Page 110 of Heartless
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Parker
Franny’s smile stared back at me, unchanged, unyielding. For years, these photos had been my anchor, my way of holding on to her. But now, they felt more like a weight, dragging me down.
I reached out and ran my fingers along the edge of the frame. “It’s time,” I whispered, the words catching in my throat.
One by one, I took every picture down. The walls, once overflowing with her presence, started to feel emptier, lighter. When I finished, I sank onto the couch, the stack of frames beside me. For the first time in years, my chest didn’t feel as heavy. Therapy was working. I wasn’t healed, but I started to understand how I had been misplacing blame and guilt and how that fucked with my psyche.
The excitement made me buy a plane ticket for New York. Two months had passed since she left and I started therapy. I imagined our reunion like a scene from a rom com. Instead I found myself in front of Madison’s apartment, cornered by an old lady that thought I was there to buy it.
So I headed back to California. As soon as the plane landed, I had my phone in my hand, dialing Tyler.
“Where is Madison?” I asked without a greeting.
If she wasn’t in New York, where the hell was she?
“Madison?” Tyler’s voice sounded hoarse. It was eight a.m. and Ollie had probably kept his parents up all night. “I don’t know. In a dark basement skinning puppies?”
I sighed, annoyed by the way he talked about his sister. True, she wasn’t the lovable creature everyone gravitated towards, but she was nowhere near the bitch they made her out to be. In fact, I was sure that her bitchiness came as a coping mechanism. Something like me actually. I had become a loner with mostly Franny’s family for company because meeting new people meant I would have to eventually talk about Franny and Jack. And for a long time that was too painful.
“Rough night?” I asked Tyler.
“Yeah. But Ollie is an angel compared to Daphne’s wailing when she was a baby, so we can’t really complain.”
“Great. Can I have a serious answer to my question now? I just came back from New York. Madison’s not there.”
“Look, man. I don’t get involved in shit like that. Call her and find out on your own.”
“I can’t just call her.”
“Have you tried?”
“She won’t pick up. I texted. She didn’t answer.” My last text was from two months ago, but he didn’t know that.
“Some people would tell you that is a firm answer.”
“It won’t end like this,” I said and killed the call.
My first stop back from the airport was Clementine’s bakery. I wasn’t lucky enough to catch her there. The girl on shift refused to give me her number but assured me she would come any minute now, so I ordered a bunch of cookies and the largest cup of coffee they offered and sat at a table in the corner.
An eternity later my second cup of coffee was almost empty and the cookies were still untouched, when Clem finally walked in, hand in hand with Daphne. The little one didn’t look like her aunt at all, but her attitude screamed Madison.
The girl behind the counter said something then pointed at me. Clem’s gaze found me and a huge happy smile formed on her face.
That was promising. Maybe this sibling would be inclined to help.
I waved and Daphne waved back, then she let go of her mother’s hand and came over to me.
“Hi there, little princess,” I said as she pushed a stuffed giraffe in my hands. “What’s that?”
“Don’t fall for it,” Clem approached us. “She’s coming for the cookies.”
She sat across from me and took Daphne in her lap, giving her a cookie from the plate at my table.
“I came to ask you something.”
“I know,” Clem smiled at me. “Hannah told me you called Tyler earlier.”
