Page 49 of Mad for Madison

“Darling,” she repeated, her voice gentler but firmer now. “You don’t have to talk, but I’m not going anywhere. Sit with it. Feel it. It won’t break you.”

I let out a bitter laugh, running a hand through my damp hair. “It feels like it’s trying.”

She nodded, her eyes sad but knowing. “That’s because it matters. If it didn’t, you wouldn’t feel like this.”

Her words struck a chord, but they only made the ache worse. My chest tightened again, and I swallowed hard, staring at the untouched tea in front of me.

“I don’t get it, Gran,” I said finally, my voice raw. “I did everything right. I gave him space when he needed it. I didn’t push. I opened up to him. I trusted him. And he—” My voice cracked, and I clenched my fists again, my nails biting into my skin.

“He still left,” Gran finished softly.

I nodded, blinking back the sting in my eyes. “Why wasn’t it enough?”

Gran leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees as she studied me. “Bradley, love isn’t always about doing the right things. Sometimes, it’s about whether someone is ready to receive it. And sometimes…they’re just not.”

Her words only made me angrier. Not at her, but at Madison. At myself. At the cruel, twisted timing of it all.

“He didn’t have to do it like that,” I snapped, my voice rising. “He could’ve talked to me. He could have trusted me the way I trusted him. But no—he just walked away. Like I meant nothing.”

Gran let the silence hang for a moment before responding. “Do you really believe you meant nothing to him?”

I hesitated, my anger faltering as I remembered the way Madison had looked at me. The pain in his eyes. The way his voice had trembled when he said he couldn’t stay.

“No,” I admitted, the word a whisper. “But that makes it worse, doesn’t it? If he cared, why didn’t he stay? Why didn’t he try?”

Gran sighed, her gaze softening. “Sometimes, people run because they care too much. Because facing what’s in front of them feels impossible. It doesn’t mean it’s right, but it’s not about you, Bradley. It’s about whatever he’s fighting inside himself.”

I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes, frustration bubbling over. “I just…I wanted to be enough for him, Gran. I thought I could be.”

“You were enough,” she said firmly. “You are enough. Madison’s choices don’t change that.”

The words were meant to comfort, but they didn’t. Not yet. All they did was remind me of the emptiness he’d left behind. Ofhow much I wanted him to choose me—and how much it hurt that he hadn’t.

And how much it hurt to admit that I still wanted him to. “His choices…” I murmured the words bitterly. “Maybe it’s better this way.”

“Darling, you can’t let anger wipe away all that was good,” Gran said gently.

I shook my head. “You don’t understand. It was all a lie, Gran. He’s not who he said he was, and I was stupid to pretend like it didn’t matter.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, bracing herself for bad news.

I was silent for a while, looking at my tea. “He’s an artist, it’s true,” I said slowly. “He’s talented and works hard to make it happen, but…” I swallowed. “God, you’re going to be shocked, Gran.”

“I’m not so easily spooked, Bradley,” Gran said.

“Until recently, he made adult films,” I said. “Clearly, he has nothing to look for here.” I knew I didn’t mean it even as I said it, but anger and heartbreak were a powerful poison. “What would a man like that do with a family? He’s not fit for it.” The truth was, I kept speaking into my tea so I wouldn’t have to look up and face my grandmother’s judgment. I had already done this once to my parents, and they had sent me on my way. I had told them the truth, and it had cost me everything. “He solved it for everyone, really. No more worrying about you finding out. No more worrying about having to tell Lily someday.” I looked up as if challenging Gran to react precisely how I expected. “What do you think about that?”

Gran stared at me. Her hands were folded in her lap, her back straight, her eyes sharp as ever. “If you mean to shock me, Bradley, you’ll have to do better than that.”

I snorted. “Why are you so nonchalant about it?”

“Because you knew this about him, and in your heart, you believed it wouldn’t be a problem,” Gran said. Although she was calm and supportive, her lips trembled briefly. “I won’t pretend that I’m overjoyed to hear it, but I don’t see why his past choices need to prevent his future happiness. Or yours, for that matter.”

“And when Lily finds out?” I asked desperately, clinging to some sliver of hope that Gran would brush away all my worries and pave the way for Madison and me to be together forever. As if Madison hadn’t just walked away from my life and shut the door on us.

“That day—far in the future, I should hope—Lily is going to learn a lesson about compassion,” Gran said firmly. “What she has now is a father who loves her more than stars, Nana who will never let her down, and Madison.”

Who was Madison in all that?

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