That Would Be Enough

23

Lin went for a walk, amped up from his fight with Kate. Her rage towards Jason seemed to be blinding her to the hurt she was causing Madeline. She had every right to have a relationship with her father if she wanted one. Madeline was terrified to contact him because of what Kate might think. That wasn't right.

Back at the apartment, Kate was cooling down. She realized she may have upset Madeline, so she went to her room to check on her. She knocked but didn't hear an answer, so she pushed the door open. Maddie wasn't inside. She checked the bathroom, then the other rooms, but she was nowhere to be found.

Kate pulled out her cell phone and called her daughter. It went straight to voicemail. Kate hated when her daughter ignore her. Though she wasn't sure she was ready to talk to him, she called Lin. He answered after a couple rings.

"What?" he asked, his tone curt.

"Maddie's gone," she told him.

"What?" he said again. "She's not in her room?"

"No. I checked everywhere and of course she's not answering her phone."

"Well, she's probably upset," Lin pointed out. "You basically attacked Jason."

"Will you try calling her?" Kate said, ignoring his accusation.

"Sure," he said, and they hung up. Lin called their daughter and it went straight to voicemail. He texted her instead, telling her to tell them where she was.

Madeline had been walking for a good half hour now. Both her mom and Lin had tried calling her, but she wasn't in the mood to talk to either of them. She needed some space. She knew they'd be upset with her for not responding, but if they hadn't been fighting she wouldn't have had to leave.

She made her way to Central Park, one of the few areas you could be in nature. Finally, she found a bench and sat down. She started to catch her breath and let her heartbeat slow. She'd been walking pretty briskly. Today just needed to end. Her meet had gone terribly and the adults in her life had all gone nuts.

Nature calmed her down. She sat back on the bench and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the breeze blowing the leaves, a few birds chirping. She felt the sunlight on her face. She reminded herself she was just one person out of 7 billion on this planet. Her problems weren't unique. Somewhere, there was another kid sick of her parents fighting.

She checked the time on her phone and realized she'd been gone for a good two hours. There were tons of texts and calls from her parents. She sighed audibly as she stood and decided to head back home. When she walked in the door, her mother pounced on her.

"Why haven't you been answering your phone?" she asked, crossing her arms. "We've been worried sick!"

"Leave me alone!" she said, feeling her anger build up again. She'd finally calmed herself down and now her mother was in her face again.

"No. You owe me an explanation," Kate told her daughter.

"Kate-" Lin tried to intervene from the living room.

"I left because I didn't want to listen to you guys yelling!" she said, her voice raised. "Did it ever occur to you that I might be upset? You almost attacked Dad!"

"He had no right to come to the meet," she said. "And I cannot believe you didn't tell me he came to your school."

"Because I knew you'd react like this!" Maddie spat. Kate had been moving closer to her daughter. Lin had been crossing the room. He put his hand on her upper arm to hold her back.

"Kate, stop," he told her a bit more firmly. "Maddie, go to your room."

She gladly left, not wanting to argue anymore with her mother. As she left, she could hear her mother yelling at Lin. His voice was annoyed and firm. Maddie slammed her door and laid back down on her bed. She plugged in her earbuds to drown out the noise.