“Mom!” he exclaimed. “How are you?”
“Brian? I’m so glad you called! I’m great! Just a second; let me get your father on the other phone.” After a few seconds, Harold and Jackie were both bombarding him with questions.
“Slow down, guys!” he finally said. “The concert was pretty good. Mattie is fine. Leighanne is joining us when we hit Orlando in three days. The guys are all great.”
They talked for a while before the topic of Madeleine came up. “You’re taking good care of her, right?” Jackie demanded.
“Yes, Mom, I am.” He hesitated. “What do you think of her and Nick?”
“What about her and Nick?” Harold asked, confused.
“I mean about them dating,” Brian said, not realizing that they didn’t know about it.
“They’re dating?” Jackie exclaimed.
Harold nearly went through the roof. “WHAT? Nick and Madeleine are dating?”
Suddenly putting two and two together, Brian tried to cover for his little sister. “Well, not seriously…they just went out a couple of times.”
“He’s twenty! She only just turned eighteen!”
“Dad, he’s nineteen, which is not very far in age from her, and he’s my best friend. I trust them. They’re both responsible, and you know that.” The only reason he was doing this for them was because of Nick. If it were some other guy, he would have spilled everything just to get Madeleine in trouble.
“How long has this been going on?”
“About a month,” he lied again.
“Brian, you watch them and make sure it doesn’t get out of hand, because if it does, you will have me to deal with,” Harold said firmly.
“Don’t worry, guys. I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.” Little did they know, she’d already gone through what was probably the worst in their mind.