“Maddie.”
“Because Tyler left.”
There it was.
“What do you mean, left?”
“We had a fight. He left.”
“Left the prom?”
“Left me.”
Mark had entered behind her.
“Why?”
Maddie shook her head.
“I don’t want to do this.”
“Sweetheart, you came home after one in another boy’s clothes, and Tyler told us nothing.”
“The hoodie isn’t a big deal.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
She looked at me.
What I saw wasn’t guilt.
It was humiliation.
“I’ll tell you,” she said quietly. “Just not with Dad standing there too.”
Mark’s expression changed, but he nodded.
“I’ll make coffee.”
Maddie and I sat at the kitchen table.
For a while, she picked at her sleeve.
“It was already weird before the picture,” she said.
“The 8:40 p.m. picture?”
She nodded.
“Tyler kept disappearing. He’d go talk to somebody and be gone 20 minutes. Then he’d come back like nothing happened.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because it was prom, Mom. I didn’t want to be that girl.”
“What girl?”
“The girlfriend who needs him next to her every second.”
I hadn’t realized she’d thought of Tyler as her boyfriend.
They’d gone out a few times since he asked her to prom, but whenever I’d asked, she’d acted casual.
