The Space Between Things Ch. 02

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Regan finally arrives and discovers all that glitters...
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Part 2 of the 2 part series

Updated 10/09/2022
Created 05/13/2010
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I hope you enjoy the second chapter and please share any advice you may have. Thank you Steve, my fantasy man. Everyone please vote.

********************* ***********************

Regan did not come with much baggage. Gracefully over her shoulder she had her Coach purse, her one prized possession--a graduation gift from her foster parents, Larry and Patricia Jackson. Behind her trundled a red mid-size suitcase. Regan was proud of herself. The uncertainty that had plagued her before her voyage seemed silly now. She had survived her first plane ride (flying first class had helped!), and was now walking through the terminal like she had been doing it all her life.

Kennedy Airport had been huge and terrifying. Larry had simply dropped her off at the airport entrance with his signature, a shy hug and a nervous smile. "You can do this," he told her, "just keep your head up, eyes open and nose clean." That was Larry's motto. Regan had smiled, faking confidence. Once she was inside the airport, panic had gripped her by the throat. At Kennedy Airport people moved past her so swiftly, it made her dizzy. But she had done it, made it to her final destination--Ashville, North Carolina.

Here, people moved slower and seemed more relaxed. The smiles and hello's people generously gave her were a bit unnerving, but Regan attempted to smile and nod her head in reply. In Jersey City, people just did not speak without cause, and if they did, it usually was not to say anything nice. So she had grown up trying to keep as low of a profile as possible in public, the same rule had applied to her private life too. Things were obviously different here. The Southern accents, however, were not as noticeable as she had thought they would be. At her going away party in Jersey, her step-family had joked that she would hardly be able to understand anyone here because of the Southern twang. They also joked that there were no black people in the mountains of North Carolina. That was a prejudice she was not going to allow her mind to play into, but the nine or ten faces of color she had seen did make her wonder. In her neighborhood there was nothing but people of color, every kind of color you could think of but white. Yes, things really were going to be different here.

Usually she loved to watch people in crowds, like at the mall where she worked at the Pretzel Palace--a job she hated. She would make up stories about how they lived from their facial expressions and clothes, or even the way they walked. But she could not escape into her game today: she was too worried about how her new family would judge her. She already knew her half sister looked like a blond, grey-eyed Barbie, minus the boobs, who at twenty-nine had the air of comfort and confidence that only came with a family history of entitlement. She had smiled the entire three days she had visited Regan in Jersey. It was the weirdest thing. No one could possibly be that happy when their father had just died. And she had informed Regan that her new "family" would also include two older brothers, Ian and Troy.

Regan told herself that it did not really matter what they thought of her. Right? She was just here to kill some time, take a couple of free classes, and get her money and leave. It was great that they were paying her tuition. The idea of attending a regular, four year college never occurred to her. It was not because her grades were not good enough, just that she would never have been able to afford it. Maybe she would have settled for some computer classes or an Associates Degree in something she really had no interest in. But now, in four days she would officially be a college student. That made her smile.

And the smile made her wince: the inside of her bottom lip was raw because of her constant biting. But she could not help it. It was a dull pain, a needed distraction from her stress.

Regan did not think of herself as good-looking, just different, but it was her differences that made people notice her. They noticed her hair, a massive mane of unavoidable shiny spirals cascading from a center part and falling to her shoulders: it was neither black, nor brown, nor blond, but an unusually natural mixture of the three--depending greatly on the light. And they noticed her steely grey, almond shaped eyes. There was a sharp contrast between their crisp clarity and her deep ocher coloring.

As an adolescent, she had hated the hair, the eyes and most of all her early-developed body, which had brought her much unwanted attention. Thankfully, she had grown taller and now at eighteen, she was five-six, which simply slimmed and elongated her waist, making her healthy allowance of hips and ample breast all the more appealing. She had to be very careful about the clothes she wore; the wrong choice could easily give the wrong impression because she was so curvy. However, time had taught her many lessons and she had learned to accept herself as she was and to protect herself because she was the only one who would. Most of all, she had learned to never show fear. There were some places and sometimes that it was dangerous to even let people see you catch your breath catch or show any form of uncertainty. There were always people waiting, watching for a weakness to pounce on. She had mastered a blasé countenance. But even that was failing her now. What if they had forgotten about her? What if they had changed their minds?

