Mom had talked about her often. Once, she’d held up a blue sweater and said, “Elaine would wear this until the sleeves fell off.”
Elaine swallowed.
“So when I asked if she mentioned me…”
“I gave you the easiest answer.”
“Why?”
“Because I was tired of being in the middle.”
Elaine’s face hardened. “I wasn’t asking you to fix us, Maeve.”
“I know that now.”
“You let me believe she was done with me.”
“I did.”
She stared at the cards.
“I need to go.”
“Aunt Elaine…”
“Not now.”
She walked out before I could stop her.
I sat alone on Mom’s bed for a long time.
When I finally started putting the envelopes back into the box, I found one wedged beneath the lining.
It was sealed.
Elaine’s name was written across the front in Mom’s handwriting.
I turned it over once.
I could’ve opened it.
I didn’t.
That night, I asked Raven to come over.
She sat at Mom’s kitchen table in the same chair where I’d first seen her.
“How did you two really become friends?” I asked.
“She insulted the book I was reading.”
Despite myself, I smiled. “That sounds like her.”
“We started talking. I told her my mom and I weren’t speaking. She told me about Elaine.”
Raven’s smile faded.
“So she pushed you to call your mom?”
“Every Saturday.”
“And you pushed her to call Elaine.”
I looked down at my hands.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
Raven hesitated.
“She was embarrassed. You’d been telling her for years to call Elaine. Then I said the same thing, and suddenly she wanted to try.”
She leaned forward.
“Maeve, she didn’t choose me over you. It was just easier to admit she was scared to someone who hadn’t watched her refuse for years.”
I let that settle.
