Page 11 of Mac
"This is really good.I don't know what you did, but I think this is the best steak I've had in a long time.Thank you for cooking for me."
"It was nothing."Elyse shrugged.She hadn't done anything special, just used the same seasonings her mother had taught her to use a long time ago, then tossed a few soaked wood chips into the bottom of her gas grill the way she'd seen her father do so many times while she'd been growing up.It was her favorite way to cook a steak because it was the best of both worlds, the flavor of a wood fire, but the ease and speed of a gas grill.
"If it was nothing, maybe I can convince you to do it again sometime, showing me how when you do."
She looked up to find him watching her."I can do that."She let a smile creep across her face.she liked the idea of having him over again.Besides, how to cook a steak wasn't some big secret.Anyone could learn to do it, with a little patience.
"Do you have any family nearby?"Mac asked after a bit.
"I do.I grew up here in Tucson, but my family's not close.I talk to my parents occasionally, but not often.Most of my siblings have left the area.Moved away for better jobs or to be near their spouse's family."
"Oh?How many siblings do you have?"
Elyse glanced at him, wondering how he would react when he heard.There were a few reactions she'd gotten used to, and she never knew which to expect."I'm the youngest of five, so I have four siblings."
Mac's eyes went wide."So you're part of a big family.I always wondered what that was like.I'm an only child.I always envied the big families.You always had a built-in play-mate."
"Sometimes.Or sometimes there are just more to pick on you."She looked away.
"Did your siblings pick on you?"
"Not all of them."Elyse felt guilty for letting him believe that, even for a moment."Dave and I are close.It was always the two of us against the others."
"Three on two?That hardly seems fair."
"Fair didn't have much to do with it.It was more ages.Adam, Bailey and Conner are all a year apart a piece.They are close, inseparable some might say.Then there is Dave and me.We are closer in age to each other than Dave is to the rest of them.Conner was almost five when Dave was born."She shook her head."I don't know why the big gap there, but Dave and I are only fifteen months apart, so he and I naturally stuck together.Especially when the older kids, or anyone else, picked on one of us."She smiled at the memory of Dave standing up for her against a bully at school when she was in kindergarten and him only in first grade.The memory of him, so small but standing between her and the boy who had just pushed her down so he could have the swings warmed her.Even if he had gotten in trouble later for knocking the kid down and giving him a black eye.In Elyse's eyes he'd been her hero and it had only made her more loyal to him.In later years, the two of them had stood back to back more than once as they'd faced whatever had come their way.Bullies, siblings, whatever.
"See, that look right there is why I always wanted a brother or sister while I was growing up.It just wasn't in the cards for me, not then."
"Oh?Did you find a sibling after you were grown?"
"Kind of.Not in the way you're probably thinking, but I did, a whole club of them."
That was an odd way to phrase it and she couldn't help but frown as she tried to figure out what he meant.A club of brothers?
"They're not really brothers, not like most people think of it.But the Demented Souls are my family.We're as close as I imagine real siblings are.I know some of my brothers say they're closer to those of us in the club than with their real siblings."He shrugged."I wouldn't know.I don't have any family left."
Sadness filled her for him."I'm sorry.Is it recent?"
Mac shook his head."No.My folks died more than twenty years ago.I've had a long time to get used to them being gone."
"That's sad.And you didn't have anyone else?No grandparents?"
"I did for a while.A grandmother on one side and my grandfather on the other.They were both already in their seventies.And I was grown.I saw them each once or twice more before they passed, at different times, obviously.But by the time I got out of the Army, I was the only one left in both families."She watched as he looked away then took a deep breath and let it out with a shudder."Anyway.Enough of the depressing talk.You said you and your brother are close?Does he live in the area?"
"Not right now."She finished the last of her potato, put her utensils on the plate and pushed it away from the edge of the table.She'd get up and deal with it in a minute."Right now, he's living in Denver with his wife.Her parents are getting older and need someone to help care for them, so they're up there doing that, and may be for the next ten years."
"And you take care of your parents?"
Elyse laughed."No, my parents are getting older but they're not to that stage yet.Mom's only sixty-three, Dad's sixty-eight.They've only recently retired and now they're enjoying it.They bought this huge fifth wheel and truck and they're doing their best to see the country.Mom says they spent their youth raising kids, now they'll spend their retirement living it up."She remembered the way her mom had laughed and waved as they'd pulled out of town a few months earlier.It was one of the few times she’d seen her mom laughing instead of complaining about something.Elyse had received a couple phone calls but hadn't seen them in almost five months.They were due back soon, at least for a little while, in the meantime, Elyse hoped they enjoyed their trip.Though, she had a hard time believing Mom would be happy travelling for too long, Mom was rarely happy with anything for long.
"So, you really don't have any family in the area."
"I guess that's right.I never thought about it that way, technically Mom and Dad still live in town.I hadn't thought about their not really being here.It's not like I'm a kid, or even all that young and need their help to figure out how to do things."Elyse smiled at him."I've been on my own for—" she paused and did the math in her head, "—yikes, longer than I want to think about.or admit."She almost wanted to make him guess, but how would she feel if he guessed that she was forty or worse?No, best not do that."Either way.I'm an adult and have been for a while.I don't mind not having any family too close.I do talk to Dave fairly frequently.And wish I got to see him at least a little more frequently, but it is what it is."Elyse shrugged, thinking maybe it was time to schedule some time off and go up to see her brother.He didn't like to leave Hannah alone to care for her parents by herself for more than a day, and the trip took at least that long.No, she could go up and visit him easier than he could come here.
"Let me help you clean up."Mac stood, picking up his plate and hers as he did.
"You don't have to," she said as he carried them to the sink."There's not much here and I'm just going to put it in the dishwasher when I get ready to clean up."
