Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2019 23:38:36 GMT -6
Acquaintance
Mike couldn’t believe this was happening. It was like some kind of bad dream, and while they couldn’t be angry at John, they were a tad irked that his unflappable gentle politeness had gotten them into this mess. But there was nothing to be done for it now. They were stuck.
Stuck with a roast beef with carrots and potatoes, green beans, dinner rolls, and their mother casting thinly disguised disapproving glances in both they and John’s directions.
For his part, Kerry McGuire was trying to keep the mood pleasant, and with his infectious jovial attitude he really could’ve succeeded if not for the tension that any one of the four people at the table could’ve reached up with a fork and stabbed. Liz McGuire, however, wasn’t nearly as naturally cheerful, at least as it appeared- she was a lithe woman who kept her swimmer’s taut figure in defiance of age, her blonde hair pulled back in a slightly loose bun. She could’ve been a very pretty woman if she’d only smile, but alas, her expression only seemed to fluctuate between grim and slightly sour. Occasionally her eyes met her only child’s, only for the gaze to break almost as soon as it found purchase.
“So!”
Kerry’s voice was almost jarring in its good cheer as it broke the awkward sounds of clinking cutlery and soft chewing.
“You two’re gettin’ to to defend those belts of yours again this month, aye? Bet you’re lookin’ forward to it.”
John stacked green beans on his fork. Feeling two pairs of eyes on him, now three, he looked up briefly.
“Sure.”
Three beans was enough, he popped them into his mouth and chewed quietly.
“Hopefully you make it through in one piece. I still don’t like that you went into such a dangerous situation after just getting a cast off, Michelle. I like even less that you wound up with one in the first place.”
Mike bit into their forked bit of roast quite a bit more savagely than necessary.
“I’m fine, Mom.”
Their eyes flick to John, trying to both be encouraging and wordlessly beg for them to make an exit. They’d wanted to avoid this very scenario for a reason- when Kerry had invited them home for dinner Mike had been one breath away from telling their father sorry, but they’d already made plans, but before they could, their partner had accepted. If it’d been just Kerry, that would’ve been fine. But nothing ever seemed to work out just the way Mike would find ideal.
“Good. Anyway. John, is it? It’s been quite some time since Michelle brought anyone home, and she never tells me about her… acquaintances.”
Liz leaned forward, her gaze scrutinizing.
“You’re obviously in the same… industry… as my daughter. Around where were you before she found you? Anyplace I might’ve heard of?”
Mike’s head whipped to face Liz, eyes hard as stones. John sipped at his glass of water and dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. He then looked into the older woman’s eyes. His tone was blunt yet still respectful.
“Prison.”
“MOM.”
Mike leaned forward, looking about two seconds away from blowing a serious gasket. Kerry cringed a bit, trying to come up with some way to diffuse this situation. It wasn’t going the way he hoped it would, either.
The younger redhead practically hissed through her teeth.
“You knew that, Mom. You f-- you knew that already. What was the point of asking if you knew?”
“I was simply trying to make polite conversation, Michelle.”
Liz dabbed at her mouth as well, in a ladylike fashion, and took a sip of what looked to be lemon Perrier.
“Anyway. What happened to your girlfriend? I thought you were seeing that charming looking Southern girl… Natalie, I believe your father mentioned.”
The blonde woman’s tone noticeable softened, and for the first time that night, a smile briefly flicked across her tastefully glossed lips- if anything, a sign that she quite approved of the now defunct match. Mike just sighed, surprised smoke didn’t escape. Their expression softened too, though in a far less positive way. They poked at a carrot on their plate.
“...didn’t work out, Mom.”
“She was nice.”
His fork scraped against the plate inadvertently.
“To a fault.”
His tone was icy for the briefest of moments. The tiniest part of him felt what could be construed as resentment. He had been made to understand the reasoning behind the letter. He felt sympathy for her. But strangely anger, too. Perhaps misplaced.
“Oh.”
Liz’s expression hardened over again.
“Pity.”
“Now, Lizzie. Sometimes these things happen. If it just weren’t to be, it weren’t to be, and that’s all there is to it.”
Mike glanced at their father, grateful for the backup, and subtly scooted their chair closer to John’s. Not just closer to him, though- backing away from their mother.
“I suppose you’re right, Kerry. Still, I wish you would’ve brought her home before, Michelle. I’ve seen her on television and she seemed absolutely lovely. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”
“...’salright, Mom. I’m... getting over it.”
“Are you? That’s good. … So, you two live together, then, is that right?”
At this point, John looked at Mike. Mike did not return eye contact. Better not to.
“Yes. I’m in the guest room. Easier arrangement for business.”
Mike’s eyebrows shot up slightly, as if shocked by something, but they didn’t say what or even make note of anything being amiss.
“Business, hmm? Is that all?”
“That’s right.”
But John’s direct gaze faltered just for a second within Liz’s. Liz glanced back and there was something there. Behind the facade of a prim, severe woman was a fanged mother wolf, looking to eviscerate anything she even perceived as a threat to her single cub.
Mike’s jaw ticced.
“That’s all, Mom. You don’t need to keep picking at things. You always do this.”
“I do this because it’s my right to know. I want to make sure you’re safe. I don’t call a broken hand safe. John. You’re her ‘partner’, aren’t you? Isn’t the point of that whole method you two fight with protecting each other? How did her hand wind up broken, if that’s so?”
“That was an unfortunate turn of events. We’ve had our fair share of those.”
And his eyes returned to Liz’s.
“Couldn’t stop that. Or when my nose was broken. Or when we were both taken to the hospital. But as partners, we were there for the receipts. To pick up the pieces. I am her partner.”
John paused.
“Her friend even through what could be considered a brotherhood. We take these failures that you’ve mentioned here and learn from them.”
Mike reached over to their left. Their hand gripped his wrist both in solidarity and defiance.
“I know you don’t think much of what I do… what we do, Mom. You never have. And you can doubt him and doubt me all you want. But we’re fine. We know what we’re doing.”
“Is that right.”
Liz’s mouth was drawn into a thin line. That she-wolfishness was still behind her eyes, but there was something else too. A heaving black undertow of panic, of unfathomable worry.
“You said you knew what you were doing before, Michelle. That you could handle yourself. And then that horrible brute St--”
“Elizabeth. That is Enough.”
The sudden thickly-brogued bark was like a thunderclap. Kerry McGuire was at his feet.
“You need t’ stop this, now. I’m tired of it. You’n Mikey have been havin’ this silent war for way too long. You need tae let go, Liz. We know what happened, we know it was terrible. But Mikey’s a grown-up. You have t’ trust her judgement, that she isn’t helpless.”
“Last time I trusted her judgement against my own instincts she was nearly killed.”
“You’re actin’ like I don’t know that. But you see Steve in every man Mikey interacts with and that ain’t fair. I can tell y’right now, Liz. He’s a good man. He and Mikey make a fantastic team.”
Liz got up.
“...that may be.”
She gave John one last point blank look.
“Are you a good man, John?”
Once more, returned.
“That’s not up for me to decide.”