Unconditional

I prop my foot up against the building behind me. “Some asshole fucked with Maddie, tried to run her off the fucking road.”

She gasps and immediately reaches for her phone. “What? Where?”

“On fifty-eight. They were tailgating her, hard. I met her just after the first bend and it spooked them. They sped off. She was shaking by the time I got to her.”

“Kids? Drunk? High?”

“I don’t know, but you can bet your ass I have everyone in there on it.”

“Cal…it was probably just some assholes on a dare or just being stupid.”

“So? They could have hurt someone.”

“You mean Maddie.”

“Okay fine, yes I mean Maddie. They could have hurt Maddie. That should mean something to you too, Aria.” I flick my cigarette into the street and shoot her an angry glare before heading back inside.

She stops me as I reach for the door. “Fuck you, Cal. How dare you insinuate that I don’t care? I’m just saying you acting like a raving lunatic over something that is literally a needle in a haystack is not using our resources properly. Do you even know what the car looked like? Could she ID the guy? Can you? What do you have them looking for? You said you spooked them, right? Then they are probably done with their harassment for the night. Where’s Maddie now?” I don’t respond as I throw the door open and storm through the entrance. “So, Margie’s. Then she’s safe. She’s fine. And my guess is you probably have the place guarded like Fort Knox.”

I turn around, and just as I prepare myself to reprimand her for her insubordination, for the first time in a week, I notice her. Under the lighting of the police station, I see the redness in her eyes, the bags that lie beneath them, and the absence of eye makeup that she usually wears. She looks like she’s lost about ten pounds and her hair is pulled up into a top knot, her telltale sign that she hasn’t washed it. I cross my arms in front of my chest. “What’s going on with you?”

I can see the war behind her eyes of whether she wants to unleash whatever is going on before she inevitably lets her shoulders sag. “Your brother moved out.”

People are moving all around us, but all I notice is the heartbroken look all over my sister in law’s face. “Let’s go to my office.”

I shut the door behind her and lean against my desk. “What happened?”

She shrugs and looks around as if the answers are written on the walls of my office. “Life?” She bites her bottom lip as the tears slip down her cheeks but she wipes them instantly. “He wants to move.”

“And that’s why you’re fighting?” I ask. “I assume you mean move out of state? He wants to move and you want to stay?”

“No. He wants to move without me. He wants a divorce.”

I know Henry and I aren’t speaking, but I can’t imagine that he’d leave the state without telling me. I briefly wonder if he’s mentioned this to our mother, but decide that he couldn’t have because Margie would be beside herself at the idea of not having both of her boys in the same state.

“Why?”

“He doesn’t want to be married…anymore. He said we’ve been trying to keep things together for years but neither of us are happy. We’ve been fighting a lot…and then…this stuff with Maddie…”

“Don’t put that on us, you both seemed to be on the same side about that.”

She looks down and then up at me. “I’m giving her space but I want to be in Maddie’s life…regardless of your place in it.” She sits down on the small couch in the corner as if she’s crumpling under the weight of the world just as a tear slips down her cheek. She twists her mouth to try and stop the flow but they continue.

“Okay?”

“Henry doesn’t.”

How could he just turn his back on her? On me? “He cares about Maddie, I know he does.”

“I’m sure one day he’ll come around, but…” She pauses and her gaze drops to the ground. “He’s said some pretty ugly things about it. I know I didn’t take the news well, but in my defense, I was hurt—I am hurt. Hurt that she lied to me. Hurt that she felt like she couldn’t confide in me.” She shakes her head, finally meeting my gaze. “But Henry…he’s angry, almost vengeful.” I frown at her choice of words. I knew he’s angry, but I had hoped that he would come around sooner rather than later.

“After Christmas,” Aria continues, “I gave a lot of thought to all of this, and ultimately it’s Maddie’s life and,” she shrugs, “I can’t control her any more than I can control Henry. The two most important people in my life want nothing to do with me.”

“That’s not fair, Aria. You turned on Maddie first. You think she doesn’t want you on her side? In her corner? She loves you so much and she’s hurting over this too.”

“How is she?” she asks, the tears making her green eyes more piercing than usual.

“Good…she got into Harvard.” I smile with pride and the one on Aria’s is just as big.