“Fine.”
“That’s good. Tell them I said ‘hi’ when you talk to him again. When’re they coming to see the loft?” she asked.
I looked around at the bare…everything and chuckled. “Probably when we have furniture, I imagine.”
She laughed. “As soon as I get there, we’ll furnish the place. It sucks that you have to live there like that, though. I seriously wouldn’t mind if you got a few things without me. I trust your sense of style,” she lied.
I shrugged. “It’s not so bad. The place is nice; it just has more of a frat house feeling to it right now.” I stared down at the half-empty garbage bag hanging on the cabinet instead of in a can and then at the stack of red SOLO cups beside the sink.
Kira sighed. “It’s been lonely at home without you. I miss tripping over your shoes by the back door.” It sounded like she was smiling – something I missed seeing. “I can’t wait ‘til you get here next week.”
“Me either,” I yawned, turning to pitch my trash and then retracing my steps to the bedroom.
“You’ll be getting in Thursday evening, right?”
I thought for a second. “Yep. Then leaving right back out Friday night.” That part sucked. Judging by Kira’s initial silence, I guessed that she was probably thinking the same thing.
“How’ve you been keeping busy there without me?” was her next question.
“Work and the internet,” pretty much summed it up.
She giggled. “Poor baby.”
I didn’t respond because I started drifting off lying there in the middle of the air mattress.
“I um…Reina and I have been talking quite a bit over the past couple weeks,” Kira announced.
My eyes opened and I didn’t speak, just waited for her to continue.
“Yeah, apparently she’s bored being home on bed-rest with the pregnancy, so she calls me in the evening while Ben’s at work. His job put him on midnights for a while.”
Kira rambled on about Reina and her husband and I couldn’t have cared less about how she was doing. However, what I was interested in knowing was why she and Kira were so chummy all of a sudden. As long as she wasn’t trying to weasel her way into the wedding, I didn’t care. If Kira wanted to deal with her sister, that was her right. But I sure as hell didn’t want any parts of it.
“Kira…” I started cautiously. “…This isn’t your way of bringing up her being invited to the wedding again, is it?”
Kira was silent.
I sighed. “I knew it.”
“In all fairness, she’s my sister, AJ. My twin sister,” she added, as if that meant Reina was entitled to some sort of a pass. “I just think…the three of us would probably be a lot better off if we just had a sit down and sorted things out,” Kira suggested quietly. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately anyway.”
Listening to her suddenly becoming defensive of her sister, I decided to wipe my hands clean of the situation. I wouldn’t have Kira resenting me later for keeping her from Reina; however, I’d do what I could to keep her from attending on the wedding day. In my opinion, that wasn’t a privilege Reina was owed. If Kira wanted to fraternize with the devil at her leisure, that was all on her.
Kira fell silent for a bit. “Are you mad?” she eventually asked.
I let out a breath. “No. I just want you to be careful.”
She snickered. “Be careful? Reina’s bed-ridden and thousands of miles away. I’m pretty sure she’s harmless.”