The Call

by B. A. Cubbage

  “I imagine it’s the same as what I feel when you come home, Adonis.” She smacks my ass. “Now let’s go get dressed and ready to go to Mickey and Kate’s. Preferably before one of my brothers comes looking for us.”

  “Good idea.” Scooping her naked body up off of the stairs, I carry her into our bedroom.

  »»•««

  “’Bout time you losers showed up,” Damon calls out to us as we walk up to the guys who are in the backyard of Mickey’s gathered around the fire pit. Reagan sticks her tongue out at her twin. He just smiles and hands her and me a beer.

  “Where’s my wife?” Mickey points to the house. “She sleeping again?”

  “You know it. Poor thing. She’s getting so uncomfortable. I can’t wait for October to get here.”

  “I’ll bet.” Reagan kisses my cheek. “I’m going to go find Sam and Sara. Don’t have too much fun.”

  I’ve seen that look on her face before. She’s got sneaky little shit written all over it. “Mmm same to you, sweet girl.”

  She turns and heads inside the house. I turn to Mickey, “You’re sure Kate’s asleep?”

  “Pretty sure. You should have seen her today at work. I had Reagan come pick her up, she was so exhausted.” This only furthers my anxiety. She’s up to something.

  “So, Damon, when are you and Sam going to start building on your plot of land?”

  He looks at me. “We’re actually working with a contractor right now, getting blueprints made up. Your sister knows exactly what she wants. Her tastes are the same as yours, which kind of cracks me up.”

  “Why? Reagan shares a lot of yours and Dev’s interests.”

  Dev sits up in his chair. “Abraham’s right. It’s not that big of a stretch.”

  “Besides, I have great taste. You’re welcome.” He flicks his bottle cap at me. “When will the blueprints be ready?”

  “My guy says in about a week. I’ll have something solid to really look at in a week and a half at max.”

  All of a sudden, Devon is soaked. He stands up with his arms raised and his head down as he lets the water drip off of his hair. “What the fuck was that?”

  We all look around but there is no one in sight. Damon shoots up out of his chair. He’s now dripping wet too. “Damn it!”

  “This has Reagan written all over it.” We all stand and head toward the house.

  “Hey boys?” We look up, like the suckers we are, and three very large coolers full of ice cold water are tipped over. There’s nothing we can do but close our eyes and accept it. “Suck it.” There’s giggling and then they take off around the upper deck.

  “You better hide well, sweet girl! Alight boys, we need ammo. What do we have to work with?”

  Damon smiles. “I’ve got a shit ton of shaving cream and Silly String in the toolbox of my truck, for just such an occasion. I figured payback was coming for the incident on guys’ night.”

  We all run into the darkness toward Damon’s truck. Mickey turns to him. “Your mind is a beautiful thing.”

  “About time you bitches noticed.” He gets the toolbox unlocked and opened.

  “Okay, take extra cans and anything that you can carry. The girls will regret their form of payback. Damon, you and Dev head up the stairs, one in the front and one in the back. Mickey, you and I will go through the house. When you find them, yell.”

  “Done.” We all separate. Mickey goes around the house and through the front door and I sneak in the back.

  I shut lights off as I go. When I get into the kitchen, I stand still, close my eyes, and listen. I can hear Devon and Damon enter the house from upstairs. I can hear Mickey in the sun room. I can also hear someone in the room above me. I’m betting, since it’s a bathroom, that it’s Reagan.

  Sliding along the wall going up the stairs, I’m armed with shaving cream in both hands and silly string at the ready. I hear Kate squeal and Damon holler, “Got preggers!” One down.

  I peek my head up from the stairs to see through the bannister and look for signs of life. The only ones I can hear are Kate and Damon.

  I creep down the hall to the bathroom that sits over the kitchen. When I get partway into the room, some type of powder is thrust on me. It sticks and forms a kind of paste, thanks to the sopping wet clothes on my body. I blindly spray the shaving cream.

  “Shit! They’ve got canisters!” To my surprise I’ve caught Sam and not Reagan.

