Rowan shrugs at Reina’s comment because as much as she hates to admit it, her sister is right. “Sure, but horse shit is worse than chicken shit.” Which is just semantics at that point because really, shit is shit, right? But her words don’t hold any actual irritation about anything because not that she would ever admit it, but she doesn’t hate having the horses there. In the beginning she certainly had. She’d been ready to strangle Reina for getting Maddie’s hopes up about getting a fucking horse for her birthday and putting her in a position where if she said no, her daughter would see her as the bad guy. She’d been even more annoyed when Iris and Maddie begged them to keep them here rather than at one of the boarding stables on the other side of town because how was she supposed to say no? But after a few months — and, admittedly, outsourcing 95% of the work that goes into them to a hired hand — she’s come around to the idea. It’s calming to have them on the property and all of the kids, not just Maddie, get a kick out of watching them in the pasture and Rowan gets a kick out of how quickly Andy had broken his ‘no livestock’ rule he had initially set out when she suggested buying the farm in the first place.
Her brows furrow when Reina talks about picking AJ and Rhett up from the station, something that isn’t nearly as shocking as it should be. Her eyes roll in response, “Do they have a death wish or are they just stupid?” She deadpans. It isn’t often she’ll outright talk about her nephews that way — especially Rhett, if she’s being honest, but in general she thinks both of them have been dealt a shitty hand in life and can’t be entirely to blame for being the way that they are — but it doesn’t seem like there’s any other way to describe breaking into an alligator farm than stupid. Rowan moves to sit on the wooden railing of the porch while Reina takes a moment to gather her thoughts, surprised that she wants to discuss this at all in the first place. She’d been half expecting to be told to mind her own business as she so often is when she has the audacity to ask Reina how she’s doing. “Different isn’t always bad,” she reminds her with a shake of her head. “Maybe some peace and quiet is what you need after everything. S’exhausting bein’ in the middle of it all the time.” Her tone is honest because it’s something Rowan relates to all too well, that’s why she’s out here too, isn’t it? Olympus has practically been a war zone for the past year. “And livin’ with Rick? How’s that goin’?”
“It’s all shit, Rowan,” she counters, leaving it at that. They both know there wasn’t any way Rowan wasn’t somehow getting roped into keeping a horse or some other equally large animal on the property eventually. All Reina did was speed up the process a little bit. It’s for the same reason she and Rick had showed up tonight with a mangly little rat dog in tow — the little girls that run their lives are annoyingly impossible to say no to. The girls are at least deserving of it, though, unlike Reina’s sons and she shakes her head just as her sister’s eyes roll at the boys’ antics. “Realistically, both.” Her sons have never been all that concerned about their own wellbeing or safety and really, Reina’s never given much of a shit about it either. But even she can admit that this little stunt of theirs had been way over the top. “I think they were just antsy. Hopefully settling in somewhere good will get them to knock it the fuck off. I think Rick’s gonna talk to them, or at least to AJ.” Lord knows anything he says might just go in one ear and out the other, but AJ actually likes the man so she’s hoping at least something sticks.
It makes her realize that, while traumatizing, maybe everything that’s happened was for the best. If nothing else it managed to get Reina’s head out of her ass and now her kids are in a stable environment, and she’s almost happy, believe it or not. She nods along with her sister’s rationale, weirdly in agreement with her that peace and quiet might have been what she’s needed all along and now that they’ve both found it, hopefully everything chaotic that’s happened in their lives recently is put to rest. Her shoulders tense when Rowan asks about her new living situation, though, unsure of how much she wants to divulge about the situation. “It’s good,” she answers, giving just that little bit at first. It’s been so good that she’s almost afraid to ruin it by saying anything more, but to be honest she’s been dying to talk about the weird situation she’s gotten herself into with Rick and there’s absolutely no one else she’d ever tell besides Rowan. A beat passes between them, but before the moment is too far gone, Reina clears her throat and comes right out with it. “I slept with him.”
