WHEN he had received a text from Zac requesting that he come to his office, to say that Mac was surprised was the understatement of the year. However, he contemplated the odd nature of the situation for only a few minutes before he stood, making his way over to the office next door. Figuring that he might as well commit to the role, he knocked on the door frame, employing the same pattern that Zac was so famous for.
'Mr Higgins. How can I help you, Sir?' His tone was teasing yet still good-natured.
'Hello.' Zac smiled, clearly amused by the show that Mac was putting on. 'Please, take a seat, Mr MacIntire.' He motioned to the chair across from his own.
Mac sat down on the arm of the chair, his eyebrows furrowed. 'So, what is this? Am I in trouble? Have I acted wrongly or unjustly?' Zac simply laughed, shaking his head. 'Come on, now. I'm a big boy; I can take it.' He extended his arms out to his sides in a gesture of “bring-it-on”.
Zac's laughter faded, but his grin remained. 'You're quite all right. I didn't call you in here to chastise you. Besides, even if I wanted to, I know you'd never stand for it. Regardless of what you say.'
'Ha! All right. Maybe I wouldn't. But if that's not why you requested my presence, then why, pray tell, did you?' He quirked a brow curiously.
'To introduce you to my mother.'
Mac's eyes widened tremendously, his mouth opening and closing like a broken elevator door. 'What?' he finally managed, the word desperate and breathless, full of so many questions.
Zac suddenly burst into laughter, only compounding Mac’s confusion. 'I’m sorry! I knew it would get you all riled up if I phrased it that way. Sorry.'
He narrowed his eyes at his friend. He had never liked being made a fool of. 'I hope you haven't forgotten that I have the power to fire you,' he said dryly.
'Again?' He replied with a challenging glint in his eye.
'You're walking a dangerous line, Higgins,' Mac said, wagging his finger for emphasis. 'Now, why are we really here?'
'I wasn't kidding, actually. Though, it's not exactly to meet just my mother. And, there would be dinner, too.'
The lines of Mac's face creased into a frown, his patience wearing thinner with every passing second. 'Well, I guess that would be fine. But, who all will be there? And please, stop beating around the bush.'
'Well... my entire family, actually.' He put his hands up to halt Mac‘s open mouth. 'Now, let me speak. I'll explain if you just give me a moment.' Mac stayed silent, opting to save his inquiries for later and merely staring expectantly at Zac. 'Right. My mum finally finished paying off our house after twenty-five years-- earlier than expected, actually. She's having a roast on Sunday to celebrate and well... she asked if I would invite you.'
Mac blinked slowly and waited a minute to see if Zac had anything further to say before he spoke again. 'I'm sorry... I just want to get this straight. Your mother wants me, someone she's never met, to come to your family’s celebratory dinner?'
Zac nodded. 'Of course. She wants to thank you.'
'I-- Thank me?' He was bewildered; incredulous, even. 'What on earth for? I had nothing to do with paying off her mortgage.'
Zac smiled and shook his head. 'You really don't get it, do you?' Mac stared back, pointedly, as an answer to his question. 'Without the raises you've given me this year, we wouldn't have had a prayer of paying off the house at all. Hell, around the time that I was thinking of leaving, the banks were already swarming. But, thanks to you, she doesn't have to worry anymore. So, actually, you have quite a lot to do with the mortgage.'
'I... I had no idea.' Mac's thoughts began to rush as if they were in a centrifuge. He slowly processed how one trivial decision, like neglecting to remember a birthday, could have resulted in such a tremendous and catastrophic loss. 'Zac, if you would have told me earlier, certainly--'
'No,' he said definitively, though the smile he wore was flimsy. 'Maybe you would have offered to help if I'd told you earlier, but I would never have accepted it. And neither would she, for that matter. We Higginses are dangerously proud when it comes to money. We won't take anything that we don't earn. Mum only accepted the money I gave her as “rent” for storing my things, for heaven's sake.'
Maybe I'd have been better off if I'd been raised like that, instead of with that silver spoon you love to mention… 'I can respect that,' he admitted, truly meaning it. 'Though, I still would have offered.'
