Chapter 4: The Brennans' Porch Light Was Still On
My husband texted Dave back: *Give us an hour.*
Maddie saw the exchange.
She didn't say anything, but her hand tightened around her mug.
"You don't have to be there," I told her.
"I know."
"But we do need to talk to them."
"I know that too." She looked down into her tea.
"Just — don't make it into something bigger than it is."
"What does that mean?"
"It means Tyler made a mistake.
A bad one.
But I don't need you two going over there and turning it into a whole — " She waved her hand.
"Thing."
My husband looked at her steadily.
"A boy you've been with for eight months was messaging another girl for weeks.
He let you find out on prom night.
He let you leave alone without your bag or your phone.
Then he lied to his own parents about where he was." He paused.
"How big should it be?"
Maddie stared at the table.
"Go to bed," he said.
"We'll handle the Brennans."
She started to argue.
Then she looked at his face and stopped.
She took her mug and went upstairs without another word.
We gave it ten minutes.
Then we walked the two houses down.
Dave Brennan answered before we even knocked.
He'd been watching from the window.
He had the look of a man who'd been awake since midnight and aged five years in the process — reading glasses pushed up on his forehead, a coffee mug in his hand at two-thirty in the morning.
"Come in," he said.
Linda Brennan was at the kitchen table.
She stood when we came in, and the way she looked at me — careful, guilty, like she already knew more than she should — told me this was not entirely a surprise to her.
That landed somewhere in my chest.
"Where's Tyler?" my husband asked.
"His room," Dave said.
"I told him to stay up there until we talked."
We sat.
Nobody offered pleasantries.
It was two-thirty in the morning and a girl had come home barefoot.
"How is Maddie?" Linda asked.
"She's home," I said.
"She's safe."
Linda nodded.
Her hands were folded on the table in front of her.
"I want you to know that we had no idea about any of this.
Dave and I — we didn't know."
"About Cassidy?" my husband said.
Linda's eyes flickered.
Just for a moment.
Then she looked at her husband.
Dave set his mug down.
"We knew there was a girl he'd been talking to.
We didn't know the extent of it.
He told us it was a friend from a study group."
"When did you find that out?" I asked.
"Tonight.
After he came home." Dave rubbed the back of his neck.
"He told us what happened at the dance.
What Maddie saw."
My husband was quiet for a moment.
Then: "Did he tell you he lied to you about where he was?"
Dave's jaw tightened.
"Yes."
"Did he tell you he asked Maddie not to say anything to you?"
A pause.
"No.
He left that part out."
Linda closed her eyes briefly.
"I want to be clear about something," my husband said.
His voice was even, the way it gets when he means every word.
"I'm not here to cause a problem between our families.
I'm here because my daughter came home alone at one in the morning from an event she'd been looking forward to for six months.
I'm here because she was upset enough that she didn't call us.
And I'm here because I want to make sure everyone in this room understands what actually happened tonight."
Dave nodded slowly.
"That's fair."
"Tyler needs to talk to Maddie," my husband said.
"Not through a text.
Not through us.
He needs to look her in the eye and take responsibility for what he did.
Whether they work it out after that is between them.
But that part is not optional."
"Agreed," Dave said immediately.
Linda unfolded her hands.
"There's something else," she said.
We both looked at her.
She glanced at the hallway toward the stairs.
Then back at us.
"Tyler didn't tell you the full story about Cassidy," she said.
"He didn't tell us either, until about an hour ago." She stopped.
"It's been longer than a few weeks."
The kitchen was very quiet.
"How long?" I asked.
Linda looked at her husband.
He gave a small, tired nod.
"Since September," she said.
"The week before school started."
May you like
My husband and I looked at each other.
Maddie and Tyler had started dating in October.
