Chapter 6: What Cassidy Knew
The message was long.
I could see that from across the table.
"Read it," Maddie said.
"That's your phone, Maddie."
"I know.
I want you to read it with me." She pushed it closer.
"Please."
I picked it up.
Cassidy had written it at 6:14 in the morning, which meant she'd been awake too.
Or she'd never gone to sleep.
*Hi Maddie.
I know you don't know me and I know this is the last thing you want right now.
Tyler told me tonight what happened at the dance.
He told me you found out.
I've been trying to figure out what to do since midnight and I decided I'd rather you hear this from me than from him.
I knew about you.
I knew from the beginning.
He told me about you in October when you two started dating.
He said it wasn't serious and that he was going to end things with me.
He didn't.
I should have stopped talking to him then.
I didn't.
That's on me and I'm not making excuses for it.
I'm sorry.
I don't expect you to respond to this.
I just didn't want you to think you were the only one he wasn't being honest with.*
I set the phone down.
Maddie was watching my face.
"She knew," Maddie said.
"Yes."
"From October.
The whole time."
"That's what she says."
Maddie pulled the phone back and read it again.
I watched her eyes move across the screen.
When she finished she set it face down on the table.
"He told her it wasn't serious," she said.
"He told her he was going to end it."
"Yes."
"He was saying that to her while he was asking me to homecoming."
"It looks that way."
She pressed both palms flat on the table.
"So which one of us was the real relationship?"
I didn't answer.
There wasn't a good answer.
"She's apologizing," Maddie said.
"Cassidy.
She's actually apologizing."
"She is."
"Tyler hasn't apologized.
Not really.
Those texts last night — " She shook her head.
"He kept saying I didn't understand the full picture.
That it was complicated.
That I should let him explain before I made any decisions." She looked up.
"That's not an apology.
That's damage control."
My husband appeared in the doorway in yesterday's clothes.
He'd heard enough.
"What time is Tyler supposed to come over?" he asked.
"He texted me at midnight," Maddie said.
"He wants to come at ten."
My husband looked at me.
I looked at him.
"Do you want us there?" I asked her.
She thought about it.
"For the beginning.
Then I want to talk to him alone."
"Okay."
"But I want you to know something first." She picked up her phone and held it.
"I already know what I'm going to say to him.
I decided this morning." She set it back down.
"I'm not angry anymore.
I was last night.
But now I'm just—" She searched for the word.
"Done.
I'm just done."
At ten o'clock Tyler Brennan knocked on our front door.
He looked like he hadn't slept.
His hair was flat on one side and he had the careful, braced expression of someone walking into something they know they deserve.
My husband opened the door.
He didn't say anything.
He just held it open and let Tyler walk through.
We sat in the living room.
Tyler on one side, Maddie on the other, my husband and I on the couch between them like a line nobody was going to cross without permission.
Tyler looked at Maddie.
"I'm really sorry."
"I know you are," she said.
"But I need you to answer one question first."
He nodded.
"When you asked me to homecoming," she said.
"Were you still talking to her?"
A pause.
One second.
Two.
"Yes," he said.
"Were you planning to stop?"
Another pause.
"I thought I was going to," he said.
"I kept thinking I was about to end it."
"But you didn't."
"No."
Maddie nodded slowly.
Like she was confirming something she'd already known.
"Then I have my answer," she said.
Tyler leaned forward.
"Maddie, if you just let me—"
"I got a message from Cassidy this morning," she said.
His face changed.
"She told me everything, Tyler.
She told me she knew about me from October.
She told me what you said to her." Maddie's voice was steady.
Completely steady.
"You told her I wasn't serious.
You told her you were going to end it.
You said that to her while you were standing at my locker with flowers."
Tyler's hands went to his knees.
"I'm not going to fight about it," Maddie said.
"I'm not going to cry about it right now either.
I just want you to know that I know.
All of it." She stood up.
"I think you should go."
He didn't move for a moment.
Then my husband stood up too.
Tyler stood.
He looked at Maddie one more time.
"I never meant for it to go this long."
"I know," she said.
"That's actually the saddest part."
She walked out of the living room.
We heard her go upstairs.
Her door closed — not sl@mmed, just closed — and then it was quiet.
My husband walked Tyler to the door.
Tyler stopped on the porch.
He turned back once.
"Is she going to be okay?" he asked.
My husband looked at him for a long moment.
"She's going to be fine," he said.
May you like
"That's not really your concern anymore."
He closed the door.