'And we would have politely declined. Though, that hardly matters, now. What's past is past, and it's all taken care of!'
Mac hummed in agreement, glad to have helped, even if only in an indirect way.
'Now, what do you say to that Sunday roast?' He extended the offer again, hopefully.
Mac, who had completely forgotten about the offer, found himself floundering. 'I— wouldn't want to intrude...'
'I just told you that she invited you!' He exclaimed with a laugh. 'Besides, I still owe you a meal from the Investors' Gala. I'm sure a home-cooked meal will more than suffice, even if it's not four hundred quid a plate.'
He sighed deeply, very quickly coming to terms with the fact that he was trapped. 'Very well.'
'Excellent!' Zac clapped his hands together, excitedly. 'I'll text you the details. Now, get back to work.' He showed him the way out by mimicking the sweeping motion that Mac himself often employed. Mac stood and saluted mockingly before making his way back to his office, smiling and shaking his head in disbelief the whole way.
~*~*~
AS they made their way to Zac's childhood home, he couldn't help but smile as the Mac adjusted and re-adjusted his grip on the bottle of extremely expensive champagne. It was like watching a teenager preparing for a first date, though the thought sent sparks up Zac’s spine.
They had met at the Jubilee Underground Station per Zac's request. While Poplar was far from the most disadvantaged area that the Higgins family had lived in, he still could not promise Mac that his shiny new Porsche would not be vandalised or, at the very least, scratched. So, the two men made their way down the Underground steps, Zac thoroughly enjoying the look on his employer's face.
Mac had confided in Zac that he could not remember the last time that he had taken the Underground. In fact, he had admitted that he was quite sure he'd only ever driven or been driven around London the whole of his life. As they took in the sensory bouquet that was the carriage, Mac’s nose seemed to shrink into a mass of wrinkles. The crying baby that would not quiet no matter how much its mother rocked it; the stench of sour tartar sauce from a discarded basket of fish and chips that were so much like the air had been in Poppies, yet somehow twisted; the numerous sets of eyes that raked over his body looking for the tell-tale bulge of a wallet that so often accompanied a suit as nice as his. They all made the normally proud looking man visibly nervous and, honestly, it was just the smallest bit adorable.
After a long silence, Mac turned to Zac, speaking quietly. 'I thought you were Welsh. Why are we heading to Poplar?'
'Well, I was born in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, but that’s not where I grew up.’
His co-traveler chuckled, adding sarcastically, ‘Say that three times fast.’
‘Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll.’ He smiled, broadly. ‘But Mum and Da moved here when we were five. Since everyone else in the family still had the accent, it just sort of… stuck.'
'Right, right,' but Mac seemed only to be half listening as he bounced his knee to an almost ridiculous height.
'You do know there's no reason for you to be so wound up about this, right?' Zac finally cut in once he realised that his friend's nerves had reached a peak.
Mac's eyes shot up from his hands for the first time in twenty minutes to meet Zac's with manic ferocity. '”Wound up”? What are you talking about? I'm fine.'
He resisted the urge to sigh and merely smiled as he shook his head. 'All right. I believe you. Just... remember that this is my family. They're all like me, so the chances of them not liking you are pretty slim.'
Mac was visibly trying very hard to maintain his put-together façade, keeping his tone cool and teasing. 'Good. I was worried for a second.'
Zac hummed in agreement. 'I'm sure. Now, this is just a tip, so take it or leave it: unless you want people thinking you're recently homeless, stop playing with that bottle.'
The blush that rose in Mac’s cheeks as he attempted to do just that was probably the cutest thing he had seen all day.
~*~*~
ONCE they finally arrived on the front steps of 9 Daniel Bolt CI, Mac took a long look at the modest house. It was small; maybe three bedrooms, a small back garden, and only two stories. The siding and roof were in need of repair, but the plants and window boxes were bright and well tended. Even in winter, the house was cheery with tasteful Christmas decorations and lights.
