Page 72 of Isolated
“He spent the night?” The shock in her voice was much better than the hopelessness.
I laughed. “No. No, he went home Friday night, but he came back on Saturday morning to take me out.”
“What did you do?”
Without delay, I went on to tell Flora about my dates with Landen.
By the time I finished, my sister’s mood seemed to have turned around completely. “That sounds wonderful, Iris. I’m so happy you had such a good time with him.”
“Me, too. I don’t think I’ve felt that wonderful in so long. It really was nice.”
Flora didn’t respond, and the silence stretched between us. She might have always been the quietest of the three of us, but that didn’t mean we ever experienced moments like this over the phone. Especially not when I was sharing something that she’d normally consider so exciting.
And so, I knew, without even asking, that things were going to move in a much less pleasant direction.
“Judging by your silence, I can only assume you’ve spoken to Eleni.” Best to just put it out there so we could deal with whatever it was.
“I did.”
That was it.
That was all she said.
It was just more proof that Eleni didn’t have anything good to say when Flora had reached out to her.
“Has she… She knows I’ve been trying to reach her, right?”
“She does.”
At this point, I was growing impatient with Flora’s ambiguity. She knew what I wanted, and she insisted on making me pull it out of her. “And?”
There was a long pause before she sighed. “I’m sorry, Iris. Eleni knows you’ve been trying to contact her, but she told me she was purposely avoiding taking your calls.”
Although that was precisely what was happening, I didn’t know why it caught me off guard to hear it. “Did she say why?”
“Not so much.”
My eyes narrowed as I thought back on the weekend we’d had together, attempting to figure out where it all went so wrong. “So, that was it? She just said she was intentionally avoiding me. She wouldn’t give you any explanation?”
“I wish I had an answer, but I don’t. She refused to share. But there was one other thing she did ask me to mention to you.”
My brows shot up. So, Eleni did want to communicate something to me; she just wasn’t willing to do it herself. “Okay. Well, what did she say? Maybe we can get to the bottom of this.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
Flora hesitated again. “Because she told me to ask you to stop reaching out to her. She said that she wants to be left alone and would appreciate it if you’d stop contacting her every other day.”
My youngest sister wasn’t one for practical jokes, but this was starting to feel like one. “Are you kidding me?”
Her voice was barely a whisper. “I wouldn’t make something like this up, Iris.”
I was utterly baffled. “I don’t understand. Does she ever plan to talk to me again?”
“Yes!” That single word was the most excited Flora had been throughout the entire phone call. Even more than she’d been when I told her about my dates with Landen.
“Well, that’s good news. How do you know? Did she say when that might be?”
