Free The Debt 8 (Club Alpha) by Kelly Favor Page B

u.   Are u going to the studio soon?
    Tomorrow.
What r your plans?
    She quickly texted him back .   Going
to the hospital to surprise Sky. Her Mom told me she’s having radiation tomorrow…scary stuff.
    Tell
Sky I send my best.   And don’t
forget how much I love you baby.
    With those words making her warm inside,
Raven was finally able to go to sleep.
    She was woken up by her father, coughing
as he wheeled his way into the room .   “Wakey, wakey, shake ‘n bakey!” he shouted in a hoarse voice, coughing some more.
    Raven roused herself, laughing.   That little line was how her dad always
used to wake them up as kids.
    “You’re ridiculous, Dad,” she said,
grinning at his enthusiasm.
    “How’d you sleep?” he asked, wheeling
closer still and adjusting his oxygen tube.
    “Pretty good.”  
    “ That couch comfortable enough?”
    “Very comfortable,” she lied.   In truth, springs had been poking into
her back and the blanket was irritating her skin.   But this was the last night she would
spend in the bed and breakfast, so it was fine.
    She slid her legs off the couch and sat
on the edge, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
    After a moment, she got up, went to the
bathroom and then changed into some comfortable pants, flats and a
sweater.   New England weather, she
thought, shivering, as she recalled the mornings in Florida where she could run
outside to the beach or the pool in shorts and a t-shirt.
    When she came out of the bathroom, her
mother was out in the main living quarters brewing a pot of coffee in the teeny
tiny coffee pot on the kitchenette counter.
    “Hey Mom,” she said, walking over and
putting a hand on her mother’s forearm.
    “Hi honey.”   Her mother looked tired, Raven
thought.   Tired
and probably stressed from worry.
    “Danny up yet?” Raven asked, her stomach
feeling fluttery as she contemplated telling them what she wanted to tell them.
    How would they take it?   Danny, she imagined, would find a way to
be angry, as usual.
    “I heard someone calling my name!” Danny
yelled out from down the hallway, and then he was entering the suite too.   His hair was messy and the circles under
his eyes darker than yesterday.
    Raven wondered if he’d slept at all last
night, but didn’t ask.
    When Danny came out, Raven’s mother
greeted him with a plastic cup of coffee, as if this were an old routine.   By now, Raven supposed that it was.   Then she gave Raven a cup, before making
one for herself.
    Raven sat down on the couch with her
mother, while Danny stood, watching her with a strange look on his face as he
sipped at his cup.
    “Spit it out,” he said, after a moment.
    “Spit what out?” she asked, taken aback
that he knew she intended to tell them all something important.
    “Whatever you came here to tell us.   You know I’ve always been able to read
you like a book, Raven.”   He gave a
smug grin.   “Did ol’ Jake pop the
question?”
    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