"Regan?!" She heard her name before she saw where it was coming from.

Finally she saw Audra, making her way through the crowd. In no time, her half sister stood before her, breathing deeply from exertion. The blond woman wore a fitted grey pants suit and a pink silk dress-shirt. Her flawless pale skin was flushed with excitement; her thin pink lips and pale grey eyes smiled down at Regan.

"Accept our apologies," she said, hugging Regan as if they were old friends. Regan unconsciously cringed. "We're late. We were supposed to meet you at the baggage ramp, right? But here we are." She held her hands out as if to say Ta-Da. There was a small pause and she started up again. The woman was talking a mile a minute.

"We are missing one person but you will get to meet him later. Ian. God only knows where he could be. But, he would have been here, believe me, if he had been able to. Was your flight comfortable? I bet it was. Did they feed you? I hope not. Do you like French food..."

Regan did not hear the plethora of questions and answers being thrown at her. She was too busy taking in the others that fell in step behind Audra. The blond headed giant of a man at Audra's right was broad shouldered with a massive chest that tapered in at the waste. The cream colored polo shirt hid nothing and neither did his jeans. The man was ripped. Even his neck was a thick muscle. He obviously worked out, but he was not obscene. He had to be at least six feet and a half with a natural healthy tan that was in great contrast to Audra's delicate alabaster coloring. Regan felt his cool blue eyes narrow on her, weighing her. She immediately tensed. He just had time to say, "Hi, I'm Tr...," when another woman quickly stepped from behind him with an extended hand.

"I'm Allysia, Regan," she said with a noticeable New York accent. "I'm this," she pointed a thumb at the giant, "man's wife."

Regan reached out and shook her hand firmly.

The woman gave her a conspiratorial wink. Her brown eyes twinkled as she smiled warmly. It immediately put Regan at ease and she let out a deep breath, which she had not realized she had been holding. The woman was gorgeous, but in a totally different way than Audra and her brother. Allysia's coloring and thick, dark hair was completely opposite from theirs. Her look was more Mediterranean, more exotic. Regan noted how shapely she was too, dressed very femininely, in a sheer gauzy mustard-colored top with ruffles at the cuff and around the neck. The ruffled neckline fell into a V revealing a full cleavage. The top was tucked into a snug pair of low slung jeans with mustard piping down the side seams. The piping led the eye to perfectly manicured toes sticking out of nice, strapped sandals. It put Regan's attempt at fashion to shame. Troy's wife had style and Regan liked her look. She was model- tall too, making Regan feel like an ill dressed dwarf standing next to them all.

Troy finally revealed a slow smile of approval, finding whatever it was he was looking for. His smile revealed even, white teeth and changed the entire look of his face from intimidating Nordic God to warmhearted giant. He was extremely handsome in that clean cut All-American kind of way. He did not extend his hand to be shaken, but he smoothly relieved her of the red suitcase, snapping the handle back into place and lifting it off of the floor like it was nothing.

"I'm Troy." His voice was strong and deep, lacking the Southern accent that Audra so dramatically displayed.

"You don't look African!" A small brown-headed boy pushed his way to the forefront. He looked like a miniature Troy, but his eyes were shockingly bluer and pierced Regan in confusion. "She's not African," he exclaimed turning to his mother and knotting his brow.

"We said African-American TJ," Audra said, suppressing a laugh. Troy looked embarrassed as he drew up beside Regan and put his huge hand at the small of her back. This also made Regan cringe and did not go unnoticed by Troy.

"Audra," Allysia scolded both the child and her sister-in-law, giving Regan a quick apologetic look.

"Well partly African-American," Audra added indulgently.

"I'm Troy Junior," the little boy said, holding out his small hand like a little gentleman. He was smiling up at Regan mischievously, deep dimples forming like commas at the bottom of each cheek. "I'm partly Italian," he announced, then whispered up at her. "Now me and mommy won't be the only black sheep in the family."

