Page 35 of Mac (Demented Souls #7)

After closing the car door, she pulled out her phone to check for messages, and found one from Mac telling her no problem.

She'd sent him a thanks for taking care of the mess this morning but hadn't expected a message back.

His wasn't the only message, there were also a couple from Mom, which she didn't even bother to read.

Elyse didn't want to think about Mom after her calling Dave to Tucson to check on her.

Though, why her brother hadn't called or texted, Elyse didn't know.

There was a text from him she found after skipping the ones from Mom.

She opened that to see what he wanted now.

Don't worry about dinner. I'm cooking. sorry again about waking you. Will Rambo be joining us?

Elyse rolled her eyes at her brother calling Mac Rambo but couldn't remember if she'd introduced them. She dialed Mac to see if he was busy and wanted to come to dinner.

"Hey, you made it through the day. How you feeling?" Just hearing his voice made her feel better, even if Elyse couldn't explain it.

"Tired, but I survived. Dave says he's cooking dinner and wants to know if you're coming."

"I hadn't thought about it. I figured you'd spend the evening with him."

"Think about it." She turned his words on him on purpose. "He called you Rambo and I don't think I even thought to introduce you last night."

"This morning."

"Yeah, it was this morning." She sighed and wished she didn't have to deal with rush hour traffic to get home.

"You want me to come or you want to spend time with your brother?" He paused. "I can skip dinner and come over later if you like, or I can just leave the evening to the two of you."

She wondered for a moment if Mac was jealous of her brother, but it didn't seem like he resented him, well, other than his waking them up at three a.m.

"I'd like to see you tonight, but if you're busy I understand."

"You want me there for dinner?"

"Not necessary. I'm always happy for a chance to see you, but I can handle it if you've got other things to do."

"Let me see what's going on this evening and I'll let you know. I'll try to make dinner or maybe a little later but one of my brothers just reminded me about a meeting tonight, so if I come, I'll have to come back to the meeting and I'm not sure when I'll be able to get away after that."

"I understand. Let me know what's going on or if you can't make it."

"I'll message if nothing else. It may be late before I can break away, if I can at all, so don't wait up for me."

"I'm too tired to even try tonight."

It was a moment before he answered, "I know I'm not entirely responsible for that, but I am for some, and I don't regret that part."

"Me either."

"I'll let you know what's up as I know."

"All right, I'll catch you later then. Bye."

She hung up, sent Dave a message letting him know Mac might be coming for dinner before setting her phone aside and put the car in gear. Might as well get this drive started or she'd never get home.

"H ow long have you been dating Thor?"

Elyse blinked at her brother, first Rambo, now Thor? Did she confront him or ignore it? She'd already told Dave that his name was Mac, so he was doing it to get at her now. The best bet was probably to ignore it. He would stop if it didn't get a rise out of her.

"A while." She wasn't going to tell him it hadn't been more than a week, two max since she started talking to her neighbor, especially not after last night. The last thing she wanted was a lecture from her brother, not when he deserved to be getting one from her.

Dave cocked one brow in her direction but didn't push the issue.

She watched him move around the kitchen with ease, reminding her of when Mac had cooked for her a couple nights before.

They were both comfortable in the space, but Dave had spent far more time there, and cooking than Mac had, except for recently.

"What's the bug up Mom's ass?" Dave turned back to the counter where he was chopping vegetables.

Elyse shook away her stray thoughts and looked down at her fingernails, noting how badly she needed a manicure, not that she went for them often.

"I don't know. She was bitching about Dad taking care of the yard, telling me he's too old for that, he should hire someone.

I didn't agree. I said let him do it. He enjoys it and it keeps him active, gives him something to do.

That's when she changed her story." She filled Dave in on the rest of the conversation, and the migraine afterward, skimming over that she'd slept for more than twenty-four hours straight.

Instead she said only that she'd slept through some messages and had been annoyed enough that she still wasn't responding to Mom.

Dave turned and watched her a moment, then went back to his cooking.

