Page 157 of Isolation

“It’s okay,” Raven whispers when I don’t respond. “You did warn me not to contact you.”

“You dropped a bomb on me. I was upset.”

“I know,” she says quietly. “I’m sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am. I have been miserable for the last couple of years. I have been thinking over and over how I could have done everything differently. I fucked up. I was so caught up in my own emotions that I forgot we were supposed to be a package deal. You would have never done that to me. I was selfish. I—I just needed to get away from... New York.” Raven lowers her eyes.

“Yea, well. I guess there is no point in rehashing the past. We are both here for the weekend. We should just try to be adults about it and get along.”

Raven’s smile lights up the room. “I think that’s an excellent idea. And thank you for putting this weekend together.”

“I didn’t put this weekend together.”

Raven frowns. “I asked Janeen how much I should pitch in for the Airbnb. Mom would have been happy to pay. But Janeen said you took care of all the bills and activities.”

“I just financed it. Janeen planned everything.”

“Oh. Well, thank you for financing it.”

“You can thank Milo. It was his money.”

We both freeze at the mention of his name. I didn’t mean to bring up Milo. It just slipped out.

Whatever happened between them must have been bad enough for Raven to have left the way she did. As much as loathe her, I can still recognize that.

“Ummm... okay. I think I’d prefer to pay for my half of the Airbnb.”

“That won’t work.”

“Really, I insist. I can take your money. But I can’t take Milo’s. Don’t ask me why.”

I shake my head. “Milo gave the money to me as a gift. It’s my money now and I can choose to do with it as I please.”

I can see Raven hesitating. She is uncomfortable with this. Very uncomfortable. Why? Milo used to always pay for us. It was never a problem before.

“What exactly happened between you and Milo?” I ask hesitantly.

Raven stares at me blankly. “Nothing happened. Listen, I am feeling really gross from the flight. I am going to take a quick shower and change. Why don’t we go to dinner and catch up after I change?”

I give her a curt nod but stay quiet.

Raven walks around the house to figure out which bedroom she wants to take and disappears inside one of them to take a shower.

Raven likes to change into shorts and tank tops whenever we are at home or we settle in somewhere.

The only exception to this rule is when Theressa is around, in which case Raven always puts on makeup and her “nice” clothes.

We figured out early in life that it’s easier to give into Theressa than deal with her nagging. Theressa can nag for hours at a time, while a change of clothing and makeup application only takes thirty minutes at most.

But Theressa’s crazy has reached a new level, one of the other reasons why I agreed to this trip.

Theressa sent an unacceptable email to her only daughter. Gossip about this email started circulating a few months ago, but I have only recently read it.

Raven must be devastated... not that I care.

Janeen was the one to tell me about some drunk email that Theressa had sent Raven. Janeen visited Raven in Paris a few months ago, and came across this email when she borrowed Raven's laptop.

Janeen was concerned and finally sent me a screenshot of the email, asking if this is something she should be worried about.

That's how the push started for us to reunite.