Forget Me Not (From the Files of Madison Finn, 21) (12 page)

“I didn’t touch much, I swear….”

“I don’t know what to think anymore, Maddie,” Mom said, shaking her head. “You certainly are keeping your share of secrets these days, young lady.”

Madison bristled. She understood why Mom was upset.

But Madison was upset, too.

“Secrets? What are you talking about?” Madison sniped. “What about
your
secrets?”

“
My
secrets?” Mom cried.

“Yeah,” Madison said.

She and Mom stood toe to toe, eye to eye.

“I don’t have any secrets,” Mom said firmly.

“You don’t?” Madison bit her lip. “What about Julian Lodge?”

“What about him?”

“I saw you.”

“Saw what?” Mom chuckled.

“He had his hand on your back….”

“Madison! Don’t be ridiculous. When did you see this?” Mom’s eyes darted from side to side.

“See? Now you’re lying to me. This is so totally unfair.”

“Unfair? Oh, Maddie, don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic?”

“You always say that!” Madison whined. “How can you be mad at me for lying when you won’t tell me the truth about Julian? I saw you, Mom. I saw you holding each other. Right here in our house. And I wasn’t spying on you, if that’s what you’re thinking. I just walked into your office and saw you there right out in the open.”

“Oh, Madison,” Mom said quietly. “I didn’t want you to find out like this. I was going to tell you. When the time was right …”

When the time was right?

Madison’s stomach did a major flip-flop. Her worst suspicions were confirmed.

“You see,” Mom continued. “I’ve known Julian for years. He and I have crossed paths on various film projects. And this time around, well … we just hit it off. We have a lot in common. So …”

Madison’s face fell. “So he’s your boyfriend?”

“No,” Mom said quickly. “Nothing that serious. Not yet.”

“Not yet?”

Madison felt the tears welling up inside.

“You told me once, Mom, that if you ever dated anyone you would tell me first; you would tell me everything,” Madison said. “But you told me nothing about Julian, even after I met him.”

“I wanted to tell you,” Mom said. “But once we started filming at Far Hills, I thought it would be better to wait. At least until we stopped working on the project at your school.”

“How could you lie to me, Mom?” Madison said, her voice cracking a little bit.

The phone rang, but they both stood there, not moving. Somewhere downstairs, the answering machine clicked on.

“Hello, Maddie? Are you there? It’s Daddy, honey. I just got stuck in traffic downtown—oh, hey, it’s moving again. I’ll be right there.”

The phone machine clicked off. Neither Madison nor Mom had moved a single inch, although both of them heard Dad’s message clearly.

“Dad,” Madison said simply. She clutched at her middle, woozy. “Does Dad know about your new boyfriend?”

Mom shook her head. “No. No.”

Madison took a deep breath. “Does anyone else know?” she asked.

Mom nodded. “Well, Olga next door knows. She always knows everything that goes on around here. And some of my coworkers know, of course. It’s too hard to keep these things private when we’re working late nights. I think I mentioned something to Aimee’s mother, too….”

“Mrs. Gillespie? And all those other people?” Madison cried. “But you didn’t tell me? I can’t believe you.”

“Maddie, I’m very sorry if you feel hurt,” Mom said. “But I think maybe all of this is just a misunderstanding.”

Madison blinked so she wouldn’t show Mom her tears. She rubbed her left eye and shook her head in utter disbelief.

“Look, I don’t want to fight,” Mom said.

“I don’t want to fight, either,” Madison said defensively.

Ding-a-ding. Ding-a-ding.

The doorbell was losing its ring. It sounded more like a low wail than a proper ring; but the sound suited the moment.

Someone
was
downstairs.

“Cavalry here!” Dad cried from below. “Where’s my girl?”

The moment Phinnie heard Dad’s voice, he leaped off Madison’s bed, where he’d been nestling among the pillows. He scooted downstairs, and Madison knew that within minutes he’d be attacking Dad with wet, doggy kisses.

Mom just stood there, rubbing her hands together. She shook her head sadly. “I don’t know what else to say about this, honey bear,” Mom said. “I don’t want you to be upset because I’m seeing someone … and I certainly don’t want you to leave the house tonight being angry.”

Madison looked away. “But I am angry,” she grunted.

