He sighed and sat back in his chair. “Do you want to have a service?”
My fork dropped to my plate with a loud clank. “You can’t be serious.” When his only response was to blink at me, I continued, “No, I don’t want to have a service for her. I don’t want to have anything to do with her or whatever is left of her.”
“So, you don’t care what I do with her?” Reed asked.
“You could let her rot in a potter’s field for all I care.”
“If that’s how you feel, why didn’t you arrange for that to happen?” he asked.
“Because I truly don’t care—dump her in a field, burn her, bury her—it doesn’t matter to me whatsoever. This is no different to me than a complete stranger passing away. If that’s the reason you came, you could’ve saved yourself a lot of time and called or asked Jonah,” I told him.
“It’s not the only reason I came, Rain.”
“River. My name is River,” I snapped.
“Sorry, the last time you spoke to me you went by Rain,” he snapped back.
“Actually, the last time I spoke to you I went by River; I just didn’t give you a chance to use it.”
“Fine, sibling, I also came to make sure you were okay.”
I couldn’t even begin to hide the look of utter shock on my face. “Why do you care?”
“I’ve always cared. Our mother died, and regardless of how you feel about me, I wanted to see for myself that you were okay,” he said.
“Seriously, Reed? You’ve always cared? What kind of bullshit is that?” I yelled and pushed back from the table to stand.
“It’s not bullshit, Ra—River!” he yelled back and got to his feet.
“Enough!” Jonah roared and slammed his hand down on the table. “Both of you sit down and shut up.” I immediately shut my mouth and dropped into my seat. Surprisingly, Reed did the same. “River, why are you mad at your brother?”
I turned my head toward Jonah and pinned him with my best death glare. “He knows why.”
“I didn’t ask if he knew why. I asked why you’re mad at your brother. Answer the question,” Jonah demanded.
I crossed my arms over my chest and fumed. “Because he paid our mother to humiliate me and make my life a living hell.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?” Reed asked, seeming to be genuinely confused, but I didn’t buy it.
“After I found out you paid Spring to have sex with my boyfriend, I started digging through her stuff and found letters from you telling her to make sure I never found out or you’d stop paying her,” I blurted.
Reed’s eyes grew comically wide and he started shaking his head. “That’s not at all what happened. I paid her to make sure you were taken care of. I sent money for clothes, shoes, food, school stuff, spending money, or whatever you needed. I did send extra money that was specifically for her to use, but I told her to make sure you never found out. I didn’t want you to know that I was supporting her drug habit, but I knew she would take the money meant for you if I didn’t. As for the boyfriend, I don’t know anything about that. I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend.”
My mouth dropped open as I stared at my brother. At one time, I loved him more than any other person in the world. He was always there for me, especially on the nights when Spring was out doing who knows what and left us home alone. He would let me sleep in his bed when I was scared. He made sure I had food to eat and clean clothes to wear. In a way, he raised us both. But then he left and everything changed.
“Think about it, Raindrop, I would never do any of the things you said. You know that. Spring was a master-manipulator and only cared about herself. She probably tried running you off so she could keep all the money I was sending for herself.”
“Why didn’t you write me or call me? You left and never came back. What was I supposed to think?” I asked and bit down on the inside of my cheek in a weak attempt to keep the tears at bay.
“I did write you. Every time I sent a letter to Spring, I sent one to you. You didn’t get any of them?”
I shook my head. “Not a single one.”
He sighed. “I couldn’t call because you didn’t have a phone. I paid all the bills for the utilities directly to the company, but I couldn’t arrange for a landline to be installed without Spring’s consent, which she refused to give. I didn’t get many letters from her, but she always said you were doing well. One time, I asked why you never wrote to me and she said you were too busy studying and working hard to get a college scholarship. She said it was easier for her to update me on what was going on with you. I guess I fell for her lies, too.”
“Why didn’t you tell me all of this when you found me a few years ago?” I asked.
“Because you didn’t give me a chance before you told me to stay away. I didn’t know why, but you were so adamant about it and even threatened me with a restraining order. I figured you had your reasons and would eventually change your mind, but that never happened.”
