Page 52 of The Scientist

“She’s great. She moved back to Russia a few years ago to take care of my grandfather.”

“No shit,” Merrick said. “That lady sure could cook. What was that dish she used to make? The one she’d grill with the skewers on Friday nights?”

“Shashlik,” Lex answered with a smile. It was a real, genuine smile that he seldom used. His happiness at the memory was contagious, and I realized I was smiling too. I wished I could bottle up that exact feeling I saw on his face.

“Yes, that’s the one,” Merrick said. “You should make that next time I come over.”

“Next time?” Stuart asked, looking horrified.

“I never could get it exactly right,” Lex said, ignoring Stuart. “I’ve tried many times over the years, but it never turned out as well as hers.”

“I’d never had Russian food before I met you guys. Mrs. Strovinski converted me into a true disciple though. There’s a really great place in downtown San Francisco that I go to at least once a week. Nowhere near as good as your mom’s, but it’s still pretty damn good.”

“My mom used to say she was going to have to take out a second mortgage if I kept bringing you over for dinner,” Lex said, smirking.

“Yeah, well, it was YOYO night at my house every night, so she pretty much kept me alive all those years. I can’t cook for shit.”

“What’s yoyo night?” Stuart asked.

“It stands for ‘you’re on your own,’” he answered.

Our faces both fell at this revelation. I grew up with a single mom for most of my childhood. Money was always tight, but I’d never experienced neglect in this way.

“Don’t start pitying me, gorgeous,” he said when he saw the look on my face. “It was pretty common in the neighborhood I grew up in. Nobody’s parents were ever around.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

He waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. I was just lucky Lex’s mom took me in. I ate at the Strovinski’s almost five nights a week all throughout junior high.”

“She’s from a pretty impoverished part of Russia,” Lex said. “She knew what it was like to go hungry. She would never turn anyone away. Especially not her son’s personal bodyguard.”

They started to laugh together, and it was evident just how deep their roots ran. They were thrown together out of necessity and eventually learned to survive together. I wasn’t Merrick’s biggest fan, but I could see now why Lex had chosen to ignore the more grating aspects of his personality.

When dinner was finally over, Merrick made himself comfortable on the couch with a beer. I helped Stuart and Lex clean up before I decided to head home.

“What? You’re leaving already?” Stuart followed me to the door like a stray puppy.

“You’ll be fine, Stuey.” I patted him on the shoulder. “Thanks for dinner, Lex. It was really delicious.”

Lex gave me a quick nod, his eyes following me out. Merrick winked and waved goodbye from the couch. I closed the door on Stuart as he stood in the doorway, looking like I was trapping him in there. I smiled all the way back to my house, picturing him going to the window and pressing his face to it like he was watching a prisoner escape.

Chapter 13

“What’s in the pan?” I asked as my mom came out to meet me at the car, carrying one of those large disposable aluminum foil pans. I was there to pick her up for her second chemo appointment.

“Swedish meatballs,” she answered. “I called around to a few restaurants in Minnesota, and they gave me some of their recipes.”

“You made those for that nurse? Mom, that’s so nice.”

“Well, it sounded like she needed a little taste of home… literally.”

I don’t know why I was surprised. It was on brand for my mom to try to cheer someone else up for her own chemo appointment.

Amber was our nurse again, and my mom gave her the dish once we got there. She held it for a few seconds before she broke out in tears. My mom hugged her, and she cried for a full five minutes and said it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. I smiled, thinking my mom really was the best person I knew, but the sobering reality of why we were here sunk in as we sat down and watched the red bag being hung again.

She handled the treatment much better this time in large part because Nurse Amber gave her the nausea medicine before and after the infusion. Mary and Phil weren’t there this go-round, so my mom and I chatted, and I caught her up on the dinner I had with the guys on Wednesday.

“I think I’d like to meet these young men you seem to be spending all your time with,” she said.