“I’m asking once.”
“We’re good.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
She came over, kissed my cheek, and grabbed an apple from the bowl.
“Don’t wait up.”
“Everything okay between you two?”
The door shut behind her.
I watched through the window as she headed down the sidewalk.
Three blocks toward Frances’s house.
At least, I assumed that’s where she went.
***
The next morning she came home just after nine.
This time she was smiling.
“We made pancakes again.”
“Any casualties?” I teased.
I assumed that’s where she went.
“Three.”
“People?”
“Pancakes!”
I laughed.
Maddie took two steps toward the stairs.
Then, the moment she thought my back was turned, her face just dropped.
The smile disappeared completely.
She went upstairs.
I decided not to push.
***
A week passed, and it was Friday again.
I decided not to push.
I was worried about Maddie, given how different she’d seemed lately after her Friday sleepovers.
