The Debt 8 (Club Alpha) (11 page)

Raven’s mother let out a surprised and
surprisingly happy shriek.
 
“Oh,
goodness.
 
You’re getting married?”

“No, Mom.
 
Danny’s
just being
a jerk.”

“It’s something, though.
 
Isn’t it, sis?”
 
Danny grinned wider, taunting her.

Raven ran a hand nervously through her
hair.
 
“I did have something I
wanted to bring up.
 
It’s about
finding a more permanent place for you and Dad—and Danny, I
guess—to live.”

“These damn insurance companies…rackets…”
her father spouted angrily, his cheeks turning crimson.

“Dad, calm down,” Danny said.
 
“We don’t need another episode today.”

“I know the insurance money is slow to
come,” Raven said, choosing her words carefully.
 
“And I’ve been giving it some
thought.
 
I feel kind of responsible
for your situation.”

“Kind of?” her brother scoffed.

“Knock it off, Danny,” Raven’s mother
said.
 
“Let her speak.”

“I know I haven’t been there for you guys
the way I should’ve been.
 
Not for a
long time now.
 
And I can’t ever
really make it
up,
I can’t get back that time that I
lost.
 
But I can do something.”
 
Slowly, she went into her purse and came
out with the cashier’s check that she’d gotten before going to the airport the
previous day.

Raven handed the check to her father,
whose eyes immediately welled up.
 
“I can’t accept this,” he said, his voice hoarse.

Danny leaned forward, eyebrows
raised.
 
“What’s it for?
 
You trying to pay
us
off or something
?
 
Because a
couple thousand bucks isn’t going to help us all that much anyway.”

“It’s not a couple thousand,” her father
croaked.
 
“It’s a check for three
hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

“Raven!” her mother cried.
 

“I know it seems excessive,” Raven told
them.
 
She noticed that Danny had
fallen silent for the first time in just about forever.
 
“The thing is, I’ve officially been hired
as Jake’s manager, and so I’m entitled to a commission on his newest record
deal and royalties.
 
It’s a lot of
money, more than I need—more than I want.”

 
“That’s money you earned,” her mother
replied softly.
 
“It’s not something
you should just give away.”

“Consider it a loan until the insurance
money comes in,” Raven told them.
 
“Or consider it a gift.
 
It
can be whatever you want.”

“That’s crazy,” Danny said.
 
“Are you nuts?”

She got off the couch.
 
“You can tear the check up if you
want.
 
I’m not forcing anybody to do
anything.
 
But I wanted to offer it,
because I do love you guys, even if I haven’t shown it very well since I left
home.”
 
Her voice shook a little and
now her own eyes were no longer dry.

Suddenly, Danny’s arms were around her
and he was hugging her.
 
“You’re
fucking crazy, you know that?”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered in his ear.
 
“I’m sorry I left you alone, Danny.”

And then the two of them were crying, but
they were tears of happiness.

It wasn’t about the money, she
realized.
 
It was about the fact
that she cared enough to try, cared enough to put herself out there even after
everything that had happened and all of the hurt feelings from the past.

When Danny let her go finally, she was
smiling.
 
And so was he.

***

Later that morning, Danny drove her back
into the city to the hospital.

She’d eaten breakfast downstairs at the
B&B with her family, and then had a tearful hug goodbye with her parents.

It still wasn’t clear to her if they were
going to use the check she’d given them, but Raven hoped they would.

Danny was quiet on the drive, choosing to
listen to sports radio, but after they paid the last toll on the turnpike, he
glanced over at her.
 
“I thought a
lot about what you said yesterday.”

She looked back at him.
 
“What did I say?”

“That I should think about why I never
took risks.
 
And how I should stop
being
 
a
martyr.”

“I shouldn’t have said that, Danny.
 
I was just angry.”

“The thing is, you were right.”
 
His voice had changed, become softer,
losing the arrogance and bitter tone she associated with him.
 
“I’ve been so jealous of you, even
before you went and got rich and successful and started dating a celebrity.”

Raven laughed.
 
“I have plenty of problems, too.
 
There’s
a lot
of negatives that come with this kind of life.”

“I know,” Danny said, giving her a
look.
 
“But at least you went for
it.
 
Despite the fact that everyone
in town was trashing you, and even though me and Mom and Dad didn’t really back
you up—you believed in yourself.
 
You believed in your own ability to survive, to make it on your own,
Raven.
 
And I think, when I really
take an honest look at it—I think I hated you for being that strong.”

“I wasn’t strong.
 
I ran away from my problems and you had
the strength to stay and take care of Mom and Dad.
 
That’s amazing.”

He shook his head.
 
“I stayed because I was terrified of
leaving.
 
It wasn’t some noble act,
Raven.”

The car fell silent.

“Maybe it didn’t start out as a noble
act,” she told him.
 
“But I think
you have a lot to be proud of.
 
I’m
proud to call you my brother.”

“Thanks,” he said, smiling
genuinely.
 
“Actually, that means a
lot.”

A few minutes later, he pulled up in
front of the hospital and brought the car to a halt.
 
“Let me get your bag for you,” Danny
said, and hopped out of the car.