As he studied the warm family home, something clicked deep inside his mind. 'Higgins, correct me if I'm wrong, but… Those crappy suits you used to wear, your horrifying flat, those brown bag lunches…'
Zac’s tone was pointed as he answered. 'Yes? What of them?'
'It's because every extra penny I give you goes here. Isn't it?'
'Yes, always has. So?’
'All this time. You've been helping to support your mother, your family— with no thought to yourself.' Zac didn’t respond, but Mac could feel his eyes on him as he continued. 'You are an extremely good man, Zachary Higgins. Much more so than I have ever been. Or ever could be.'
The voice next to him pitched an octave; something that only happened when Zac was caught off guard. 'Mac, that's simply not true--'
But he was cut short by a small girl of about four, who swung the door wide with a brilliant smile. 'Uncle Ree!' She cried as she wrapped all of her limbs around his leg in a tight koala hug. 'Uncle Ree is here, everybody,' she announced just as loudly as she tightened her grip.
Zac laughed and ruffled her hair as he stepped inside, taking care not to let her fall. Once he was far enough inside for Mac to enter, he bent down to pick her up and settled her on his waist. 'Hello, Monkey,' he said before he pressed a kiss to her nose and positively beaming.
She giggled, covering her face with her hands. As if on command, three more small children tore out of the kitchen and into the front hall at top speed, just as their younger cousin had only moments before. 'Uncle Ree!'
'Hello, gang!' He opened his arms as wide as his smile and bent down to greet them all without hesitation. Mac watched the scene with amusement, the sight of Zac with a quartet of children hanging off of his arms possibly the cutest thing he'd seen all year.
Finally catching Zac's eye, he mouthed, 'Uncle Ree?'
Still in the middle of his balancing act, he mouthed back, 'Zac-a-REE.'
The CFO grinned in reply as he continued to watch the excited children. His attention was so captured by the display, in fact, that he failed to notice when someone swept up to his side.
'There he is: the guest of honour!' The exclamation, as well as the hands that suddenly shook his shoulders, were nearly enough to catapult him right out of his skin. When he whipped around, he faced the familiar stranger, who looked exactly like the photo on her brother's desk. Zelda smiled sheepishly. 'Sorry. Did I scare you? I tend not to think before I do that to people.'
'No, no. It's... fine,' he assured her, though his heart was still galloping in his chest.
'All right, good. Because I don't like to give strokes to people that I've never met before.'
Mac couldn't help but let a chuckle slip. 'That is a fairly good rule of thumb.'
'Thank you, thank you.' She bowed cartoonishly until something suddenly occurred to her and she stood up straight as a board. 'You know what, I am so sorry. I know who you are but I never introduced myself. How rude of me. I'm Zac's twin, Zelda.' She extended a hand which Mac gratefully took.
'Hello, Zelda. I'm Mac. Though, from the sound of it, you likely already knew that. In any event, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard good things about you.'
She tilted her head slightly to the side. 'Yeah? Dare I ask, what?'
How about the fact that I have you to thank for setting your brother up for that dating app? 'Well, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have had the faintest idea where to take your brother for his anniversary lunch.'
'Oh, I have to hear this one.' She grinned, probably at the expression currently on his face. 'I’ve heard loads, trust me. Though I must say, I think “built like a tree” is a bit generous. But we can talk about that later. First, let's get this…' she plucked the bottle of champagne from his grasp. '... on ice. There's no sense in ruining the good stuff, eh?' Looping her arm through one of Mac's, she led him to the back room to put the bottle in the fridge, then to the sitting room. There, he made the acquaintance of the other three Higgins siblings and their wives, as well as Zelda's husband.
While Mac managed to hold his own with the adults, Zac headed upstairs to play babysitter. Though the conversation had started rather hesitantly, Mac quickly found himself speaking quite comfortably after a short period of time. It was, in fact, much like speaking to Zac. No one tried to one up each other or speak over anyone else. Rather, the group carried on as though they had known Mac all their lives. Idly, he mused how much he wished he'd had this type of rapport with his own family.
(Chapter To Be Continued...)
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