Chapter 2: Maddie Was Always in the Room
By nine the next morning, my phone had forty-three messages.
Not one of them asked how Noah was doing.
My aunt called me selfish.
My cousin said I had embarrassed the whole family.
My uncle, who hadn't spoken to me in two years, suddenly had a lot to say about respect.
Maddie had been busy.
I put the phone face-down and helped Noah eat his birthday pancakes at our own kitchen table.
Emma had lit the candles on the dinosaur cake the night before, just the four of us.
Noah blew them out and smiled, but it was a smaller smile than the one he'd had that morning.
That smile was gone.
I don't think he even knew it.
Then Dad called.
I answered because I thought, maybe.
Just maybe.
"You made your mother cry, Zane."
I waited.
"She spent all week getting ready for that party."
"She spent all week getting ready for Ava's party," I said.
"Noah didn't have a single balloon with his name on it."
Silence.
Then Dad said something I will never forget.
"Maddie needs more support right now.
You've always been the strong one."
I looked at Noah across the table, still wearing the dinosaur shirt.
"He's seven, Dad."
The line went quiet again.
And then I heard it — Maddie's voice in the background, low and careful, telling my father exactly what to say next.
She had been there the whole time.
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What Zane uncovered about that phone call changed everything he thought he knew.
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