Reyona could not believe her eyes when she opened the door. She was annoyed because after she called the other person on the other end of the door to come in, nobody answered.
"Who is…" The annoyance on her face morphed into shock and excitement as she saw her sister standing on the threshold with a big, wide smile on her face.
"Ta-da! Who missed me?" Victoria Dexter, mostly called Toria, squealed with her hands wide open right before she grabbed her sister in a hard, enveloping.
"Euf, what have they been feeding you over there?"Reyona said with laughter as she breathed in the familiar aromatic, balsamic scents that sparked memories.
"Food. Of course, the Lone Star was especially known for its chicken fried steak, you know. Hmm, those darlings are to die for." Toria said with a dreamy look on her face as he stepped back from Reyona's embrace after a while.
"Yeah, right. I am just going to take your word for it." Reyona said as she turned her sister's arm over, "And a lot of sunshine too, I can see."
Toria flexed her arms, showcasing her tanned complexion as she made an impromptu strut "This was not easy to come by, I tell you," she said solemnly as she rested her ringed hands on her chest. She sighed dramatically as she said with a serious face, "This took me twice as much as it took the locals to warm up to me."
"Which I heard was about two seconds," Reyona said with a shake of her head as she went back to her seat.
"Hey, don't belittle my hard work," Toria said with a feigned pout designed to make Reyona laugh. The latter obliged her by letting out boisterous laughter. Reyona was amazed that the ball that seemed to be perpetually in her heart these days seemed to have taken a break from her. She felt tears come to her eyes as she looked at the glowing exuberance of her kid sister, and she hoped that the latter would never have any cause to know the anguish that she was going through at the moment.
"You know I wouldn't do that; oh, you tanned Texans. I thought you would end up settling there with a cowboy, and by the time we see you again, you will probably be with a younger cowboy or cowgirl clinging to your legs. Wait, weren't you in New York before? You know, the city you believed was the best for the way it called to the creativity within you?" Reyona tilted her head with a knowing smile on her face.
"Ah, ah," Toria said with a roll of her eyes as she came to sit down on Reyona's table, The tiny bells on her strapped sandals jiggled as she swung her legs "New York lasted for so long as I could make it; I finally realised that the only chaos I like is the one inside me. I tried Vegas for a while too, but soon realised that it was a no-no. Too polish. Now, Texas is different. It would be hard not to fall in love with all those hospitalitys," she said, then tucked her tongue in the corner of her mouth. "Of course, one can't go wrong with all those yummy hotties too," she winked.
"Hmm, does that mean it was because of a certain hottie that made you stay for that long in Texas?" Reyona asked curiously, hoping that her sister's luck was better than hers.
"Erm, no," Toria said instantly. "Well, there was one. It didn't work out though. I learned other things, though. I am now a proficient waitress, and I can even swear fluently now. I bet even longer and better than some men would," she declared proudly
"Is that so?" Reyona said it sarcastically. "Well, I am sure that dad would be so happy to know that his princess is now an equivalent wife," Reyona said, and they both burst into laughter.
"Oh, you need not worry about that. He knows, alright. He told me that he would be happy if I didn't end up being the reason for his heart attack. Told him that it was a good thing that his heart health was so great then," Toria said, and the two of them hooted with laughter.
Reyona had always envied how easy Toria's relationship had been with both of her parents. Reyona's relationship had been strained with her parents because she had resented them for a long time for leaving her with Grams when they divorced. Her mother was pregnant with Toria then and was able to grow up with their mother with visits from their dad even after the two of them remarried.
Their mom still says, to date, that she had no idea that she was pregnant with Toria at that time. Though none of their parents had ever answered the question of whether they would still be together if she had known then, Reyona knew now that that might not have changed much. Just like her father said the other day, she believed that her parents were two people who loved each other enough to create a family, and then something happened along the road of that journey.
Now she could understand that, but back then she had been so angry with the two of them that she resented her sister for at least being with their mother when she was born. It took years of Gram's love and care to finally get her to accept her parents back and to even agree to speak to them on the phone.
The first time she agreed to see her mother, her sister was already toddling then, and she had crawled up to where Reyona sat stiff-faced as her mother was talking a mile a minute, and she held Reyona's pinkie finger with her tiny hands and shook it slightly before she grinned up with her mostly gum mouth and said in the garble she was using to communicate back then, "Sita!"
That had been the case for Reyona back then. Love at first sight. That was the first time she had agreed to stay with her mother for about a week before she had to go back to Grams's because of school.
That whole week had been spent mostly with her sister; her mother's presence had been a bonus, and then her dad had travelled to where her mother was living then. Even though there was still tension between their parents then, Reyona could remember that they had both tried their best to be civil to each other in the children's presence. Reyona could remember that the outings they went on during that week made her remember how her family used to be, and for a while, she pretended to herself that her parents would get back together.
Of course, that did not happen, but the love she felt for this beautiful, adventurous, and carefree spirit has only increased since then.
And that had been what started the end of the fragment that her parent's divorce had caused.
Laughing with her sister now as the latter jumped up when she saw another award that Reyona had gotten since the last time that she was there, Reyona smiled at her sister's oohing and aahing over the plaque she got from the ICAN organisation for a contribution to what could have turned out to be a disaster if not handled well. Reyona knew that she still had a lot to be thankful for.
"I have missed you a lot, Toria."
"And I you, sis. I missed you," Toria said as she gently placed the plaque back in its place on the shelf before moving back towards her sister. She flicked her long strawberry-blond hair behind her as she gave her sister a keen look. "Now tell me what is wrong, sis."
"What do you mean?" Reyona asked in confusion.
"I mean the reason for that strain on your beautiful face. What is wrong, Rey?" She said this as she came to stand directly in front of Reyona.
She shook her head when Reyona started to deny that anything was wrong. "Ah, don't do that; is what happened?"
Reyona knew that her sister was not about to be brushed off. As carefree as Toria could be, she could also be tenacious.
Where to start? Reyona thought briefly as she sighed.