“All that pain because you couldn’t stop fucking her,” Madoc’s mom says.
I wince.
She continues, “You don’t get to demand that I forget simply because you perceive that an acceptable amount of time has passed.”
My dad drops his eyes and part of me understands the sadness on his face. I guess I’d be mad if I were her and it were my husband.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers.
“Would you have done anything differently?”
He doesn’t say anything at first. Maybe he’ll say he shouldn’t have married Madeline in the first place. I mean, if he didn’t love her, then…
But instead, he says, “I would’ve…left you sooner.”
I flit my eyes to Madoc’s mom, and it’s brief, but I see it. The flinch.
He would’ve still married her.
To get Madoc.
I can’t help but wonder what their wedding day was like. Celebration and laughter and dancing. Does it hurt her how much she hates him now? Could that happen to my brothers and their wives? Could it happen to me someday?
She leaves the room, and my father barely has time to run his fingers through his hair before Jared’s wife Tate walks in. “Can I help?” she chirps.
He flexes his jaw, struggling to find his words. After a moment, he exhales and forces a smile. “Thanks.”
They pick up the table and move it out of the room.
I watch them disappear from view and inhale though my nose as if pushing everything I just heard down into my stomach. Hiding it away. Keeping it to myself.
I don’t know why. Maybe because no one talks to me about the past. They don’t want me to know things.
Maybe it just feels good to know more than the other kids. Everyone acts like I don’t have a clue because I’m quieter than they are.
Or maybe it’s just fun to see and listen to what people say when they’re not around children.
“Just give us a clue!” Kade bellows, pounding walls.
“A bird chirp,” Hunter adds from the distance.
“Or a knock!” Dylan offers.
I grin to myself.
But then I hear the booming voice that knots my stomach. “Quinn?!”
My oldest brother Jared. There’s no reason to be scared of him, but I am, because I can never seem to stand up to him. It’s like my brain leaves my body, and I forget English.
“How long have you guys been seeking?” he asks them.
“A while,” Hunter gripes.
“But I’m not forfeiting!” Kade immediately yells loud enough for me to hear.
Me either.I slide over to another beam, about to slink down for a better view, when a knock echoes through the blackness of the attic.
I pop up straight.
