Page 19 of August
“No one here is a vegetarian?”
“Have you seen a vegetarian restaurant in town?” Myra asked.
Elisa laughed a little and said, “No.”
“Then, there’s your answer. We don’t even make those for the tourists,” she joked.
“I’m sure there are at least vegetarian dishes on menus,” Elisa replied and walked behind the kitchen island, where she bent down.
This bending down thing gave Myra a great view of her ass, and Myra needed to check herself. Neighbor or not, Elisa was a client with whom she needed to try to remain somewhat professional, so she turned away and got to work.
“I’m sure there are, but I don’t eat them. Seafood and sausage is the New Orleans way. Give me a gumbo or jambalaya.”
“I don’t know how to make those,” Elisa replied.
“No?”
“No. I’m not from Louisiana originally.”
“How did you end up here, then?”
Elisa filled a pot with water and said, “I went to school at LSU, where I met Archie Senior. I’m from Illinois originally, just outside of Chicago. Well, about an hour outside of Chicago, but that’s the closest big city people know, so I use it as a reference point.”
“Did you ever think about moving back?” Myra asked.
“I did, yes. Lots of times.” Elisa put the pot on the stove and turned it on. “When I first got pregnant, in fact. I never really considered not having them or giving them up, but Ididconsider moving back home to have help from my family. My parents are still there, and so are my two sisters. They are a year and two years older than me, and they were in college, too, so I didn’t want to ask them for anything. Both ofmy parents worked, and I didn’t really want to ask anything of them, either. When Archie’s parents offered to help us as long as I quit school, I took them up on their offer, and we got married.”
“They made you quit school?”
“They didn’t make me, per se. They just offered financial assistance and help, but his mom thought it would be best for me to be home with them for at least the first two years. She was a stay-at-home mom herself. I’m glad I had that time with them, though. You can’t ever get it back. They just keep growing and changing, and one day, you look at them, and you wonder how they got from growing inside you to being three years old. That never really stops, either.”
“I never really wanted kids myself. I like having children in my life, but I didn’t want to be responsible for them every day, honestly.”
“I wasn’t planning on having them for a while, if ever, back then,” Elisa shared.
“No?” Myra asked as she worked, trying to focus on the job to be done but also wanting to listen to Elisa.
“Not really, no. Don’t tell my kids, but the plan was premed and then medical school. I wanted to be a pediatrician. I thought that would be a good way to be around kids without having to have them myself.”
“You wanted to be a doctor?”
“That’s how my ex-husband and I met: we had a class together and started dating.” Elisa got a baking sheet out and began putting pieces of frozen garlic bread onto it. “Then, I got pregnant, and you know the rest.”
“Did you ever think about going back to school once the kids were older?”
“You know, Archie asked me that today.”
“Your ex-husband?”
“No, other Archie.” Elisa laughed. “AJ. Sorry. AJ asked me that today.”
“And?”
“I told him no, but yeah, I’ve thought about it. I don’tknow that I want to be a doctor anymore, though. My existing credits wouldn’t really apply after all this time, so I’d have to just start over, doing four years plus medical school and then internships and everything else, and it’s just too much for me. It’s twelve years, at least, and that would be if I went full-time. I’d rather find something that pays the bills and where I can save money. Have you always wanted to be a contractor and own your own company?”
“Oh,” Myra said, stalling because she hadn’t expected the conversation to be diverted back to her. “Yeah, I guess. I wasn’t sure about owning my own company back then – I liked the work and got an internship – but it just kept going from there. Being my own boss became something I wanted, and it has its benefits and its drawbacks.”
“I can imagine. The buck stops with you, right?”