  I stand in the doorway, trapping her inside, and turn the lights on. “Flour? Really? Oh you’re so dead, little sister. I got Sam!”

  I toss her ass over my shoulder and head for the balcony. When I pass by the first set of stairs, Sam realizes what I’m doing. “No, Elijah you wouldn’t.” I so would. I grip the railing, and with my little sister still over my shoulder, I jump over—landing smack in the middle of Mickey’s pool.

  Thank you, thank you. Hold your applause. I know I’m awesome. Sam comes sputtering to the surface. “Dick!” I laugh and head toward the edge of the pool.

  When I get to the middle of the deep end, I’m pulled under by my ankles. What the fuck? When I open my eyes under the water, I see Reagan’s happy ass getting out of the pool before I’m even at the surface. Oh, this means war.

  When I come up I catch the ass end of her disappearing behind the side of the house. “You can run, angel! But you can’t hide!” I’m out of the pool and yelling to the guys, “Reagan is AWOL. All forces on her!”

  Sam laughs, sitting on the edge of the pool and taking her sopping wet shoes off. “You’ll never catch her, dear brother. Your girlfriend is a smart little shit.”

  “I’m aware that she is.” Mickey comes walking out from around the house with Sara over his shoulder.

  “I caught one. It’s a huge one too.” She’s covered in silly string and looks hilarious.

  “Did you just call me huge?” Sam gasps and takes off running. Mickey doesn’t see it in time to move. Sam pushes him in the pool, Sara over his shoulder and all.

  “Shit man, a warning would have been nice.” He glares at me when his head comes up.

  I shrug my shoulders, “Even I know not to insinuate that a female is fat. You deserved that. Now help me find Reagan. Her ass is running.”

  “Man, if I get leveled for helping you—”

  “Are you telling me that you’re scared of Reagan?” I cock a brow at him.

  “Fuck yeah I’m scared of that little shit. You do know her, right? She’ll eat you alive.”

  “I ain’t scurrd. I’ll help,” Damon says as he comes down the stairs with Kate on his heels.

  “Sweet. Where’s Dev?”

  “He’s looking for her already. Nobody said that they had her.” Kate points upstairs. “He’s still upstairs. You’re not going to find her.”

  “I bet that I will.”

  She swings her arm slowly out in front of her in a grand gesture. “Well then, by all means, go and find her.” Damon and I look at each other, and then head in opposite directions.

  I take the way that I saw her go around the house. When I get to the front of the house, I figure it best to check out the vehicles. Trying to get my mindset into Reagan’s isn’t hard. We think a lot alike.

  I check Damon’s truck first and come up empty. Devon’s next, nothing. Once I’ve checked every one of them and don’t find her, I go for the house.

  Now, if I were the one trying to hide from Reagan, I would keep moving. The upper deck would be where I would go. There are plenty of entry and exit points to get in and out of the house quickly. Damon rounds the corner and I wave him over while signaling for him to be quiet.

  When he gets up to me he whispers, “What’s up?”

  “I think that she’s moving around on the balcony. You go up through the house and make as much noise you can without making it too obvious that that’s what you’re doing. Flush her out to me.”

  “I’m on it.” He heads in the house through the front. He’s making the perfect amount of noise to throw her off.
>
  Once I’m at the top of the stairs, I put my back against the wall and listen again. I hear a door on the left side of the house slowly creep open and then close just as quietly. I smile to myself. I knew what she was doing. I hear someone on the other side of the house so I just sit and wait for her to come to me.

  “Gotcha!”

  “Jesus!” I toss her over my shoulder and head for the back of the house. I plan to do the same to her that I did with Sam. She has the same reaction when she figures out what I’m doing. “No! Abraham, you better not!”

  Right before I heave us over the railing, I call out, “Got her!” And then we’re airborne. She screams the whole way down and clings to me for dear life.

  “Damn it! Ass! How in the hell did you find me?” She’s coughing and swimming to the side. Everyone, except for Kate’s pregnant self, cannonballs it into the pool right next to her.

  I’m laughing hysterically, sitting on the edge of the pool, taking a towel to my hair. “Fuck, you guys suck.”

