“So is my mom.”
“Is she now?”
“Yep. Reggie saved her. He didn’t shoot her or stab her in the leg or anything. Instead he did BLS and saved my mom’s head from exploding.”
“My brother, the hero.”
“He is.” Emily nodded, her voice still low. “Can I talk to Frank now?”
“To the dog? Um, sure.” The phone rustled. “Hold on.”
She heard Reggie say, “I’m going to hang up and call you back with FaceTime. Okay?”
Emily nodded. She did FaceTime with her dad sometimes.
“Emily?”
“Oh, okay.”
He called back and she answered, seeing his face, which was so neat. “Look at the picture,” he said.
Emily watched as the phone moved away from Reggie to center on Frank, whose nose kept getting bigger the closer he moved to the phone. Then he licked it with a giant tongue before barking and looking away.
“Frank, gross,” Reggie complained. He turned the phone so she could see him with Frank. “He says hi.”
She waved. “Hi, Frank.”
“I want to see her,” another lady said.
Reggie sighed, then leaned closer to whisper, “Sisters can be such a pain.”
Emily nodded, though she had no idea if that might be true. “Yep.”
Reggie chuckled and turned the phone so she could see three more people. An older man who looked kind of like Reggie and two pretty ladies stared back at her. One had really neat braids and muscles; the other lady had a neat hairdo, a fancy shirt, and red lips. Painted on? Lipstick, maybe, she thought, remembering her mom’s makeup.
She waved. “Hi. I’m Emily. Frank is my dog,” she said as a reminder.
The ladies grinned, and the older man laughed. They all yelled, “Hi, Emily.”
Reggie moved back into view. “My family makes me eat with them on Sundays.”
“Oh. My mom makes me eat with her all the time.” She heard more laughter. “I’m not supposed to call you too much, or Uncle Doug said you’d block him.”
“I won’t block you, but on days when I’m working, I won’t be able to talk, or I’ll get in trouble.”
She understood that. “Okay.” After a pause, she said, “When can I see Frank again?”
“I tell you what, Frank is still needing some time to heal, and I know your mom needs time to heal too. But what if I brought him over in a few days? I have to work on Tuesday, but I could bring him Wednesday, if that’s okay with your mom.”
“Okay.”
Reggie paused. “Are you going to ask her?”
“She said yes for a day this week.” Or shewouldsay yes. Emily knew that Mag-Mom was worried about Frank. She just needed a little time to relax and rest at home before she could see the puppy. And Emily figured Wednesday would give her mom a few days to rest up and get happy again.
“Sounds good. Have your mom send me your address and a good time to come over, and I’ll see you guys Wednesday.”
Excited as much to see Reggie as to see Frank, Emily said, “I can’t wait. Will you tell me some more stories about fixing people?”
