Page 21 of His Atonement

"God, Frank! I thought I was gonna have to send up a flare or some shit. I've been calling you nonstop all morning! I was about to send Andrej on a search and rescue if you didn't answer again."

I roll my eyes, and hang onto the smoke a little longer. "You only called three times."

"Oh, so you're just ignoring me now?!"

Oops.

Allie doesn't know about my… well, my everything, and I plan to keep it that way as long as possible. No need to add to her stress, especially when it'll only be for a few months at most. My amazing cousin can stay completely in the dark over everything that's wrong with me until she gets the cause of death back from the coroner.

Yep.

Good plan, Francis Mae.

"I just saw your missed calls, I was getting ready to call you back,” I lie and exhale loudly. "I could never ignore you, Al, you simply wouldn't allow it."

"You're damn right I wouldn’t." She giggles. "How did last night go? You sleep ok?"

I nod as I hit my bowl. "I slept like a fucking baby. I honest to god don't remember the last time I slept so hard."

Allie's smile is obvious. "It's the mountain air, Frank. Things are just different here. Quiet, peaceful, slow. I bet it's going to do wonders for you while you're living out here."

"I bet.” I watch the smoke as I blow it out in rings. "So what's up, Al? Are you just my wakeup call, or did you have a reason behind disturbing my sleep?"

"Oh fuck off, Francis Mae.” She laughs. "It's almost noon and since you didn't eat at our last stop and snoozed through breakfast, I wanted to make sure your ass got to the main house for lunch."

"Is this what my life is going to be like now? Shared meals at the big house, group prayers and communal offerings to Mother Nature? Maybe we'll gather in the backyard for a rousing rendition of Kumbaya around a campfire?"

I snort as Allie cracks up. "You're an ass."

"I'm simply asking for details about what my life here at the compound will be like." Another hard hit from my bowl and I can feel my legs start to loosen. "It's a hard no if there are weird, crazy orgies under the harvest moon though. I'm not about that incest shit, big dicks be damned."

"Frankie!" She shrieks through her laughter. "Jesus, you're horrible."

"But you love me anyway."

"I do.” Allie sighs but I hear her smile. "Which is why I want to make sure you eat. Hurry up and get dressed, I'll have Andrej come pick you up on horseback."

I bark out a laugh, choke on my weed, and practically pee the bed. "There is no way my big ass is getting on ahorsebehind his big ass, Allie Rose. I thought you cared more about animals than that."

She giggles. "We have huge horses, Frankie, it's not like he'll be riding some miniature pony."

"Still though, I'd rather walk or take my bike." And I definitely don't need to risk being that close for that long to someone like Andrej. He's sneaky perceptive and I have a funny feeling he'd pick up on any involuntary movements my body decided to have in that sort of situation no matter how small they might be. Not to mention he'd probably be confused as fuck if I accidentally bucked myself from the horse. It’s happened on my bike before, not often since I don’t ride like I used to, but my little incident a few months ago says it’s a very real possibility these days, and having it happen with Andrej would not be awesome.

"Fine, but if you aren't at the main house in a half hour I'm sending him out there to retrieve your stoned ass from that cabin."

I uncurl my legs slowly, stretch the muscles carefully, and nod. "Aye, aye, captain. Mission Lunch at the Main House will commence in t-minus five minutes."

"Such an ass.” Allie sighs. "But I'm really glad you're here."

"Me too, Al." And surprisingly I mean that. "Hey, can I—"

"Outside when the kids or Cora are around. Inside whenever they're not present."

"Sweet." Thank god for that too. If I couldn't smoke at the big house while around so many people, my symptoms would be super noticeable and I definitely don't want that. I have a feeling it's already going to be hard to hide with this group. "Be there shortly."

After about ten more minutes of letting my body get as close to normal as it can, I roll out of bed with a grunt.

I'm not sure if it's better to be awake for days on end, or sleep like the dead one night. Both generally have the same results, but my insomnia can make me a little crazy so I guess sleeping is better.