CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 5
Tyler laughed once, but it came out wrong.
“This is ridiculous. We’re eighteen. We have plans.”
Madison’s mother nodded.
“Yes. And plans matter.”
Tyler looked relieved for half a second.
Then she continued.
“But people matter more.”
Madison looked down at her shoes.
Her private school skirt was still perfectly pressed. Her nails were pale pink. Her hair was curled for senior photos she had been so worried about missing.
She had dressed like a girl with everything under control.
But her stomach felt hollow.
Tyler stepped closer to her.
“Madison, don’t let her get in your head.”
Her mother didn’t move.
Madison looked at him.
“You told me nobody had to know.”
“Because they don’t.”
“You told me your parents would hate me.”
Tyler swallowed.
“I said they’d be disappointed.”
“You said your father would call me trash.”
The receptionist’s face changed.
Madison’s mother closed her eyes for one second, as if swallowing something sharp.
Tyler glanced around, suddenly aware there were witnesses.
“I was stressed.”
Madison laughed, but tears slipped down her cheeks.
“You weren’t stressed when you were joking in the car.”
May you like
Tyler said nothing.
That silence told the truth better than any confession.
