Page 10 of Reagan

“None at all as a matter of fact.Your grandda took me by your house to pick up a box for you.He said it was for your office and that you didn’t like leaving it out where people could get it.”He told her that it was right, as it was medical supplies.“You have a lovely house.I loved all the planters out front.It must cost a fortune to have them trimmed and watered all the time.”

“It’s not too bad.I usually have someone come in and mow once a week, and it gets done then.Grandda was all for coming to get you.Did you get bored with all his stories?I love him a great deal, but I’ve heard all his stories.”

“No, your grandda kept me entertained a great deal.He told me a lot about your family and your brothers.”He said that he’d do that as he was proud of his family.“Yes, he is at that.Very proud of you all and with good reason too.”

“Thanks.”She waited when he paused, not really knowing how this thing worked.No one had ever told her about it before, and she supposed it was because they wanted that part of their life held in secret.“I don’t want to be rude, but I have to get going if I want to get out of here by six.How about if I pick you up and take you to dinner?That way, we can talk more about the questions you have for me.Unless grandda answered them all.”

“He didn’t, but he did put a dent in them.”He seemed distracted, and she put on a brave face.“I’ll talk to you later.And dinner is great.I’ll be ready to go at six-thirty for you.”

“Great.I’ll see you then.”She didn’t feel like it would sound if you hung up a phone, but she did feel the connection between them close, for lack of a better term.But she did know that if she wanted to talk to him again, he’d answer.She didn’t know why she was sure of that, but she was.

Since it was still early morning, she decided to take a nap.She’d been taking them in the hospital and felt better afterwards.She didn’t need to be in bed since her wound on her head was getting better,but she didn’t want to be exhausted from the stress of coming home either.As she was closing her eyes, she realized that she really did feel better and was glad that she’d gotten to spend the morning with Frank.He was a great distraction.And she needed to have a great distraction with all that was going on in her mind.

After the nap, she got up to tidy up her house.It had been several days since she’d been home, and she wanted to get things looking nice for when Reagan came over.Running the vacuum, she was startled out of her thinking when what she’d been thinking about appeared on her body.It was the very thing that she’d been thinking about wearing to dinner tonight.She laughed until she was nearly sick with it and was surprised when Reagan spoke to her.

“Are you all right?I could feel your fear.”She told him what had happened.“That’s pretty much the way it happened for me, too.I was thinking of which color tie to wear when it was suddenly on me.”

“Will you know when I’m afraid like that?”He told her that he was new to this mate business, too, but apparently so.“There should be a book that people can give to their mates when they find them.It would make things so much better.”

“I was thinking the same thing when I had to talk to you.A book where it’s listed how you were supposed to tell someone that you’ve found their other half.But there isn’t one, except for books that have smut in them.They, for the most part, get a lot of it right, but there are a few things that they plain get wrong.I’m going to have to read one of them one of these days and see what it’s all about.”

She laughed with him.“I should get going.I’m tidying up my house for when you come over.I’ve been gone a few days, and it shows.”She didn’t tell him that she had changed her sheets on her bed.That was a subject too new to her and could be taken as meaning a lot more than she was saying at the moment.Instead, she told him that she was taking it easy and not doing too much.Then he mentioned her table and chairs.

“I’ll have them in my truck when I come over.I’ll bring them in and put them where you want.They’re heavier than I thought they’d be when I put them back in the truck this morning.It’s a good thing that I didn’t see them when you bid on them, or I might have tried to get them.They’d be perfect for the little nook in the kitchen to have for breakfast in the morning.”She said that was why she wanted them; they weren’t flimsy like the set she’d had before.“All right.I’ll let you go.Just rest when you need to, and you should be fine.”

At four o’clock, she was starting to get herself ready for her date.She was excited about it and was glad that he’d suggested it.Just as she was getting out of the shower, her sister called.She nearly didn’t answer it; she was still mad at her for what she’d said in the hospital.She answered it as coldly as she could.

“Well, you’re in a bad mood.I suppose you’re going to tell me that you’re depressed.Well, so am I.I’ve had to take medication for the last two days and lie in my darkened bedroom.”She said that she wasn’t depressed at all right now.“Good.When you apologize to me, then things will get back to normal between us.But there will be unbroken rules between us now.There will be no more mention of you taking my drugs to get them tested.I know what I’m taking, and that’s all that needs to be said about them.”

