Expect the Unexpected (Tanja, Josh and Sean)

[Dr. Linda Hu]

Linda loved dinner parties. At night was when she was at her most active, and company meant she wasn't just buzzing around Tanja like a hyperactive parakeet. 

The table was set, and the kitchen benches were groaning under the weight of the collective efforts of Linda and her wife. Platters of steaming dim sum (Linda had been on a dumpling kick ever since finding a store that sold the right kind of wrappings), fluffy rice and bright, colourful vegetables and meat in sauce were waiting to be carted to the table, as well as a cold noodle salad "just in case".

And Tanja had taken care of desserts under the promise that she would never make a cake that looked like chocolate but had zucchini in it again, no matter how moist it kept the cake, because it was a deep and bitter betrayal of her wife's trust and love of cake.

A glass of wine already in hand, Linda had forced herself away from the kitchen to hover around the table, making small changes to the settings she'd left. Her arms were bare, showing off her tattoos as she turned towards the back of the house.

"Are you ready yet?" she called, a little louder than was necessary. "They'll be here any minute!"

Josh was one of their oldest friends in the area, as was Sean, because despite what the community often assumed, lesbians and gay men could be friends (Sean wasn't homosexual but that was just schematics), and while they'd been to each other's houses before for dinner it was always nice to have things looking neat and pretty. 

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh enjoyed the company of Dr. Hu and her wife. He had immediately taken to the psychologist when they'd first met years ago, enjoying her sense of humor and her enthusiasm for coffee (even if she did taint hers with sugar) and their shared (very strong) opinions. She was the sort of person his mother might refer to as a character; nobody would ever mix her up with anyone else.

And so of course when Linda and Tanja had invited him and Sean to supper he had been excited to accept. He always enjoyed doing things with friends, whether as couples or not, but the fact of couple's nights still seemed fresh and exciting. It was nice that his friends would accept him and Sean as a couple, even if they weren't married.

The only change he'd made to his outfit after work was to lose his tie and jacket; although he didn't want to be too formal, as they would be in the company of friends, he also didn't want to be too informal.

"Did Linda mention what the menu would be?" The attorney asked Sean as they made their way to the front door. He'd conveniently not yet mentioned his dietary changes to his friends, as he was embarrassed by the fact he could no longer eat anything he wanted. He didn't think Tanja would pile on the salt, but it was still a remote possibility.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean had taken the time to completely change his outfit after work, entirely because Sam Rixon had had an incident, and the psychiatrist’s clothing smelled like smoke. He had no desire to bring that into another person’s home, particularly not the home of two of his friends. More than that, while he was extremely proud of his partner for quitting cold turkey (with the aid of a few skills and tricks), there was no reason to offer any temptation or reminders of his former addiction.

He, too, forewent a new tie, but he had taken a dinner jacket which he wore over a collared shirt in a blue shade that accented his eyes. He knew that Josh enjoyed seeing him in blue, and dressing this way was an easy way to make his partner happy.

Unfortunately, he had no knowledge of the menu. He’d offered several times to bring something to help, but Linda had insisted that she and Tanja had the meal under control. And that they would handle dessert. With no other way to help, he had insisted on bringing a bottle of wine, a white that would go with most dishes, in order to cover the bases.

“She didn’t,” he told his partner, as they walked up to the front door. He knew the source of the younger man’s embarrassment, and while he saw nothing embarrassing about the hypertension, it also wasn’t his health on the line. “I’m sure we’ll find a way to make it work.”

With that, he rang the doorbell to announce their arrival.