"Is that all?"

"All that involves Mom."

"Have Mom and Dad met John McClane yet?"

Elyse rolled her eyes at yet another name for Mac.

At least this one was kind of close, only in that it was a Mc name.

"No. I'm not sure we're there yet. You wouldn't have met him if you hadn't come in here in the middle of the night and scared the shit out of us.

You know, you could have just called. My annoyance with Mom doesn't extend to you, or anyone else in the family. "

"Really? Mom made it sound like half the family had been calling and texting for days and you were ignoring them all."

Elyse bit the inside of her lip, closed her eyes and counted to ten before responding.

There were days she wished she'd been born into another family, any other family.

Those days had been frequent as a teenager, but were less so now, so they only happened when Mom was being particularly trying.

"You're thirty-two. I would think by now you would have figured out how manipulative Mom is and to take everything she says with a grain of salt. "

"You're right. I should have called. Have none of the others even tried to contact you?" He turned to look at her.

"I sent Connor a text but haven’t heard back yet.

Have you heard? I'm pretty sure he's engaged.

That was part of the whole thing with Mom.

She was nasty about Becca, asking me if I wanted to know about the latest. That was when I'd had enough.

" She reached for her phone to make sure she'd remembered to hit send on her message congratulating her brother.

She was known for typing up texts and forgetting to hit send, then wondering why someone hadn't gotten back to her.

Sure enough, there it was waiting to go out.

She hit send then typed up a message letting Conner know she'd forgotten to hit send before. He'd get back to her when he had time.

While she was sending the message to her brother, her phone vibrated in her hand.

Just got out of work, don't have to be back for a few hours. Good time to come over?

She stared at the screen a moment then replied.

Sure, love to have you.

After setting her phone aside, she looked up to find Dave watching her again.

"Who was that?"

"It started out as me messaging Conner, but Mac texted while I was doing that, so I replied. He's on his way. It could be thirty seconds or thirty minutes, depending on where he was."

"Thirty seconds?"

"Didn't I tell you? He lives next door. That's how I met him."Her phone buzzed again. She picked it up and found a message from Connor.

Mom can’t keep a secret worth shit. Yes, we’re engaged, thank you. I’ll call soon with more details, love you.

Elyse showed the screen to her brother then shook her head and set the phone aside once more.

"No, you didn't tell me." Dave asked a few more questions about Mac, while still never calling him by name, but at least he didn't call him any other ridiculousthing either. Less than five minutes after she set her phone down, the doorbell rang.

"That must be him." She stood, eager to see him.

"What, he doesn't let himself in?"

"Not usually," she called over her shoulder as she went for the door.

Excited to see Mac, she opened the front door without checking to see who it was first, "That was quick—" she cut herself off when she realized it wasn't Mac standing on the doorstep. Instead, it was Mom, in person.

"Well, are you going to invite me in?"

Elyse stood there a moment, staring, before she thought to step back and let her mother inside.

"Come in, I wasn't expecting you, Mom, how are you?" She tried to cover up that she had been expecting someone, hoping Mom would let it go.

"I'm okay, no thanks to you or your father. Who's in the kitchen?"

"Dave. He got here last night. Said you sent him to check on me." Elyse followed her mother as the older woman headed for the kitchen.

"Oh, my son! I never get to see you anymore. You come to town and don't even come see me." Mom closed in on Dave and enfolded him in giant hug.

Elyse couldn't help but notice she hadn't gotten a hug, or much more than a demanding word.

"What's for dinner?" Mom pulled out the chair on the far side of the small table and sat down. Apparently, she was staying for dinner.

And unless something changed, Mac would be meeting her mother tonight. Elyse picked up her phone and typed out a quick message.

Please don't think I'm telling you not to come. I would love any time I can spend with you, but fair warning, my mom's just shown up and she is acting like she's staying a while.

"Why are you on your phone and ignoring me?" Mom's plaintive voice grated on Elyse's nerves.