The Dragon’s E-Mail Order Menage

“Cali-”

“No, no, on second thought, no need to say it again. I heard you. You think I’m jealous. Of you.”

“I’m sorry. Seriously, Cali, I am. I shouldn’t have said that. I just got mad. You know how my temper gets.”

“I do. Don’t we all?”

It seemed that some of the fight had drained out of Cali as well and she hefted herself up on the kitchen counter beside what remained of the unwashed dishes from the evening’s supper. It reminded Maggie so much of the way things had been when they were children that it hit her like a swift punch to the gut and she had to sit as well, with the same heavy fatigue she had seen in her mother only hours earlier.

 So there they were, the two sisters looking far too tired for their age and seeming to have momentarily run out of words. Maggie could hear the sounds of her family happening in the room next to her the way that she believed any other normal family would sound and she thought to herself that maybe the problem was the two of them having to exist under one roof. Maybe it would be easier for her and Cali to love each other if they were always pushed directly into the line of fire of the other’s life, each of them finding herself where she was not wanted over and over again.

“You’re right, you know.”

“What?” Maggie said in surprise, this being the last thing she had expected Cali to say, “What do you mean? I was right about what?”

“About me. About me being jealous. I am. I’m so jealous of you it makes my whole body hurt. I’m jealous of what you have.”

“What does that mean? What do I have that you don’t?”

It was at precisely that moment when  Damon chose to let out one of his great big belly laughs, the ones that had given her goosebumps when the two of them had met but now made her cringe the way hearing a song you had already heard too many times was apt to do. But she wasn’t the only one to react to the sound. She saw Cali, who she was still watching closely, flinch as a pretty blush made its way across her cheeks.

So that was it. She had never realized, it hadn’t even crossed her mind, but that was it. Damon. It was Damon she was jealous of, Damon that was causing her to speak so harshly and demonstrate such venom. Maggie opened her mouth, still not entirely sure what it was she was going to say once she was able to get actual words out, but Cali must have seen the realization dawning in her eyes because she hopped down off of the countertop abruptly, putting a stop to the rare mood of sharing they had established.

“It doesn’t really matter, okay? I’m just talking. None of it really means anything in the end.”

“But Cali-”

“No, no more. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Besides, Damon is waiting on you in the other room. He seems giddy just like a little kid and I don’t think he’s going to stand for waiting around for all that much longer. Get going. I’ll finish up with the dishes. And before you say anything, I don’t mind. I know I make a big deal out of it but truth be told, I actually kind of like doing the dishes. Just don’t tell Mom.”

It was a hell of a lot kinder and more familiar than Cali was in the habit of being with Maggie and it made her heart ache a little bit. She wanted to keep talking, to somehow make this conversation go on and morph into a long lasting, changed relationship, but things like that never really happened in real life, did they?

Only in the movies and this was no movie. As if right on cue to spoil their rare moment, she could hear Damon’s voice ringing out loud and clear from the supper table where he still sat shooting the sh*t with the rest of her family. She could hear her brother’s joy, rolled her eyes but smiled just the same. She had to give him that, he had a way with her brothers. Especially Eddie. Eddie practically worshiped the ground Damon Jenkins walked on.

“Babe! Hey, babe! You gonna hang out there in the kitchen all night long? You and your kid sister playing at being adults?”

“She’s coming, Damon. I was just talking her head off, kind of pinned her down I suppose.”

Maggie winced, Cali’s taking the blame for her delay hitting especially hard after what she had just discovered, but Cali shook her head briefly, making it clear that she had no desire for things to go any other way. Maggie took a deep breath and stood up, suddenly entirely sure of what she was going to do. No, what she needed to do, what she had to do. She felt the strangest sense of calm wash over her and she moved to stand beside her sister, kissing her quickly on the cheek and running her hand lightly over her soft hair. When Cali gave her a surprised look, she smiled at her a little sadly.

“I love you sister, you know that?”

“I know. I love you, too.”

“And I have a feeling things are going to start looking up around here for you. Couldn’t say why, I just do.”

Now it was Cali’s turn to open her mouth to speak, but Maggie didn’t wait around to see what it was she wanted to say. She was tired of dancing around the same conversations. Now that she had made a decision about what she was going to do (even if her plan was one that most of the shifters in her little town would have thought was at least a little bit nuts), she wanted to get to it. She just had to do one more thing before she did. She had to talk to Damon.

“You know, you’ve been awful quiet tonight, sugar. Something on your mind?”

Maggie felt his strong hands slung over her shoulders and for a moment, she almost lost her nerve. He was a good man, Damon Jenkins was. He was a good man and some might say that was reason enough for her to stay with him for as long as he wanted her, but she just couldn’t see it like that. In some ways, in almost every way, it was because he was a good man that she knew she had to go.

If the tables had been turned, if it had been her still in love and him not feeling it the same way any longer, she would have wanted this. She would have wanted to be let go so that she could find someone who wanted the same things and who wanted them with her.