I waited, frozen on the stairs as they talked, of course, about me.
”...he’s here but he isn’t,” Paige sighed.
There was a short silence. “You never did tell me,” my mom said slowly, “why you were so determined to help.”
Another pause. “No. Drew deserves to know first… and I don’t think he can take the news now.”
Mom sighed, “Can you give me a hint?”
Paige chuckled, “It has to do with her dad, and a few secrets he’s been keeping.”
“Cynthia’s dad?” Mom sounded surprised. I felt something cutting into my chest as I heard the name and I nearly went back upstairs, but I was frozen. After a moment of thoughtful silence, Paige spoke again.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“You… used to be sort of, well, overbearing on Drew. Needing to know where he was at all times and such. I was wondering… how that changed.”
There was a pause before my mom finally spoke, her words cutting into me, sending the guilt into spiral mode.
“I’ve seen the worst,” she murmured, “And compared to that… I can take this.”