Raven got out and he was already
wrangling her bag from out of the backseat.
 
“How long are you staying in Boston
for?” he asked her.

She shrugged.
 
“I don’t know.
 
A few more days, I think.”

“I like that we text a little bit
now.
 
Let’s not stop doing that,
okay?”

She felt suddenly emotional and didn’t
want to burst out crying yet again.
 
“Okay,” she nodded, hugging him quickly.
 
He hugged her back, and then she was
bending down, picking up her bag and heading into the hospital.

She didn’t look back.

It was too hard to see that her brother
still loved her so much.

Once Raven got inside, she found the
directory and saw that the Radiation Oncology Center was downstairs.
 
She took the escalator down a flight and
then managed to find the waiting room, which was relatively small and empty,
but for Skylar’s mother, who was knitting in the corner, a small and somehow
lonely figure.

“Hi,” Raven said.

Skylar’s mother looked up at her.
 
“Oh, Raven!
 
You’re here!”

Raven walked over, set her bag down and
gave Skylar’s mom a hug.

“How’s Sky doing?” Raven asked, sitting
down.
 

On the television attached to the wall,
The Price is Right was playing, and a woman was jumping up and down and
screaming as the announcer said “A new carrrrrr!”

“Skylar was very anxious this morning,”
Sky’s mother told her, picking up her knitting needles and starting to twist
them expertly.
 
“She’s been scared
about this procedure for awhile, because they have to put you under anesthesia
and it can be uncomfortable when you wake up.”

“How are you doing?”

“I’m hanging in there.”
 
She stopped knitting momentarily and
gave Raven a warm smile.
 
“She’s
going to flip when she sees you.”

“I hope so,” Raven said.
 
“I can’t wait to see her, too.”

They made some more small talk, but
eventually Skylar’s mother was just knitting and Skylar pulled out her phone
and started checking email and the web.

Jake had forwarded her a really
complimentary article from Spin magazine that mentioned their relationship and
how it had led to Jake’s surprising renewal as a creative force in the music
industry.

He hadn’t texted her yet that morning,
however.
 
The article he’d sent to
her late the previous night.

So Raven sent him a good morning wakeup
text and then hoped to see a response back sooner rather than later.

But an hour and a half later, she still
hadn’t gotten anything back, so she called his phone and it went straight to
voicemail.

Perhaps he was already in studio, working
away.

It was another hour later that Skylar
emerged, walking slowly from the back room, a nurse at her side.

Raven stood up to greet her.
 
She was shocked at how frail her friend
looked, and also Skylar hadn’t yet noticed her.

“Baby, look who’s here!” Sky’s mother
said.

And that’s when Skylar looked up and saw
Raven, and her eyes completely lit up, and she smiled.
 
The nurse cautioned her to move slowly,
as she was still recovering from her procedure, but Sky was overjoyed.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” she
said.
 
“I can’t believe it!”
 
Sky threw her arms around Raven and gave
her a surprisingly firm hug.

“I love you,” Raven whispered in her ear.

“You brought me good luck,” Skylar said,
and broke down sobbing.
 
“You really
did.”

“Oh, honey,” Raven soothed her.

Raven was concerned that maybe Skylar was
still loopy from the anesthesia, but then Sky broke away and looked at both her
mother and Raven.
 

“The doctor says my tumor shrunk
dramatically already,” Skylar told them, and then she sank to one of the
chairs, put her head in her hands and cried with relief.
 

Raven and Skylar’s mother sat next to
her, whispering encouragement.
 
Raven rubbed her friend’s back.
 
“That’s amazing, Sky!” she told her.

Skylar looked up, gathering herself.
 
“I’m sorry, I must be emotional from all
the drugs they put me on.”

“Nonsense,” her mother told her.

“You deserve to be emotional.
 
That’s incredible news.
 
I’m so happy for you.”

At that moment, the door to the room
opened and someone else walked in.
 
Raven was still focused on Skylar, but Sky fell silent and so did her
mother.
 
They were both staring
straight ahead at whoever had entered the waiting room.

Raven turned and saw Jake standing there
with two bouquets of flowers.
 
“Ladies,”
he said, “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Jake,” she cried, standing up.
 
“What are you doing here?”

He smiled.
 
“I couldn’t stay away.
 
I missed everyone too much.”
 
He walked forward and handed Raven a
dozen red roses, kissing her on the lips.
 
Then he went to Skylar and gave her another bouquet.
 
“I know you can’t have fresh flowers, so
these are all cloth flowers.
 
Hope
that’s okay.”

Raven’s flowers weren’t real
either—but they still looked gorgeous, and it was the thought that
counted.
 
The fact that he’d somehow
flown in, and that he’d thought enough to even get the right kind of
flowers—floored her.

“They’re beautiful,” Sky said.

“We just got some great news, too,” Raven
told Jake, her heart beating fast as she watched him moving gracefully, his
entire being radiating love and confidence.
 
It struck her just how much she’d missed
him since being away for just a day.

They told Jake the positive results that
the doctor had given Skylar regarding the shrinking of her tumor.
 
Jake was overjoyed and visibly relieved
to hear it.