Page 42 of When You're Home
Maddie: RHETT. Answer your phone. I don’t know what to do. It’s about Chandler.
Chandler?
Rhett felt his shoulders tense as he reread the last message. He swallowed hard and shook his head, refusing to let the sight of his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend’s name make him panic.
Chandler had been the last thing on his mind this weekend. He had texted her from the concert venue on Friday, but that was the last time he’d talked to her. He’d told her that he didn’t get reception at the cabin, so he assumed he was off the hook for messaging her again until he arrived back in Hampton.
Rhett steadied himself against the double vanity, then splashed water in his mouth from the sink.
“Get a grip, Wheeler,” he muttered under his breath. There was no way Chandler (or anyone, for that matter) knew he was officially back with Tori. It had happened less than twelve hours ago. He was so keyed up from this weekend, he was letting his mind get ahead of itself.
Rhett reached for his phone again, this time looking at the timestamps of the missed calls from Maddie. 11:04 p.m. 12:05 a.m. The last one snapped his thoughts to attention: 6:42 a.m. Less than twenty minutes ago.
The panic started to rise in his chest again. Something had to be really wrong for Maddie to still be trying to call him this morning. He looked again to make sure he didn’t have any other missed calls. There was nothing from Chandler, his parents, or any unknown numbers.
If Maddie had tried to call him this morning, he assumed she was already up or still up from last night. He walked over to the bathroom door and closed it, not wanting to disturb Tori. He sat on the edge of the tub before hitting his sister’s name on the screen.
She picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, Maddie,” he started, trying to keep his voice low even though the door was closed.
“Rhett,” she sighed into the phone, “I think I messed up.” Her voice was raspy in his ear. She was either still drunk, or she’d been up all night crying. He didn’t know which scenario was worse.
“Hey hey,” he tried to soothe her over the phone. “You’re okay, Maddie Girl. Just tell me what’s going on.”
“I’m so, so sorry, Rhett,” she cried into the phone.
Fuck. This couldn’t be good.
“Maddie,” he said her name sternly, trying to calm her down and steady himself for whatever was about to be revealed. “Tell me what’s going on right now.”
The line was silent for several beats. Rhett pulled the phone away from his ear to make sure the call was still connected.
“I’m so stupid…” she started again. She was audibly crying now.
What he had intended to sound like a sigh came out as more of a growl. She went silent on the other end of the line. If she didn’t start talking, he was going to lose it.
“I posted pictures from my lacrosse party on Instagram last night.” Rhett exhaled. He had seen the pictures, and now he at least had some context for what they were dealing with. She must have gotten busted for drinking with her teammates. Although that still didn’t explain how Chandler was involved.
“I had a lot to drink,” she confessed, calming Rhett’s nerves that this wasn’t really about him after all. Underage drinking and dodging trouble? That he could handle.
“I wasn’t really thinking, Rhett. We took a lot of pictures outside the house, then there were a few in the sunroom, too.”
“Yeah, I know, Maddie. I saw the pictures on Instagram last night.” He didn’t need a play-by-play of everything she had posted on social media for the world to see.
“Oh,” she hiccupped. “So you already saw her comments?”
Rhett felt his spine stiffen. He didn’t have to ask to know who she was talking about.
“Whose comments?” he implored anyway. He wouldn’t believe it until he heard her say it.
“Chandler. Chandler’s comments. First she asked if the pictures were from this weekend. Then she asked why I wasn’t with you at the cabin.” Maddie let out a soft sniffle.
“Hang on,” he mumbled, pulling the phone away from his ear to open the Instagram app. He quickly searched for Maddie’s username and clicked through to her profile.
It was right there on the screen. The pictures Maddie posted that he and Tori had looked at together last night. Then two separate comments Chandler had posted around ten p.m.
“Fuck,” he muttered to himself before bringing the phone back to his ear.
