I said nothing.
She breathed shakily.
“I should have seen it.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But he was very good at making people see what he wanted.”
“That doesn’t excuse me.”
“No. It doesn’t.”
“I know.”
The silence between us was different now.
Not healed.
But honest.
Madison continued, “I’m starting over. I don’t know what that means yet. But I wanted you to know I’m not going to use him as an excuse for what I did to you.”
I leaned back in my chair.
For years, Madison had defended herself by standing behind Jason.
Now she was stepping out from his shadow.
Late.
Very late.
But still.
“That’s a beginning,” I said.
She exhaled like she had been holding her breath for six years too.
“Do you think we’ll ever be sisters again?”
The question hurt.
Because I remembered us before him.
