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Dana hated storms. The way they were too loud, the hell of the humidity, and the smell of them. There was a good reason so many horrors started with one.
Something bad always seemed to happen during one or she'd convince herself something would and go through anxiety hell until it passed.
She had tried therapy to get over it. Well, she attended two sessions and then decided something were better left never being unpacked.
Dana had been four or five when she broke her wrist falling off a chair during a storm. The sound of thunder had spooked her. Even now when it got damp that wrist hurt.
It had become the beginning of life long awful things to happen during one. The worst would be her mom's death and the least awful would be dying her hair green at thirteen. Although it had seemed like the end of the world at the time.
If a storm hits when she is at work Dana could distract herself. The only focus then are the patients.
But she isn't at work. Benji was fast asleep. She could wake him. In the early days of their marriage she used to.
Dana wasn't sure when she grew to be embarrassed to do it. Only that somewhere over the years she had.
It's instinct more than anything else. Happy? Call Robby. Sad or anxious? Call Robby. It doesn't take him long to pick him up.
“Hey,” Dana said softly through the phone. Knees drawn up her chest. The TV was on mute, the news was on. It was depressing. It always was. “Did I wake you?”
“Haven't been to bed yet,” Robby answered and she could hear it in his voice that he had been drinking. If she had to guess beer or whisky, both left him joyful. Vodka made him depressed and wine made him irritable. “The storm keeping you awake?”
Dana breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't have to explain what was wrong. He knew. Of course he did. She'd lost count over the years of how many storms he'd talked her through. “Do you want me to come over?” Robby asked, swearing as she heard something crash to the floor.
“You're in no fit state to drive, getting a cab will be a hassle,” Dana replied, eyes briefly drifting to the ceiling and thinking about Benji asleep above. He hated it when Robby came over in the middle of the night.
“How would you feel D if you woke up and I had a random woman in our house?” Benji had asked once. When she pointed out Robby wasn't some random person it escalated into a full blown argument. One she was in no mood to repeat.
“Liar, Benji hates me,” Robby snorted. Although he didn't seem offended by the fact her husband disliked him.
“He doesn't hate you,” Dana yawned, at least he didn't most of the time. “He just doesn't trust you. That's different.” He didn't trust Robby. Didn't trust her with Robby. She'd been a little bit too honest years back about finding him attractive and Benji had been suspicious ever since.
Robby laughed. The type that always put her at ease when things got too hectic at work. “Want me to stay on the phone until the storm passes?”
“Yes.”