  “You started it, brat. Don’t start something that you can’t finish.” She splashes Damon and swims over to me.

  “Can I just say, that I really love our little dysfunctional, weird family?” Sara is looking around at us all.

  I take a look too. Devon has a huge towel wrapped around him and Sara. Damon and Sam are at the corner of the pool clinging to each other. Mickey is hugging Kate and she’s complaining about him getting her all wet. And my sweet girl is in the pool between my legs, with her arms wrapped around my waist as I dry my head.

  I really love it too.

  »»•««

  I’ve got Reagan in my arms as I walk over to our house that’s about fifty yards from Mickey’s. She’s passed out. She fell asleep sometime around midnight and it’s two in the morning now. The dogs are waiting by the backdoor when I walk up the path.

  Once I’ve got her in our bed and covered up, I head into the closet and close the door behind me. I walk over to my favorite suit and pull her ring out of the inside jacket pocket. I think I do this every night just to make sure that it’s real. That I’m really going to ask Reagan to be mine forever. I’m getting so impatient.

  I decided I’m going to do it on the Fourth of July. Just two weeks from now. I know that she will say yes…fuck, I hope that she says yes. Regardless, the hardest part is the waiting and hoping she doesn’t find the damn thing.

  She told me yesterday that I will find out what’s in the bag that I’m not allowed to look in on the Fourth. I figure she’s trying to make it special. I plan on making it the most memorable day of our lives. I put the ring back, shut off the light, and walk back into our bedroom. She’s still sound asleep.

  Dozer has this nasty habit of lying on my side of the bed when Reagan is in it and I am not. “Dozer. Down. Down. You’ve got your own bed, get out of mine.”

  He huffs but gets up and joins Thor on his bed. Duchess is in her closet oasis as usual. I’ve really grown to like the little fur ball.

  Stripping down to my boxers, I climb into bed with Reagan and engulf her body in my own. “Good night, sweet girl. I love you.” Inhaling deeply, I snuggle deeper into her and close my eyes.

  »»•««

  I wake to a banging on the door and the doorbell ringing five times in a row right after it. “What the hell?” I look at the clock and am shocked as hell to see it’s eleven o’clock and I’m still asleep. Reagan, I get. She does it all the time. But me? I’m normally up by eight at the very latest. The doorbell chimes again, followed by another round of knocks. “I’m coming, I’m coming. Keep your damn pants on.”

  Thor follows me down the stairs. When I open the door, Reagan’s Aunt Kathy smacks me upside the head. “Ouch. Fuck. What was that for?”

  “Don’t either of you know how to pick up a damned phone? You guys apparently walked home last night and no one has seen hide nor hair of you since. You cannot do that to us. What the hell’s a matter with you?”

  “Well shit, Kathy. You could have just had one of the guys come over and knock on the door.”

  “I did. Boy, having Reagan share your bed is rubbing off on you. You need to give one of them a spare key.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Don’t ‘ma’am’ me, and go put some pants on. Wake up my niece.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m going.” When I get into our bedroom, Reagan is in the bathroom with the door shut. “Your aunt is here. And she’s pissed.” I hear her laugh, and then flush the toilet.

  She opens the door and wraps her arms around me. “Yeah, I heard you get scolded for the both of us. Did she say why she was checking up on us in the first place?”

  “I’m here because I haven’t seen or heard from you two since you helped Peter and me with the barn.” Kathy is waiting in the hallway while Reagan pads over to the mirror over the dresser and fixes her hair into one of those cinnabun things, before opening her panty drawer and grabbing a pair out.

  “You could have called.”

  “Child, I did. Honestly, you two. I’m just going to insert a chip in you somewhere that shocks the shit out of you when I call and you don’t answer.”

  We laugh, but I believe that if she could, she would actually do it. Reagan and I meet Kathy in the hallway while we all head downstairs and I start getting breakfast…well I guess it’s lunch now, but I start cooking some eggs and bacon.

  “Anyways, I wanted to tell the two of you that Peter and I won’t make it to your Fourth of July party.”

