Chapter Thirteen
“You’re late. You missed most of the group and left me to staple massive amounts of packets by myself.” Nikki stood with her hands on her hips, glaring over me with disdain. “And you’re absolutely filthy! What happened to you?”
“I hit some debris someone lost in the middle of the road. The rain was coming down so hard I didn’t see it in time, and it punctured one of my tires. I’ve been putting the spare on and rolling around in all this lovely country mud you people keep up here.”
I went into the bathroom and pulled a bunch of paper towels out of the dispenser and started wiping my face and arms down. I was drenched.
“You need to get something dry on. Why don’t you go home? I’ll explain what’s going on to Maggie.”
“I always carry spare clothes with me,” I replied, nodding toward the backpack I’d tossed on the floor next to me.
She gave me a puzzled look. “You do?”
“While I’d love to tell you it’s because I’m such a great Boy Scout, it’s actually the product of waking up after vomit-inducing alcohol and drug binges,” I explained.
Her eyes went wide.
“Give me a minute, and I’ll get changed—unless you want to help me get out of these wet things,” I added, lifting an eyebrow in suggestion.
“Shhh.” Nikki blushed as she glanced around. “Someone will hear you.”
I shrugged. “So, who cares?”
“I do. They’ll think we’re . . . that we’re . . .”
“That we’re what?” I laughed, prodding her on. “Doing it? Weren’t you the one who was begging me to stick around the other day?”
She gasped and shut the door much too loudly, closing me into the small space by myself. I couldn’t help the grin that stayed on my lips. She was so fun to tease. I quickly changed and did the best I could to dry rub my hair into some semblance of order before I joined her.
“That looks much more comfortable.” She shoved a stack of stapled papers in my arms. “Go pass these to the group out there while I set up some of the packets for next week.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I loved it when she was bossy.
I followed her instructions, slipping quietly into the room and waited for Maggie to give me the okay to start passing to everyone in attendance.
“Thank you, Chase,” Maggie said when I was done.
“No problem.” I headed back into where Nikki was working.
“I was wondering if you’d like to sit in on the group sometime?” Nikki asked, peeking over at me.
I came to a halt, her comment catching me completely off guard, and she hurried to continue.
“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. You can listen to the other’s experiences and what they’re doing to get past their addiction problems.”
Moving to the table, I picked up the first few papers and began stapling them together. “I’m not addicted to anything.” I knew I sounded short, but I couldn’t help it.
“I’m not saying you are. I know you’ve used recently, though, and it’s caused problems for you at home. I thought maybe you could learn some mental techniques—things to help talk yourself through situations when the urge comes up.” She sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. This isn’t coming out right. I know it’s none of my business. I was trying to offer support—if you needed it.”
I didn’t answer, and to her credit, she didn’t push the issue any further. We worked together in silence for quite a while until we had most of the work done for the next week.
She went to the water cooler and got a drink, sipping it while she watched me finish up the rest of the papers.
“I got plastered one night after my dad died,” she said suddenly, capturing my attention. “I found the key to my parent’s liquor cabinet, and I took three big bottles. I don’t remember what they were now. I wasn’t old enough to drive anywhere, so I went to this little meadow behind our house. I didn’t like the taste of it, but people always talk about how great it is, so I figured it had to get better, right? I forced myself to drink it—guzzling until I was so sick I started vomiting everywhere. It was awful, and I felt worse afterward than I did before. I made up my mind I was never going to do anything like that again.” She stopped and stared at me. “I just want you to know, even though my experience is different than yours, I get where you’re coming from.”
I nodded, going to her and reaching to stroke her cheek. She was so beautiful. I found it hard to relate her to the image of a young girl trying to binge it up in the forest. “I’m glad you were able to walk away from it. You were smart to do so.”
“Are you going to? Walk away from it, I mean.” Her warm eyes looked like melted honey as she stared into mine.
“I want to sometimes. Other times not so much.” I continued to caress her face. “Does that bother you?”
“Yes, but only because I worry about you. I don’t want something to happen that will end up hurting you even more.” She closed her eyes and nuzzled into my palm. “I like you, Chase. A lot.”
“I like you too, Nikki.” I pulled her into my arms and hugged her tightly. “Thanks for the concern. I’ll be fine. I promise.”
“Then do one thing for me.”
“What?”
“Take some of these worksheets home. You don’t have to read them right away if you don’t want to. But they’re really good to help sort your thoughts and see certain patterns that trigger things. You can do the exercises and then set small goals for yourself after each one. People in the group who do them really like them. It’s a great program.” Her words came out in a nervous rush as she tried to convince me.
I sighed and released her. “Fine. I’ll take them, but only if you agree to be my sponsor and let me call you at any hour of the day or night if I need you.”
