store…”
An eyebrow cocked up, a smirk to match against his glass. “Well that’s presumptuous. He thought you’d use all of them? Or one that was just right?”
“He wanted to buy one for me? And-- of course I couldn’t. That was too much.” Her legs pulled up against her chest as she leaned against the high rise of the arm of the chair for support.
Henry couldn’t help the snicker that escaped, shaking his head at the idea of it. It seemed like a pointless display of wealth, unasked for charity and asking for gratitude. “You mean you didn’t immediately swoon into his arms?”
“I told him I couldn’t accept it,” she defended herself, “and he was very understanding,” she defended him. “We ended up going to get Tacos at this small shack I’d remembered.”
“Tacos, eh?” Henry continued to smirk, taking another sip. “There’s no implication in that at all.”
“He was a gentleman,” she insisted as her cheeks burned ever brighter.
“Oh, he was gentle.” he nearly giggled, childish and amused. “That’s good to know, I won’t need to give him a stern talking to.”
“Henry!” Despite the sudden pitchiness to her voice, her smile betrayed her, soft and idly musing on the what could have been, for she was only human, and Rhett Wyatt was only Rhett Wyatt.
“I hope you didn’t call him Henry. I’d like to think I’m more handsome.” His grin was wide at her smile. It wasn’t too far too push, he usually knew exactly which line to follow with her.
“Weellll,” Elvera let the word drag out a little, as if results were still up for debate. The strained inflection at the end of the word was accompanied by an exaggerated thinking face and a ‘so so’ motion of her hand.
A mock gasp brought his hand to his chest. His mouth fell open playfully. “Elvera! I am offended!” his voice carried a pitch of false outrage.
The glass was set onto the end table between them and he playfully crossed to her chair. Hand teased light at her side. “I’ll have to kick you out right now.”
“Be kind,” she spoke quietly and evenly, clearly a command despite the soft way her tone dance. Elvera kept her hands to herself, making a point of staying polite, though it was undeniable that she had gripped the round of her wine glass just a little tighter.
“I should be kind?” He grinned, leaning in just a little closer as his voice dropped to a low whisper. “You just called my brother’s actor handsomer than me. Very hurtful.”
There was a moment where she could feel an apology bubbling in her throat. Her mouth even opened, but hung in quiet as she caught his grin. She exhaled through her nose quietly, her head tilting softly to the side as she tried to think of something clever to say, but alas. Wit was not her strength.
So she went with her first instinct, though it was laced with much less earnestness than her gut initially wanted to call for, “I’m very sorry, Henry.”
“You are?” Henry mused, his hand reaching up to catch her chin for a long moment. The smile easily lit his eyes. “I’m not so sure.”
She didn’t fight it; she let her body slacken and her eyes soften. “You’ve always been so cynical…”
“I’m just the right amount of cynical.” he smiled easily, pressing a light kiss to the tip of her nose, which wrinkled under its touch, pulling her lips up into a closed-lipped smile. “You’re not cynical enough.”
“Spoken like a true cynic.” She dropped her head so that she could look at the wine glass she still held, too anxious to put it down on the end table blindly.
“Well I come by it honestly.” His hand fell to rest against hers on the glass. It was a question, with an easy yes or no. One with enough history behind it for either answer to be accepted.
“You do,” she agreed as her eyes lifted back up, locking onto his with ease. There was a small little moment that she allowed to pass, savoring the quiet little moment where she could just look on with fondness before she tilted her head up and forward, lips finding his.
Henry eased the wine glass away from her, reaching out to set it on the end table while her hands, not as youthful as they used to be though they still felt the same, cupped his face. It was an easy, comfortable kiss to fall in as his lips smiled against her. “Maybe I could use a little sweet today.” He mused softly.
“You know, I have just the thing,” she indicated with promise, following through with action as she offered an eskimo kiss, kind and sweet, before kissing him chastely once more.
He laughed easily, simple and delighted as he kissed her back. “That hits the spot.” He caught her in another kiss, a little deeper before pulling back and returning to his chair. “I'll forgive you. For now.”
“How gracious.” He has a practiced ear by now and could pick up on the nuances in her tone-- what was heartfelt. What was sarcastic. Her legs unfurled from underneath her and crossed as she picked her wine glass back up, clearly not seeming to mind the fact that he was playing hot and cold. “Anyway… tell me about your time out of town? Did you enjoy yourself?”
He picked up his own glass in mirror to her. “Nothing that interesting.” He shrugged. “Checking in on some investments. Meetings. Nothing interesting unless you're up for talking about stock.”
“Oh, goodness. You know I’m just… all about stock…” The way in which Elvera spoke suggested that this was a lie: she did not know the first thing about stock. Nevertheless, she smiled and cozied into her chair, settling in for an evening of pleasant conversation.