"Okay," Troy sighed, his patience obviously leaving him by the look on his face. His blue eyes scanned the airport. "Shall we get out of here ladies."

Regan had to laugh. The rambunctious child was obviously smart and extremely frank. His aunt and parents laughed nervously. The boy quickly fitted himself beside Regan and took her hand as if, like his father, he was responsible for getting her safely through the airport.

"You're so pretty," he decided. "You can call me TJ. Aunt Audra said you were pretty too and you have Papa's eyes. Your eyes look more like Papa's than Aunt Audra's does."

Regan looked at Audra, slightly surprised. Audra laughed just a little too loudly.

****************

Allysia knew from the beginning that dinner was a bad idea. No one wants to sit in some stuffy restaurant after a good portion of their day has been spent in airports. None of them were really dressed for it anyway. More importantly, neither her nor Troy really knew what exactly Audra had taken before they had left to pick up Regan, but it was apparent that she was coming down off of whatever prescribed drug of choice it was. The first sign that every thing was going down hill was at the door. Although they had reservations, they still had to wait to be seated. Audra was suddenly fuming. Troy had to calm her down a bit. TJ could not be still to save his own life, which was normal for him, but his fidgeting was nothing compared to Audra's inability to stand still. From that moment forward, the evening went like water swiftly circling a drain.

Poor Regan looked overwhelmed, especially when she glanced at the menu. Audra convinced her into ordering something expensive, though she tried to refuse. When Regan tasted it, Allysia watched as she pretended to cough so that she could spit it into her napkin. It was obvious that she hated it Allysia kicked her husband in the shin when he started to laugh.

Allysia smiled and raked some of her food onto a bread plate, passing it to Regan, under the guise of an exchange. "Here taste some of this and let me taste some of yours," Allysia suggested to Regan. "I've never tried that before."

TJ, missing nothing, tried to give her some shrimp under the table.

"It's not nasty," he whispered, giving her an encouraging smile.

Audra only made matters worse by taking offense. She pretended not to notice, but then gave a speech about training the palette, the benefits of proper exposure and having acquired tastes. Regan could not really understand what Audra was talking about, all she knew was that the stuff looked appetizing but tasted awful. When Audra finally finished Regan had reserved a very refined and silent "fuck you" for her. Allysia found it hard to keep herself from laughing. As Regan's guard drifted away, her face was an open book.

As time passed, Audra grew more and more vicious. By the time they had finished their main courses, Allysia had actually told Audra to shut-up, which caused Troy to moan, impatiently checking his watch. He seemed to be in a different mental stratus sphere. The only time he tuned in was to converse with TJ.

Audra argued with the waiter and sent her desert back twice. Regan watched wide eyed, having declined desert--as did everyone else except TJ, who gobbled his up in a matter of seconds. Regan had never actually seen anyone act the way that Audra was acting, accept on TV. "It's just chocolate pudding for Christ's sake," Regan thought to herself. It was unbelievable. No one had any alcohol with their meal, but Regan sort of wondered if Audra had downed several shots during her trip to the ladies room. What else would explain this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde she kept pulling? Now she was waving her fork around, going on and on about how close everyone in the family was.

"When you meet Ian, you'll just love him. He definitely was our father's favorite. 'Our father,' isn't that strange? We have always been close, even after that whole thing with Allysia. And now, you are one of us too. There is no space between us."

Ignoring the sudden tension around the table, she pointed her fork at each individual person. "Take Troy for instance...he's the sweetest of us all. You call on him, and he's there without a single question, strong and solid like a rock...but he's pussy-whipped. And Allysia, she's a force to be reckoned with...and a whore!"

"That's enough Audra!" Allysia stood up. "Troy!" she demanded.

"Ian...he's an intellect in denial...super-duper, cherry on top whore! Honestly! But, you will love them all to death."

Troy slowly stood to his feet, placing a couple of hundred dollar bills down on the table.

"I'm not finished," Audra yelled out. Her dessert had hardly been touched, but at this point no one was expecting her to actually eat it. She glared at Regan.

"Do you realize that your mother spelled your name wrong?"

"Oh shit, not that," Allysia breathed. "Troy, pick her ass up and let's go."

