And he had made my daughter somebody else’s problem.
Later that morning, Eli brought the dress back.
He didn’t come inside.
From the kitchen window, I watched Maddie meet him on the porch. He handed her a garment bag.
They talked for maybe two minutes.
There was no hug. No kiss. Nothing remotely secretive.
He said something that made her nod, then walked back to his car.
When Maddie came inside, I asked, “What did he say?”
“He apologized.”
“For what?”
“For not telling me last night what Tyler was saying.”
“What was Tyler saying?”
She hung the garment bag over a chair.
“He told people I was being dramatic.”
I waited.
“He said I got jealous because he was talking to another girl and freaked out. He made it sound like that’s why I left.”
“But that’s not why.”
“I know.”
“Does Eli know that?”
“He does now.”
She looked at the garment bag.
“That’s why he sent the message you saw.”
Don’t believe what Tyler said about you.
I finally understood why Maddie had looked so small at the bottom of those stairs.
It wasn’t simply rejection.
She’d discovered that someone she’d trusted hadn’t really chosen her. Then he’d abandoned her for being hurt by it and rewritten the story afterward so her reaction became the problem.
