Take a Chance on Me(96)

Clutching her mom, she opened her mouth to apologize for running away, only instead, she said, “I’m sorry about Daddy. I don’t blame you for hating me.”

She’d never admitted what she’d feared all these years, and hadn’t meant to admit it now, but the words had tumbled out in her uncontrollable fit of hysterics.

Her mom pushed Maddie’s hair off her face. “Where did you get such a crazy idea?”

“You have to hate me. I’d do anything to take it back. Anything.”

“Madeline. Now, you listen to me.” Her mother took Maddie’s chin in her hand and forced her head up. “I do not hate you. Not now. Not ever. You are my daughter and I will always love you.”

“But it was my fault. If I never—”

“Life is filled with if ‘I nevers,’” Shannon said, cutting her off. “He could have said no. He was supposed to pick me up, but I got a ride from Judy Kline down the street. It rained and the sewers flooded the field so Evan’s practice, which he’d been planning on watching, was canceled. The list goes on and on. There were a thousand moments leading up to the minute that you two were in that car.”

Maddie’s heart felt like it was being squeezed too tightly as thirteen years of repressed emotion came pouring out of her. “But—”

“But nothing.” Her mom kissed her temple. “I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told a living soul. When you were lying in that hospital bed, so silent and still, the doctors told me they didn’t know if you were going to make it. If your father wasn’t already dead, I would have killed him.”

Maddie blinked, stunned by the admission. She jerked back to look into her mother’s face.

Shannon nodded. “Yes, that’s right. I wanted to kill him. I have never been so angry with anyone in my whole life. I was furious with him. Not for dying. For dying, my heart was broken with grief. But I blamed him for putting you in that bed.”

“I was the one driving.”

“He should have known better. I told him you weren’t ready to drive on busy streets. We’d argued about it, and he said I was being too overprotective. I was right. He should have said no.”

“But I ran the stop sign. It doesn’t make sense to blame him.”

A tear slipped down Shannon’s cheek. “No, it doesn’t. When your child is lying in a hospital bed and you don’t know if she’ll make it through the night, you don’t have to make sense.”

“I’m sorry.” Maddie’s voice trembled.

“I never blamed you. And I assure you, your father doesn’t either.”

“I think I might be starting to believe that.”

“It’s about time.” Shannon stroked her hair, just like she’d done when Maddie was a child and hadn’t been able to sleep.


Maddie hung her head, clasping her hands in her lap. “About the wedding . . .”

Her mom tucked a stray lock behind her ear. “You shouldn’t have run away, but I’m sorry you felt like you couldn’t talk to anyone.”

“I was lost and I didn’t know what to do,” Maddie said, clenching her hands in her lap. “I didn’t want to disappoint you all.”

Shannon sighed and shook her head. “What am I going to do with you?”

“I don’t think I ever really loved Steve,” Maddie spoke what she’d ignored for so long. “I’m sorry I couldn’t marry him. I know how much you wanted him for a son-in-law.”

Shannon sighed, nodding. “I did. You scared me. You were always a little wild like your daddy. Steve was a nice, safe boy. He wanted to protect you. And after the accident, I couldn’t keep you safe enough.”

Maddie sniffed and hiccupped, and confessed, “I met someone. A man.”

“I figured that out as soon as I opened the door.”

“How?”

“I might be old, but I’m no fool.” Shannon patted her hand. “There’s only one thing that makes a woman cry like that. What happened?”

“I love him and I wanted to help. I broke his trust and he told me to leave.”

Shannon clucked her tongue and pulled her close. “This seems like a girlfriend problem. Do you want me to call them?”

“Yes, please.”

She moved to stand, but Maddie clasped her hand. When her mom looked down, she spoke the words she’d hidden for so long. “I wish, when I was growing up, I could have been the daughter you wanted.”

Shannon squeezed her fingers, then pulled away to gently cup her chin. “Madeline, you are the daughter I needed.”

Eyes once again filling with the never-ending supply of tears, Maddie curled into a ball and waited for Penelope and Sophie. They’d bring the standard breakup-care kit of chocolate and ice cream and a tragic movie collection. Maddie hadn’t used it since she was fourteen and Nick Cablese had dumped her for Katie Meyer.

Somehow, Maddie didn’t think it would be as effective as last time.



Mitch had combed all of Revival before giving up and admitting that she’d left. Nobody had seen her. Nobody had talked to her. She’d disappeared, without even stopping to pick up her things. Ironically, he’d experienced a twinge of sympathy for her ex-fiancé.