Troy gently grabbed Audra by the arms and pulled her up. "Let's go beautiful."

People were staring at them but Regan tried to ignore it.

"No really," Audra continued as they made their way through the restaurant. "My father's name is spelled R E A G A N. Your name is spelled R E G A N. I saw it on your birth certificate."

Regan turned around to look at her so-called sister. They were going to have to get something straight right from the beginning. No one was going to be saying shit about her mother. Besides, why the hell would Audra be interested in her birth certificate? And furthermore, why would she choose now to bring it up?

"So what exactly are you trying to say," Regan demanded.

Troy tried to move the two girls along, but Audra stood her ground.

"My father's dead and you my dear are his namesake. But, your name is spelled wrong," Audra summarized sweetly.

Regan started to turn around, dismissing the girl's comment as drunken gibberish. So what, her name was spelled differently. Regan could care less.

"Your mother really was not very bright, was she," Audra added.

Regan's hand lashed out so fast that by the time the actual sound of it slapping across the side of Audra's face sliced through the air, Regan had turned and stormed away.

Troy and Allysia stared at Audra in shock.

"Wow," TJ yelled out. "Aunt Regan just hit Aunt Audra."

Allysia could not suppress her smile. And a half-smile even slipped off Troy's lips. Audra looked absolutely dumbfounded, her hand to her cheek.

"She hit me," she whined.

"I bet that brought your ass back to earth," Allysia said with a grin before going after Regan.

Troy grabbed TJ by the collar as the child tried to follow his mother. He figured he would give the two women a minute alone. "Why?" he asked Audra, not bothering to hide his disappointment.

"Troy," Audra cried out dramatically, "she hit me!"

************

The cool air felt refreshing against Regan's feverish skin. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back in an attempt to fight back willing tears. Was this day ever going to end!?! "I shouldn't have come here," she announced to no one in particular.

"Yes you should have."

Allysia's voice made Regan turn away, ashamed. Immediately she brought the heel of her hands up to her eyes to wipe away any tears.

Allysia hugged her new sister-in-law from behind. "I do believe you are exactly what we needed," she whispered into Regan's ear.

Regan pulled her head back a little to look the woman in the face. Allysia's brown eyes were sparkling and she was smiling ear to ear.

"What is this," Regan questioned, "some type of initiation?"

"Not even close," Allysia replied quickly. "Initiation would be family night at the round table."

Regan had no idea what she meant by that.

Allysia rubbed the poor girl's back. "But tonight, you did beautifully."

Regan laughed in disbelief. The whole day for her had been unbelievable. She felt as if she were caught in some dream that was on the borderline of being a nightmare, she just had not turned the right corner yet. Why, she asked herself for the thousandth time? Why had she come here? Why was she even subjecting herself to all of this? The answer was even sadder than the situation itself. She had aged out of the foster care program. Larry and Patricia, her foster parents, had not thrown her out, like any other foster parents would have. After all, they would have been justified because the county money was shut off the day Regan graduated from High School. She knew that her foster parents needed the space that she took up and the money. Luckily for her, they were in it for more than just the money. They were a rarity within a sometimes sick system. The bottom line was that Regan had nowhere else to go. There was being on your own and then there was BEING ON YOUR OWN. What the fuck did she have to lose? She owned half a house: why not live in it? She would not be eligible to receive any money from her trust until she was twenty-one. What else could she do? Where else could she go?

"Is she okay," Troy asked, holding the limo door open for the two of them.

"You think you can do this," Allysia whispered in her ear.

Regan nodded. She really had no choice. Even if she wanted to fly back to Jersey, she did not have enough money in her pocket for that. She slid into the waiting limo.

Despite Troy's generally stoic nature, he tried hard to relieve the tension in the limo on the drive to the house. Regan almost felt sorry for him. He apologized for Audra's behavior after Audra refused to. In an effort to lighten the mood, he attempted to explain some of the interesting things about Asheville that Regan could look forward to. Evidently, the town was an extraordinary tourist trap. There was a castle, vineyards, various different festivals and historical sites. He suggested that she could meet him for lunch one day, maybe Ian could bring her. That would give the two of them an opportunity to get to know each other better. He was a corporate lawyer.

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