  Reagan puts a grape in her mouth and speaks around it. “How come.”

  She gets swatted for her troubles. “Don’t talk with food in your mouth. We are going to Colorado to watch the fireworks in the mountains. Up in Breckenridge. I’m pretty excited about it.”

  “Well then I won’t be mad at you.”

  “You wouldn’t have been anyways, little girl. You know better. Be happy for this old bird.”

  “Quit fishing. You know damn well that you’re not old. So what are we doing today?” Reagan waits to finish her sentence before she puts another grape in her mouth.

  Kathy smiles. “Well, for starters, your man is going to help me unload my car, and you, me, Kate, Sam, and Sara are all going to cook and bake for the menfolk. While we’re doing that, you boys are to go help your Uncle Peter go fix a couple of loose fence posts to the pasture out at the farm.

  “Us women will be making you fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cornbread, and for dessert you boys will have peach and blueberry cobbler to look forward to. Now come on, help me unload all this food.”

  Reagan smiles at me and waves me off. “I’ll call the girls over.”

  Well, I did skip my run today…again. A little manual labor would be good.

  »»•««

  “So I hear that you went out and got—” I elbow Uncle Peter in the side and glare at Devon, who is avoiding eye contact.

  “What? What did he go out and get?” Damon asks while he looks at me curiously.

  Uncle Peter and Devon look at me in question. “Well, the cat’s out of the bag now. Damon can’t be the only one that doesn’t know. I went out and got a ring designed for your sister. I’m going to ask her to marry me on the Fourth of July, right before we light off the finale.”

  “What? Why are Mickey and I the only ones left out of the loop?”

  “Uhh…”

  “Are you fucking serious? What the hell, guys?” We all laugh but he’s genuinely pissed about it. I can’t blame him.

  “Settle down. Mickey knew because he walked in when I was designing it. Devon knew because I had to get your mother’s emerald from his safety deposit box. And Uncle Peter knows because your brother has a big fucking mouth.”

  “See, you should have asked me to get it. We all have access to that box and I wouldn’t have said anything to anyone about it.”

  Devon pipes up. “That’s all well and good but I would have known anyways because he asked my permission for her hand.”

  Oh for C
hrist’s sake. “Dev, seriously?”

  “Whoa, whoa, hey, whoa! Why the hell wasn’t I asked? She’s my fucking twin?” Fantastic.

  “With all due respect, Damon, Devon is older than you both. You’re just going to have to find a way to get over it. Before we get back to the house with the girls. I don’t want you giving shit away to Reagan. This has to be a complete and utter surprise. And Dev, if Sara knows, so fucking help me.”

  “Calm down, you girl. Uncle Peter was the only one that I told. I thought he knew already. It was an honest mistake.”

  “Fine. But the next time I’ve got big news, I’m so not telling you first.”

  “Whatever.”

  “Let’s get this done and get back to the house so that we can eat.” They all agree and we finish up the last fence post.

  »»•««

  “This cobbler is amazing, Kathy.” I spoon another mouthful into my mouth. It’s orgasmic.

  “Thank you, but you should be praising your girl. Reagan made the peach cobbler.” I look across the dining table at her. Her head is down with a half-smile and red cheeks.

  “You’ve been holding out on me.”

  “If I made it for you, you would want it all the time, and then you would get sick of it. Besides, why would I risk you making me get up in the mornings to make breakfast?”

  My mouth gapes. “I thought you couldn’t cook?”

  Devon scoffs. “Half of the stuff you had at our house when she was around was made by her. You know that Colby chicken stuff that you love so much? She made that.”

  “Are you kidding me? Okay, I’m boycotting breakfast until you make Colby chicken for me.”

  Her eyes find mine. “I’ll make it for you tomorrow if you still make me breakfast in the morning, deal?”

  “Deal. You’re such a punk.”

  She smiles. “I know.” Ridiculous.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Reagan

  My head is leaning against the mirror in our bathroom as my bare ass sits on the vanity between Abraham’s and my sink, with him still buried inside of me. His arms are on the vanity on either side of me, and his forehead rests on my chest.