The Rivals - Dylan Allen Page 0,446

But, I realized that when you are here, I hardly see you. And, I didn’t want to run out of here on your first night home. And this week, because I had time, I actually got to go to one of Eva’s rehearsals. Oh, Stone, she’s really good.” Her smile is full of pride.

I nod in agreement. “I know.”

“See! I didn’t know. It’s the most important thing in her life and I didn’t know.” She shakes our joined hands. “That gutted me. I want to help make costumes, run lines, do her make up. Not just show up and clap. So, I’ll stay on the board, fundraise for them, but I have my podcast and running Venus Rising isn’t what I want to do every day. I finally have a choice in how I live my life. And so, I’m making it.”

I feel like I have whiplash, but she sounds more sure than I’ve heard her in a while.

“Aunt Regan?”

We turn simultaneously at the sound of Bianca’s tentative voice in the doorway. She clasps her hands together and looks at us sheepishly “I’m sorry to bother you.”

“Then, go back to bed.” I deadpan.

Regan nudges my thigh with her foot and straightens fully. “You’re not bothering us, come on over.” She pats the couch and moves over to make room for her.

She smiles nervously and joins us. Regan puts a hand on her shoulder and squeezes. “What’s up, buttercup?”

“I…I wanted to ask about tomorrow. Is Nana Tina going to be okay?”

Regan and I exchange a quick smile of surprise. Given the barely civil nature of Kal and Tina’s relationship, it’s been an irony not lost on anyone that Bianca and her step-grandmother are so close.

"Oh goody, I got here in time for the good part," Eva strolls into the living room and without waiting for an invitation squeezes herself in the space between me and Bianca.

Regan looks between the two of them. “Why are you two even awake?”

"We were talking about it and we disagreed. So, I told her to come ask you,” Eva responds.

Bianca nudges her. “You weren’t supposed to come with me.”

“I’m nosy. You know this.” Eva shrugs.

Regan shakes her head, but the twinkle in her eyes belies her disapproving frown.

“You guys shouldn’t worry about your grandmother.”

“I can’t help it. I know they’re like family and everything, but why do they have to rub it in her face like that?”

Regan smiles patiently. “He hasn’t been her husband for more than thirty years, honey.”

“But she’s still single.”

“Because she wants to be,” Regan says with a reassuring smile.

Bianca frowns. “Fine, but I wish she had someone with her so people won’t think she’s still into him.”

“Oh, no one thinks that. At least no one who knows her.” Regan runs a hand over her back. “She wants all of us, especially you kids, to have a relationship with him.”

“I like Grandpa Lucas,” Eva chimes in. “No. I love him actually. If he hadn’t been missing all those years, I know he would have been a good dad to you. He's wise, and funny and encouraging."

Regan smiles. "We can't write a different past--"

"But we can decide what's coming next and make it so, " Eva finishes for her.

Regan laughs “Well since I’m so predictable, and it’s so late, why don’t you two get yourselves back up to bed.” She stands. “I need to shower and hit the sack. I have to be at the Rivers’ at the crack of dawn to help Confidence.”

I follow her lead. “And I need to finish unpacking.”

The four of us walk upstairs and when we get to the second floor, the girls head to their room and Regan and I start the climb up to our bedroom on the top floor.

"Hey guys?” Eva calls up and I lean over the railing to.

“Yeah?”

“Can you shut your door all the way the time so I don't have to explain to my brothers that you’re not really dying?”

I glare at her but heat blooms on my cheeks. These are the hazards of parenting and I fully accept them. I chase my wife up the stairs, narrowly missing her ankle and then finally snagging her by the waist. “I’ve been dreaming of this since the minute I said goodbye to you ten days ago,” I confess as I lift her up.

Her legs wrap around my hips and she curls a hand around my neck to tug my head closer to hers. “Then please, for the love of God, put me out of