“I’ve discovered that I don’t care what you take anymore.As for your rules, you can shove those up your ass.I’m not apologizing to you either.You started it, and I’m not going to be the one who has to watch what I say when you’re worse than I am.”She said she was hanging up.“Good.I have a date tonight anyway and don’t have time for you.”

“Date?You can’t be dating.I won’t allow it.”She asked her when it had become her business whether she dated or not.“You’re my sister, and what if I need you around when my depression gets the worst of me.I might have to go into the hospital again if you continue to act like you are.”

“I’ll visit you as much as you visited me when I was in there.”She pulled her towel off her head from getting out of the shower and was dressed.All she had to do now was to put on a little bit of makeup, and she’d be ready to go.But first she had to talk to her sister, and that was going to take a lot of effort on her part.“As I said to you before, I’m not going to put up with you ordering me around.I’ll date when I want and who I want.”

“Who is it?”She told her, not about the mate part, but that she was dating him.“No.I forbid it.You’ll not date that man, and that’s final.”

“Like I care what you think.”Robin screamed, and she laughed.“Do you feel better?Sometimes when I get away from you, I scream into my pillow on the couch.You’ll notice, too, if I ever invite you over again, that it’s quite worn from all the times you made me mad at you.”

“You’re going to make it so that I don’t speak to you again.”She didn’t say anything because she was thinking that would be all right with her.Things about her sister were coming to light, and she wasn’t proud of the fact that she’d been getting the better of her for years.“Did you hear what I said to you?What will you do if I just cut you off?You’ll be in the loony bin is where you’re going to be.And I’ll be standing in the room right next to you.If you’re even depressed when you say you are.I don’t believe for a moment that you suffer like anyone else does.You’re just jealous because I’m sicker than you are.”

“Yes, because that’s something to be jealous of.One of us being more depressed than the other.”She brought up again how she was taking the strongest medication there was for depression.“I don’t believe that either.But you go on thinking that if you want.I’m betting right now that you’re taking sugar pills just to get you off his back.That’s why you won’t let me get them tested, it’s because you know that too.”

When she hung up on her, she was relieved.It wasn’t like her to be so mad at her sister, but then things had been taking a turn for the worse.She didn’t much care for Robin right now.She loved her; she was her sister after all, but she didn’t like her.She was manipulative and cruel, and she didn’t care for either trait.

When Reagan showed up, she was calmer but not totally.She was still stressed about her sister, but was looking forward to the dinner with him.He was a nice man, and she knew that what he’d said to her about not pressuring her was true.One of the things that Frank had told her was that they couldn’t lie to each other.It was some kind of thing in their DNA that forbade them from lying to each other.She thought that she liked that most of all.

“I’m hungry for about anything.What’s your favorite food?”She told him that she’d love to just get a pizza and some soda.She’d had a rough day, and that was her go-to food when she was stressed.“Then pizza it is.”

On the way to the pizza place, she told him about her conversation with her sister.He didn’t say much, but she could tell that he was as upset about her as she was.When he asked her what she was going to do now, she didn’t have an answer, but only to keep seeing him until they were a couple.

“I love that.”She said that she’d been thinking about the two of them all day and had come to the conclusion that she thought that she could spend the rest of her life with him.“We could get married at the courthouse anytime you want.It won’t be a big fancy wedding, but we can have that later down the line if we wish.”

“Perfect.”He laughed and told her that he’d not expected her to be so readily agreeable.“I just want to get on with my life with you.I know that it’s going to be rough with my sister around all the time, but she won’t get the better of me from now on.I like standing up to her.I think that’s the first time I’ve ever done that since we were living together after our parents died.”

The pizza was just what she wanted.It was cheesy and full of her favorite things, like black olives and ham.She even liked that he had gotten himself a pizza so that she could have as much as she wanted without having to share.It sounded selfish, she knew, but she just wanted to get herself something that she wanted and didn’t care that he was kind enough to get her what she wanted.

They talked about some of the questions that she had that Frank hadn’t been able to answer.She was happy to know that he was close to his family and agreed to have dinner with them on Saturday evening next week.She was going to go back to work soon and was happy that she was going to be doing something productive.Sitting around the house waiting for the next time her sister called was going to be tough.