Page 22 of Differences

“You got some damn nerve! How dare you show up?” she sniffed. “Smelling like you washed in liquor when I’ve been calling you every day this week!”

“Rae—” he started, but she held her hand up, shutting him up. He dropped his head.

“I get it. You got your fancy ass job and still think I want something from you when actually I do. I want my brother to be here while our mother is in there fighting for her goddamn life!”

“Excuse me,” one nurse on the unit softly interrupted. “Do we need to call security?”

This time, I interjected. “Um...no, we were just leaving.”

The woman I now knew as Weston’s sister looked at me. Her look softened, but she was still angry. I forced Weston to leave the unit and return to the elevator, but it didn’t stop his sister from following behind us.

“Who are you?” she asked me.

I extended my hand. “Taja Walker. I work at TRU.”

She placed her small hand in mine. “Raven Jones, Weston’s older sister.”

She looked at him and rolled her eyes. He kept his head down, and I could tell he was embarrassed. She shook her head. We stood there awkwardly before Weston spoke.

“This is all my fault,” he stated.

Raven scoffed. “Weston, please save the dramatics. If you feel that way, why would you stay gone for almost a damn week? Do you know how hard it is to see her this way?”

He nodded instead of speaking.

She scoffed again. “No, you don’t. You get drunk and get in your feelings, blaming yourself instead of being here for your mother.”

I stood back, watching the interaction between brother and sister. Raven was hurt because she needed her brother, while Weston felt as if his mother’s being in the ICU was his fault. The family was hurting, and it was hard to witness.

“What can I do to fix this? Should I pay to have her moved to another facility? How much is everything?” he asked.

I cringed at the questions. Weston had missed the whole reason Raven was mad. Her nose flared, and her eyes slanted.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Wes?” she yelled.

Weston looked shocked at her reaction. “What did I say?”

Even though I barely knew the family dynamics, I could see things getting even more heated, so I interjected myself.

“Look, tension is high. Let’s table this conversation when we are in a sober mind, and everyone can hear everyone,” I said.

Granted, this wasn’t my family, but I didn’t want to see them head down a path of destruction because of emotions being high.

Raven looked at me. “Please get him out of my presence.”

I nodded and reached for Weston’s hand. “Come on, Weston. Let’s give your sister some space.”

He didn’t want to budge, but after a few more tugs on his hand, we entered the elevator and headed to my car. Once inside the car, I looked at him. He was even more defeated than before.

“Can you tell me your address so I can take you home?” I asked.

“Anywhere but home...”

* * *

Forty minutes later,I was pulling up to a hotel a few blocks around the corner from the office. There was nowhere else I could take him but the hotel. I didn’t know his family, and he couldn’t come home with me because of Jay, so the only option was to find a hotel. During the entire ride, Weston said nothing, nor did I. He sat in the passenger seat with his eyes closed. At every stoplight, I would quickly glance over to see if he had opened his eyes, yet they remained closed. He finally opened his eyes when I shut off the engine. He looked out the window and stared.

“You didn’t say where, so I figured this hotel would do. It’s near the office.”

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