A slice of pale calf’s liver plopped into hot grease with a hiss and Marie shook the pan so it wouldn’t stick. Lucy popped a container of biscuit mix against the counter.
“Do we have to have liver?” Lucy asked. “It looks gross.”
“We women need the iron,” she said. “It builds stamina.”
James shredded lettuce at the table and said, “I don’t need that much stamina!”
“Slice some onions,” Marie said. “I need them now. You’re going to school, skateboarding, bicycling, cutting and hauling brush for Alice—you need stamina.”
“So what do onions do?” he asked.
Marie smiled without turning around. “They make you cry. More men need to cry.”
“Oh, please.”
Lucy laid out little pucks of biscuit dough on the cookie sheet. “Crying makes you sensitive,” she said. “Girls like sensitive.”
“Oh, please,” James repeated. “Mom, I’ve called Alice twice for a ride and she doesn’t pick up. Her phone’s not taking messages, either. She’s supposed to give me a ride.”
Marie tried flipping the liver but only folded it and splashed hot oil on her wrist. “Damn!” She ran cold water over her wrist and felt in the drawer for a spatula. “I can’t take you because I have two late clients. I won’t be done before dark.”
He started peeling the onion and stopped. “This is one dull knife.” A dramatic hand to the forehead. “I can’t work in these conditions.”
Lucy giggled and pushed the biscuit pucks into the oven.
“What?” James said.
“Nothing,” Lucy said. “Sometimes you’re just funny.”
Marie turned the liver. “Onions!” she ordered.
James grumbled something too low to hear. He peeled and sliced the onion remarkably fast for using a dull knife. “Here. Can I get a ride back from the bluff if I ride my bike? You got mad last week when—”
“When he rode to Sequim to see that girl and couldn’t make it back,” Lucy said.
“That was because he overdid it and wanted me to come get him when I was busy,” Marie said. “Set the table.”
“Busy with Tom,” Lucy added.
“With a client. And I didn’t want him on Discovery Road at night on a bike.” Marie shook the spatula at Lucy. “Set the table, Missy.”
James slid the lettuce and onion trimmings into the compost. “Alice has all the tools,” he said. “How do I know if they’re out there?”
Marie set the liver and onions on a platter in the center of the table.
Lucy made a face at the ring of blood around the edges. “Mom, really?”
“Really,” she answered. “At least five decent bites. And James, Alice is efficient. I’m sure she’s been out there all day hauling rock and probably thought of everything.”
James fetched the milk and glasses, and they all sat. Marie served each of them a piece of liver.
“You could call out there,” she told James. “His card’s on my desk.”
“Mom! I don’t want to call people I don’t know. I’ll just bike out.”
Marie sighed and sat back in her chair. “My day always goes better when we sit together for dinner.”
“Amen!” Lucy said. “Where’s Tom?”
Marie sighed again. “Working. He works too much. Now eat.” She turned to James and said, “The bluffs aren’t that far. It’s okay if you don’t ride back after dark.”
James utilized his sarcastic voice. “Don’t worry. I won’t ever call for a ride again.”
Marie dropped her fork and looked him in the eye. “Hey! You know what I mean. Call if it’s an emergency. Just think ahead so there won’t be an emergency. Okay?”
James busied himself with finishing his food as quickly as possible, then rinsed his plate in the sink.
“If she’s not out there, I’ll be right back. If it gets dark—”
“You can hitch a ride with the bride of Dracula!” Lucy said, and laughed. “Here!”
Lucy took off her large silver cross necklace and placed it around his neck. James rolled his eyes at Marie.
“You’ll thank me later,” Lucy said. “You look sooo hip-hop!”
Marie clinked her glass with a fork and said, “Stop harassing your brother. Finish your dinner and start cleaning your room.”
Lucy sat back and crossed her arms. “What will you pay me?”
Marie pinched the bridge of her nose for patience. “You just got dinner. You might get breakfast. Don’t push your luck. Now eat!”
“I ate my five bites!”
Marie thought that those were the smallest five bites ever taken, but she chose not to engage. She stabbed the remaining liver off Lucy’s plate and dropped it onto her own.
“Go!” she said, “and leave me in peace!”
Lucy giggled and said, “But we didn’t have any peas.”
“Just go!”
James was already gone.