She opened his cupboard that had his spices and was sorting through it as she answered, “I’m on for Computer Raiders from seven to one thirty. And then I’m at Smithie’s, have to be there by seven.”
This was going to be a challenge as he had to work.
“And I need my car for Computer Raiders,” she continued.
“I can drop you off when I go to work.”
She was shaking stuff into the meat, but her eyes came to him. “I do on-site visits.”
Goddamn it.
“Evan, it’s almost impossible for me to have a man on you for on-site visits.”
“Danny, I can’t call off. I’m hourly and it goes without saying, I need the money.”
Yeah.
That went without saying.
“Auggie has some time off,” he said. “I’ll see if he can shadow you. If he can’t, I’ll call in a favor from one of the Nightingale boys or Chaos crew.”
“Maybe I’ll be okay,” she suggested.
“Maybe you will. Though I’d prefer taking steps to omit the ‘maybe’ from that statement.”
She looked away to dig her fingers in the meat and start smushing.
It came quiet when she asked, “Do you think Mick’s gonna be okay?”
He didn’t give one single fuck what Mick was.
He did not say that.
He said, “We’re pokin’ around this mess. We know the street name of the guy you met. I got make and model and license plate of his car and I got friends lookin’ into that. I haven’t been briefed. I had some roadwork to do for Hawk today and my priority is you. To end, I have no idea what’s happening, so I have no idea the level of threat your brother is facing.”
She started forming hamburger patties.
He watched her hands work and noted she was not stingy with the beef.
Yeah.
Totally marriage material.
“Right now, he’s the safest place he can be, honey,” he assured her.
“Mom sounded more…Mom than her regular,” she explained why she brought up her brother, then asked, “Can you get me a plate?”
He twisted to open a cupboard and got her a plate.
She set a formed patty on it.
“He’s a favorite,” Mag said carefully.
She dug up more meat.
“Right,” he muttered. “Dinner and watch a movie.”
Evan looked to him. “She’s a favorite.”
“Sorry?”
“Mom. Carol. She’s the most important person in her life. And it bums me out and makes me sound stupid, but honestly, it’s just in this very moment that I realized that. And it’s not, you know, the healthy kind of making yourself a priority to teach your children to look out for themselves. Their hopes and goals and health and happiness. Not to give too much to someone else so you lose sight of what you need to make yourself feel right. Feel whole. It’s all about Carol Bowers. Though, runner-up for Mom is Mick. Honestly, unless Sidney, my sister, is in her line of sight, I think she forgets Sid exists. And she only remembers me when she can bum a couple hundred dollars to replace it in their joint account when she gets a little overzealous shopping and she doesn’t want Rob to find out.”
Mag didn’t trust himself to speak.
She set another patty aside and moved around him to get to the sink to wash her hands.
“It’s when you said that about Sophie’s choice,” she continued. “I thought about that and it’s true, kind of. Her first thought, how to get what Carol wants out of a situation. Then she’s all about Mick. Honest to God, if she was put in that heinous situation, she wouldn’t blink. As long as she was safe, she’d not hesitate to say ‘Mick.’”
“Is this maybe why he’s such a fuckup?” Mag asked, trying to go as delicate as possible, but considering the subject, delicacy was virtually impossible.
“I never went so far in my head to try to figure it out. But maybe. Mostly, he’s a lot like Dad, even though he’d be major ticked I said that. Life’s a party. Bills to pay?” she asked sarcastically, making her way back around him and bending to open his cupboard to grab a skillet. “What? And I need to make money to pay those bills? What? There are concerts to see and I have to be the guy who brings the best bottle of tequila to the party so everyone will think I’m hot shit and come to me to get a shot. The government is way too in our business. Drugs should be legal. Prostitution should be legal. A good time should be lawful to be had by all and damn the consequences faced by those subjugated to it or those on the periphery of it who want no part of it.”
They were skimming close to her stripping and Mag wasn’t going to take it there.
If she wanted to talk about it, he was game to listen.
No judgments.
But her Computer Raiders getup wasn’t as cute as that tee she had on.