“Maddie, don’t be this way,” Mom said.

“Be what way, Mom? I’m not the one who started seeing someone and kept it a big, fat secret.”

“Oh, Madison, can we please take the drama down a notch? I said I was sorry. And I am.”

Madison picked up her woolly cardigan sweater and gently pushed past Mom. She took the stairs two at a time and headed for the front door.

“Madison? Come back here. Please.”

But Madison didn’t turn back. She thought for sure Mom would follow her downstairs, but she didn’t. Dad waited by the front door.

“Hey, Dad,” Madison said, giving him a peck on the cheek. She grabbed a nubby hat and gray scarf and her warm pink peacoat and then kissed Phin.

She and Dad walked out the door, leaving the dog inside.

“Why so glum, chum?” Dad asked as they walked down the driveway to his car. “Seriously, Maddie, are you okay? Where’s your mother?”

“She’s upstairs,” Madison grunted. “And the answer to your question is, no, Dad, I’m not okay. I’m worse than glum.”

A quizzical look spread across Dad’s face. He blew on his hands for warmth and opened the car door for Madison. Then he walked around and slipped into the driver’s seat. Madison attached her seat belt.

The interior of his car smelled hot, stuffy, like popcorn.

“Are you planning on telling me what’s up?” Dad asked before putting the car into gear.

“No,” Madison said. She didn’t want to say anything more. She just wanted to go.

The ride over to Dad’s apartment took longer than usual. The traffic was just as bad as what Dad had hit on the way over. Two cars had slid into a barrier, knocking over a pole that landed across the icy road.

Dad zigzagged onto a crooked side street to avoid the jam.

“Let’s take back roads so we don’t sit for a half hour,” Dad said to Madison. “And while we ride, you’re going to tell me the truth about what’s going on. The truth, Maddie.”

Madison wasn’t a hundred percent sure what the truth was anymore. Some of the things she’d believed were true about Mom had turned out to be outright lies. So she kept her mouth shut. Besides, she didn’t want to start talking and then spill the beans about Julian Lodge.

Thankfully, Dad didn’t push his interrogation. By the time they arrived at his apartment, he had resorted to his usual tactic: telling bad jokes to break the tension.

Madison’s stepmother, Stephanie, was sprawled on the couch at the apartment when they arrived. She was just tying up the stitches on a few patches from an old crazy quilt she’d purchased at an antiques fair.

“Hello, you two,” Stephanie said as Dad and Madison walked inside.

Madison kissed her hello.

“I have some unfortunate news,” Stephanie said.

“Oh, no,” Dad moaned. “Break it to us gently.”

“I burned the soufflé.”

“Burned? No!” Dad said incredulously. “How could you? I left it on a low setting, didn’t I?”

The three of them went into the kitchen to examine the soufflé in question. It didn’t even look very crispy, Madison thought to herself. Dad was usually such a perfectionist when it came to cooking dinner.

“Well … I don’t have enough eggs to make another one,” Dad said. “We’ll have to make do.”

“I don’t care if it’s burned, Dad,” Madison said, trying to be nice. “I’ll eat some anyway. I bet it still tastes good. Everything you cook tastes good.”

Dad gave Madison an affectionate pinch. “That’s my honey,” he said. “I guess I can scrape off the edges that are burnt, too. We’ll live.”

“I took my eye off the clock, and I’m really sorry, Jeff,” Stephanie said. “I know you wanted this to be a special dinner.”

“Nah, forget it. Nothing to be sorry about,” Dad said, kissing Stephanie hard on the lips. They always seemed to embrace each other warmly like that. Sometimes it made Madison feel slightly uncomfortable, but other times—like now—it made her feel like a witness to real love and understanding.

“There’s always a little burn around the edges of life anyhow,” Dad said, winking at Madison.

Madison smiled. She knew what he was talking about. Even though Dad didn’t know the exact details, he knew that there were some serious burned edges on Madison and Mom’s relationship, too, right now.

Sometimes dads could be so smart.

After dinner, before heading home, Madison dashed into Dad’s study and quickly got online to check her e-mailbox. Checking TweenBlurt.com always helped lift her spirits. She could surf over to the Ask the Blowfish section or read some of the funny postings on the main bulletin board. Or she could just check her own mailbox. Tonight, Madison was hoping for e-mail from Bigwheels.

