Coffee Beans

Two Steaks

"Do you want me to do anything?" Jason asked, looking puzzled as Ellie rubbed a grainy yellow mixture onto the two steaks.

"Nope, this is all part of the plan," she said, blowing a hair out of her face. "This is a mustard rub, which is meant to make the steak taste nice."

Jason groaned. "But it already tastes nice. It's steak. What more do you need?"

Ellie stopped applying the mustard rub and glared at her younger brother. "If you want to help," she wiped her forehead, being careful not to get mustard in her hair. "You can get a couple of beers out of the fridge and set the table ready for when these are done."

There was silence from her brother as he did as he was asked. Ellie gave up on putting any more of the "rub" onto the steaks and put them onto the pan. She drizzled some oil on top and turned on the hob, watching as the blue flames danced beneath the metal.

"Have a beer," Jason said bluntly, holding the opened bottle in front of her face.

"Thanks," she said, taking a sip. "I know you haven't told Dad," she took another sip of the beer, glaring at her brother.

"Told him what exactly?" Jason asked. "There's a lot of things I don't tell Dad."

Ellie rolled her eyes. That was the reason he was the golden child and she did everything wrong. She just told the truth and the whole truth at that. "In that case, I assume you never even mentioned Kate to him?"

Jason began to pick at the beer's label, looking down at his feet. "Not exactly, no."

"Thought not." Ellie paused for a moment to drink more of the beer. "By the look on your face, I'm guessing things didn't go well?"

Jason shrugged and also took a sip of his beer.

Putting her beer down on the counter, Ellie took a deep breath. "Tell me everything."