I snapped my attention to my porch, finding my mom smiling into a steaming mug. I glanced back to the driveway and saw her SUV parked behind my Range Rover. When did she get home?
“I thought you were working an overnight shift?” I slowly started to walk up to the porch, my shoes shuffling over the steps with ease.
“Slow night in the ER. I have overtime, so I was the first to go.”
“Ah, gotcha,” I said, nodding as I sat beside her on the swing. It creaked as it dipped down, and my mom let out a laugh, eyeing the springs.
“So,” she began, taking a small sip of her coffee. Once she was finished, I shot her a half-grin, and she rolled her eyes, handing me the mug. The warm Colombian brew coated my tongue, and for a moment, I was a little resentful that it replaced the taste of Madeline. “Where were you?”
I slid the mug back over to her, and she took it gracefully.
“Why ask a question you know the answer to?” I lifted an eyebrow, and she grinned into her mug again.
“Is everything okay with Madeline?”
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I thought back to a few days ago when I’d given her very minimal details about Madeline’s screaming-in-my-bedroom ordeal. She didn’t ask many questions, but I knew she was concerned.
Glancing back to Madeline’s house, I answered with integrity. “Not really.”
“Anything I can do?”
My chest burned, and it had nothing to do with the hot coffee I’d just drank. I felt myself splitting in two, like a torn piece of notebook paper. I was getting a slight glimpse of how Madeline felt when she’d found out my dad had cheated with her mom. It would have been difficult to ask me to not say anything in fear that her father would find out. Just like it was difficult that I was about to ask my mom that same favor. “Yeah.” I ran my hands down the front of my jeans. “Can you not say anything to Madeline's dad? You know…” I gulped, unable to meet her eye. Was it right for me to ask this of her? “That her mom and…Dad…”
My mom’s hand landed on my clenched fist, unbundling my fingers from digging into my palm. “Eric.” I couldn’t meet her eye. I felt like shit. It wasn’t fair that I was asking this, but it also wasn’t fair that Madeline was in the situation she was in. “Do you really think I’d do something like that? Their marriage is none of my business.”
“No,” I rushed out, locking eyes with her. My mom was a saint. There was nothing vindictive about her. “I don’t. But I just had to say it, just in case.”
She nodded slowly, her face morphing into worry. “What’s going on, baby? You’re worried. I can tell.”
I wavered for a moment, looking over at Madeline’s house again, eyeing her father’s Jaguar in the driveway. I wasn’t sure what telling my mom would do, but it seemed unhealthy that no one knew what Madeline was going through. I wanted to come to her defense for some reason. I wanted to prove that Madeline wasn’t this awful person everyone thought she was. I wanted to prove her worth to my mom.
But I kept my mouth shut as my phone vibrated in my pocket.
Maddie- I know you’re back to hating me, but please don’t tell anyone about last night. No one can know, Eric.
I wasn’t sure if she was referring to her dad or the part where she came all over my hand.
Me- Tell your mom you’re staying with a friend tonight.
She texted back instantly.
Maddie- Is that supposed to be some joke about me not having any friends?
I chuckled under my breath, eyeing my mom from the side who was staring directly at me.
“Movie night tonight? And do you care if I bring a friend?”
She smiled. “Tell Madeline it’s a pj party. No pjs, no admittance.”
I laughed, shaking my head. She and I used to have pj parties all the time when I was younger, especially when my father was on a work trip. It’d obviously been a long, long time since we had done something like this, but it sounded just about perfect for Madeline. She needed a little normalcy in her life, and she needed to get out of the house and away from her parents’ fucked-up marriage.
Me- My house, 7pm. My mom said you have to wear pjs.
Maddie- …what?
Me- See you at 7, and don’t even try to make up an excuse. I know where you live, and I will come get you if I have to. Father home or not.