“What are you—"
She shushed me and pulled me back
down the stairs and into the kitchen. The smell of brownies hit me once again.
“Mom, what are you doing?” I asked.
She dropped her hand from my arm and gazed up at me. I was much taller than my mom at 6’1”, but she’d always been on the shorter side. “That’s Madeline, right? From next door?”
I swallowed, clenching my jaw as I looked away. My answer came out harsher than I meant. “Yes.”
“Is she okay? Why is she here?”
Was she okay? No. No, she wasn’t.
I kept my expression imperturbable. “I’m not sure. We aren’t friends. I don’t know why or how she’d be in my room.”
Her brows knitted together as she looked away, staring at the untouched takeout on the counter. “But you used to be, right?” Her eyes moved all over the kitchen as if she were lost in her thoughts. “What happened between you two? I remember you were close. I found your cute little window notes that you two used to hold up at night when you were supposed to be sleeping.”
I pulled back, my face feeling hot. “I didn’t know you found those.”
She smiled, and her eyes lit up like the jumbotron that laid at the end of our football field. “I found them all stuffed under your pillow once. Of course, I put them all back in their rightful spot so you wouldn’t know I touched them. How did you think I wouldn’t find those? I made your bed every day.” She laughed, putting her hand on my chest. “I was certain you two were going to become a couple.” Her hand dropped. “But then things changed.”
I shifted my jaw back and forth, moving back to rest against the counter to stare at her. “What do you mean?”
She began grabbing silverware and plates, her back to me. “I saw the change in you both. You became a little closed off. Grumpy, even. And then…”
“And then what?” Suspense had me clenching my fists. What wasn’t she telling me?
She turned around, and her expression grew worrisome. “Madeline stopped waving at me and smiling. She wouldn’t even look at our house anymore. I remember waving at her once when she got home from school, and the poor girl froze. She just stared at me before dropping her head and running inside to slam the door.” She shook her head, clearing the memory. “It was so strange. I thought something may have happened between you two.” My mom gave me a pointed look. “Did you break her heart, Eric?”
I laughed. I actually laughed. It came out loud and angry, sarcasm hanging off each echoing guffaw. “Can’t break a heart that doesn’t exist, Mom.”
She eyed me. “What does that mean?”
Might as well get this over with. “Madeline knew Dad was cheating on you with her mom. For a long, long time. That’s why she stopped waving at you, and that’s why she stopped talking to me. She didn’t want to tell their dirty little secret.”
I hated the way my mom looked away at my words. I didn’t mean for them to hurt her, but I also didn’t like that she was insinuating that I broke Madeline’s heart. If I was being honest, it was the other way around.
Her tiny sigh had me swinging my attention back to her. She walked over the few feet, and her warm hands grabbed onto my forearms. “Sweetie, you can’t be mad at her for that.”
I scoffed, my arms flexing under her grasp. “The hell I can’t.”
She peered up at me, her eyes so warm and comforting. My mom was the nicest person on this earth. I was sure of it. I hated what my father did to her. “Madeline was a child. A child that, under no circumstances, should have known such a thing about the adults in her life. She was probably confused and upset.”
I shook my head. “She could have told me. She had years to tell me. Madeline isn’t a child anymore.”
My mom gave me a pitiful smile. “It wasn’t her responsibility, and it wasn’t yours.” She moved away briskly and started putting food on our plates. “You know,” she said over her shoulder. “I’m more angry with your father for putting you in such a terrible position than I am over him cheating on me.” My mom turned around, and I bit my tongue. Her eyes were watery, and I swore if she started crying in front of me, I was going to hunt my father down and rip his fucking head off. “I’m so sorry for what you had to go through, knowing what he was doing and having to pick between keeping his secret or hurting me. That wasn’t fair, and when he realizes that, it will wreck him, Eric.”
My voice cracked under the weight of anger. “He won’t realize it because he only cares about himself, Mom.”
She looked away again. “He cares about you, sweetie. And one day, he will own up to his mistakes. He will apologize to you. I promise.”
“Doesn’t mean I have to forgive him.”
My mom smacked my chest lightly and gave me a pointed look. “Eric.”
But both of our heads snapped to the noise fleeing down the stairs. My eyes widened as my stomach tensed. Oh, shit.