Featured image by DarkmoonArt_de from Pixabay

“Nothing!” came the almost exasperated response. “I run the business and he hides in the lab. When he comes up with something new I hear from him. Otherwise we both lead separate lives.”

“You’re family and family should talk. In the end it is all we have.”

This girl thinks she’s bagged Bobby. Nobody is that good in bed thought Gina. Thankfully logic was in control of her mouth and it remained a thought.

“Your brother has changed” came the response to a her thought which she knew she didn’t utter. “He traded off the quarter million dollar red sports car. Bought that Mercedes sedan and my Volvo. He even got rid of the yacht. Other than taking me out to eat one night per week, he hasn’t been anywhere but work and here. The parties which used to be drunken, substance abusing orgies in this place haven’t happened in the past three months. Everything which reeked of smoke has been replaced or painted over. We have friends over. They eat supper. Sometimes we get drunk, or they do, but nothing like it was before. He’s settling down.”

“I can’t believe my brother would . . .”

“Oh it’s true sister. You know about the kids he’s been supporting, right?”

Gina nodded.

“He’s started taking part in their lives. There’s a play room downstairs with age appropriate toys and a fridge with juice boxes and cheese snacks. I baby sit two of the kids during the day while their moms are at work. There is only one he has no contact with because the mother is psychotic. At some point we will get the child taken away from her, but sadly it has to get to the child endangerment stage before the courts can step in. The rest have come to terms with a wild time that ended with a diaper bag. They are getting on with their lives and hold no hostility.”

Well, that answers one question thought Gina.

“You are aware your mother is sick aren’t you?” she asked in an almost worried tone.

“I’m the one who got her into the trial for that breast cancer drug” responded Gina.

“Until I started baby sitting I was the one driving her” responded the woman. “Your father’s funeral hit Bobby hard. Your mother’s breast cancer diagnosis so soon after took the wind out of him. He wants a family of his own now and he desperately wants his mother to live long enough to hold her first legitimate grandchild.”

Gina hoped her face gave nothing away but she really needed to sit down and drink a full bottle of that red. All of the worst scenarios were coming into play years ahead of schedule. One could say Bobby rescued her by walking in with a plate of steaks. “I need to go back out for the potatoes and corn” he said before noticing his sister. “I see you’ve met Janet” he said to her.

So that’s her name! “We were just chatting” Gina replied. “The chat blocked my path to the grill or I would have said hello sooner.”

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