The Last Birthday Party by Gary Goldstein

Author:Gary Goldstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romantic comedy
Publisher: Hadleigh House LLC
Published: 2021-05-03T21:37:07+00:00

Jeremy wasn’t the only one enjoying newfound partnership. Matty learned that one’s aunt could be a perfectly good judge of her nephew’s romantic viability, particularly after Matty took one look at Gabe’s shirtless photo and deemed him eminently “callable” (though Jeremy suspected that was in place of another more colorful adjective). Matty and Gabe met up the following night—the night after Jeremy and Annabelle’s auspicious reunion—and, unlike their respective father and aunt, reportedly got immediately busy, shared ten-grain pancakes and veggie bacon the next morning, and were now shuttling between each other’s apartments almost every night.

As far as Matty was concerned, he’d hit the boyfriend jackpot: Gabe was not only charming and funny and looked like Zac Efron but with better abs, he was also a personal trainer who could give Matty a run for his money on the bench press as well as lots of free workout tips. Jeremy had never seen his son so happy and focused; he was positively glowing these days. He even seemed to be enjoying his job more. That bark mitzvah? It went from “shit show” to “event of the month.” Matty worked on two more of those dog simchas since, plus a party he invented for the felines called a cat-e-chism. Don’t ask.

Jeremy hoped the Matty-Gabe thing would continue: for his son’s sake, of course, but also because it might get weird with Annabelle if they broke up. A step ahead of Jeremy’s concern, she already told him not to worry, whatever happened was between the boys. And who knows, maybe Gabe was the steadying influence Matty needed. Much as he adored his son, Jeremy needed to start trusting the boy’s instincts more, trust that Matty would find his way and better commit to the world around him. And remember that he was still only twenty-three.

So Monolith. One night, about a week into both couples’ romantic whirlwinds, they had a double-date dinner at Jeremy’s. They all cooked (Annabelle set the menu and picked up the fixings), drank a lot (Jeremy’s two-drink ceiling was now a distant memory), laughed their asses off, and traded secret stories in an impromptu truth-or-dare-type round-robin. They learned a lot about each other.

Jeremy could have lived without Matty’s teenage story that involved buying flavored condoms at a 7-Eleven, but at least he was being safe, right?

Somewhere between the chicken meatballs with spinach fettuccini and the angel food cake with blueberries and coconut sorbet, Jeremy started talking about Offensive Measures, how well the rewrite was going (the second act was taking on an exciting new shape), his plan to finish before the brace was off, and how he just hoped he could figure out what to do with the script once it was ready to show.

“I’ve been out of the business forever, so the big question is ‘show who?’” Jeremy explained, hardly expecting help from anyone at the table.

“Do you know Ian Franco?” Gabe asked, a pensive look on his Efron-like face. Jeremy could easily see what Matty saw in him: Gabe was like supernaturally attractive but in an accessible and disarming way.

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