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Ned made a face. “Oh, right. Maybe you…okay, so Shae and I are in the middle ofThe Walking Dead—”
“Why? It’s about zombies.”
“It’s about survival, although yeah, each episode is about the same—get food, stay away from the zombies.”
“Isn’t your life exciting enough?”
He sighed and ran a hand around the back of his neck. “Shae’s having some trouble sleeping. Especially after gulag. So we stay up and watch it on my phone until she falls asleep.”
Oh.
“Maybe you could try something less…gross? LikeAll Creatures Great and Smallon PBS?”
“I think the point is for her to watch something unbelievable to escape the reality of her memories.”
“That’s rather insightful.”
“That’s me, Mr. Feels.”
She threw him the pillow and grabbed the comforter. “She still doesn’t want to talk about it. It was bad?”
“Yep.” He came over, set the pillow on the bed, helped her with the other side of the comforter.
“And now you’re not talking.”
“I think sometimes denial is our friend. And with Shae, the more we don’t talk about it, the more she can get some distance. She’ll talk when she’s ready.”
“And you?” She walked over to the other twin. “You were pretty scared when I last saw you.”
“I was scared because my big sister showed up to deliver highly secret information like she might be a spy.”
She cocked her head at him.
“Okay, and my fiancée was being held in a Siberian gulag.” He walked over, yanked the sheet up the bed. “And I was helpless. And I don’t like being helpless.”
“No one does. But worse is having someone tell you that you can’t do something.” She pulled up the twin sheet. “Did you know there are only five female officials in the ELF? And three in the NFL. I’ve worked really hard to get here, and now I’m an ump. Which is huge. A few more years and I’ll have my own crew.”
“And then what? The NFL?”
She tossed him the other end of the comforter. “No. I’m happy here. No NFL for me.”
He pulled up the covers. “Sis. You gotta come home sometime.”
“I come home—”
“You haven’t been home in years. Not since—”
She tossed him the pillow. “I’ll come home as soon as the season ends. But no, I’m not going to try out for the NFL. Not when…well, not with that video still out there.”
“Your lawsuit had it taken down.”
“My guess is that it’s still up on some dark web sites. My naked body being ogled by named and unnamed men. Yeah, no. I’m not interested in becoming the laughingstock of the officiating community again.”
He finished pulling on the pillow cover, then tossed the pillow on the bed. “No one was laughing.”
“No one in our family. I mean, I know if you could, you would have personally handed Darren Pike his backside. But it wasn’t your fight.”
“He’s still winning if you don’t go back.”