The e-mail was there!

But it wasn’t exactly the kind of e-mail Madison had hoped for.

From: Bigwheels


To: MadFinn


Subject: How R UUUUU?


Date: Sun 30 Jan 7:26 PM


I’m sooo sorry but this has been a nutty wk. we’ve been doing these joint webpages w/our class pals. Melody & I made a page with pictures from Washington and Australia. It’s VVC. But u know that. I have 2 send u the link if we actually post it. I have never had sooo much fun in a school assignment as I have w/my class pal. U should get one, too. It changed the whole way I use the Internet.


Meanwhile, in other news, I’m getting a B- for that reading class I told u about. I thought I would get at least an A- but I’m not. That’s such a tough teacher. Melody says that she actually got a lower grade on her last English assignment in Australia, too. Isn’t that a cool coincidence? We really do have plenty in common.


BTW what’s the latest with Hart and school? Are they done w/that movie and can I see it? U haven’t told me enuf. WBSTS. That means now.


Yours till the class pals,


Vicki (aka Bigwheels)


Madison reread the message. She wanted to respond. She wanted to tell Bigwheels that she was super sorry about the missed A-. She also wanted to answer questions and pass along the latest scoop on Hart.

Madison clicked
REPLY
.

But then she hit
DELETE
.

Then
REPLY
.

DELETE
.

She was giving herself an indecision headache.

Finally, Madison clicked the
POWER
button, and the laptop went off. After all, what was the point of sending a message? Bigwheels had Melody to tell her all those things now, didn’t she? She’d even signed it “Yours till the class pals.”

“You ready to go, hon?” Stephanie asked from the doorway to Dad’s office. “Your dad just went down to get the car out of the garage.”

Madison nodded. She logged off Dad’s computer.

“Thanks for dinner,” she told Stephanie.

Stephanie grabbed her by the shoulders and leaned in for a big hug. “You seem a little down. You okay?” Stephanie asked.

“Yeah, well … it’s just a Mom thing …” Madison mumbled. “And my keypal is being weird.”

“Oh, I see,” Stephanie said. “Well, I’m sure you’ll work things out. You always do.”

Madison shrugged. “I guess,” she said, linking arms with Stephanie.

She wanted to believe that that was true.

But deep down, she wasn’t so sure.

“W
HAT DID I MISS?”
Egg asked Madison in homeroom on Monday morning.

Madison rolled her eyes at him. “Everything,” she muttered.

Although Egg had happily recovered from his stomach bug, he was disappointed to learn that he’d missed some of the filming—as well as the cool game of Assassin at Fiona’s.

A few desks away, Poison Ivy primped and posed in a handheld mirror.

“You know, the filming is over,” Madison whispered.

Ivy shot her a look. “I know that,” she said. “But you never know when you need to look good. I mean, duh. You know
that
, Madison … well, er … maybe you don’t. It’s not like you’re jumping off the pages of
Cosmo
or anything.”

“Excuse me?” Madison said, surprised. After all, this was the same Ivy who had told the video camera that she wished Madison had never stopped being her friend.

What a poser.

When Madison tried to make eye contact with Ivy, the enemy whipped out her cell phone and punched a few keys. Madison figured Ivy was probably text-messaging one of the drones, as usual.

Why was she way more interested in berry gloss and her glittery cell phone cover than she was in Madison? Was everything Ivy said on the video interviews a lie? Why hadn’t Ivy ever said that nice stuff to Madison’s face?

“Your attention! Your attention, please!”
As Principal Bernard’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker system, Ivy slipped her phone back into her bag. Everyone in the room stopped to listen.

“Good morning, students. I am sad to announce that this morning we are saying good-bye to Mr. Lodge, Mrs. Finn, and their phenomenal film crew, who have been here at FHJH for a little more than a week. But we have a treat for you. After lunch, we will have a students-only screening of some rough footage from the interviews, during the main assembly. As a result, I am canceling the last two periods of the day so everyone may attend the screening. Of course, I expect your full cooperation in making this special event run smoothly. No running in the halls. No loud talking …”

As Principal Bernard spoke, a cheer rose up in the room. Madison heard the other seventh, eighth, and ninth graders yelling out and applauding in homerooms nearby.