She didn’t miss a beat, smiling as she practically skipped to the table to gather the information for me. She was so caught up in what she was doing, she didn’t realize I’d extracted a reason to contact her at any moment.
I was going to use this to my full advantage.
“I’m so glad you said yes.” She handed me a large manila envelope. “I honestly think it’ll help.”
I chuckled slightly at her obvious exuberance. “We’ll see.”
“Glad you finally made it here today, Chase,” Maggie’s voice broke in from the doorway. “I didn’t think you were going to show.”
“He got a flat tire in the storm,” Nikki piped up before I could answer.
“I’m sorry I was so late,” I offered.
“Let me sign your community service hours off for you,” she replied, waving her hand for them.
“It’ll only be about forty-five minutes this time,” I told her.
“Nonsense. You were trying to get here, and you still showed up even though you knew you’d missed most of it. I’ll credit you for the two hours you were scheduled.”
I wondered if she’d be so willing if she knew I’d come because I wanted to dally away every second I could with her hot assistant.
“Thanks,” I said when she handed the paper back. I glanced at my phone. “I guess I better get going. I have a friend coming over, and I need to meet someone who’s taking my mom on a date.”
“All right. See you next week then,” Maggie waved, dismissing me as she moved past me to the desk.
Nikki followed me to the office door. “Have fun with Brett tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Sounds great.” I leaned in to kiss her briefly on the lips, and I noticed Maggie’s eyes shoot up in surprise. I guess she wasn’t aware Nikki and I were dating now. “Later, ladies,” I said and I left.
Video games were in full swing, blasting loudly through the surround sound speakers on the television system I’d insisted Mom keep when we moved here. She couldn’t really argue with me since Dad and I had picked the equipment out together. Getting rid of it would be like throwing away some of his memories.
“Die suckers, die!” Brett sh
outed as we teamed up against the guys we were battling together online—Wes and Chad. It had been a pretty good match so far, but Brett and I had this in the bag.
My attention was suddenly diverted when my mom walked past wearing a short black cocktail dress which showed off her long legs in tall strappy heels. Her makeup and dark, honey-streaked hair was fixed perfectly.
She smiled. “How’s the game going, guys?” she asked, continuing on her way.
Brett and I both looked down in time to see ourselves get blown to smithereens on the screen.
“Dude! Why didn’t you tell me your mom was so smokin’ hot?” Brett exclaimed as soon as she was out of earshot. “She’s a ten for sure!”
I sent him a scathing glare as I tossed the controller onto the coffee table.
“Okay. Message received. Hot mom is off limits,” Brett grumbled.
“What do you know about some guy named Greg Stanton?” I asked.
“Whoa, is that who she’s going out with?”
I nodded. “Is that a good whoa, or a bad one?”
“The guy is loaded. He’s a total workhorse—this big contractor guy. His house is the huge one in the middle of the country club, if you’ve ever been there. He built it for him and his fiancé, but she got this weird illness and ended up dying before they got married. He’s been single all these years, living in that big old place by himself. Everyone says he’ll never get over her. I’ve never seen him date anyone before.”
So they had something in common, both suffering from extreme loss. I got up and moved toward the stairs.
“Have you ever heard anything bad about him?”
“Greg? Heck no! He’s one of the nicest people I know—a really good guy.”
While I was pretty sure I didn’t want to find out my mom was going on a date with Jack the Ripper, I was fairly certain this news might be just as bad. I didn’t want some Superman moving in to sweep her off her feet either. She and I were . . . well, we were a team, and we didn’t need anyone else butting in as far as I was concerned.
The doorbell rang right as we hit the bottom stair, and a quick check through the window revealed a sweet, bright-red truck parked out in the driveway.
I heard voices coming from the direction of the kitchen, and Mom appeared with Grandma and Grandpa following after. She smoothed her dress down nervously as she walked toward the door, and I suddenly found myself wanting to throw a blanket around her so this guy couldn’t look at her.
I stepped in front of everyone and opened the door a crack to find a tall, dark-haired man in a black suit on the porch with a handful of flowers. He was well-groomed and probably had a face women freaked over. I thought he actually looked a little like Superman, and I fought back a groan.
“Can I help you?” I drawled lazily, allowing him to see only me filling the gap in the entrance.
“Um, yeah. I’m Greg Stanton. I’m here to pick up Tori Walker. Is she ready?”
“Let me check,” I said, shutting the door in his face. “You ready?” I asked, turning to look at Mom who was blushing.
“Don’t be rude, Chase!” my grandma exclaimed as she rushed by, practically pushing me out of the way in her excitement. “Greg!” she said with a trill, welcoming him as if he were the greatest thing to ever walk on the planet. “Come in, come in. Yes, Tori is ready.”
Greg stepped inside with a smile. “Thank you, Mrs. Johnson.” He stopped short when he saw my mom waiting for him. He skimmed over her from head to toe and then back up again. “Wow. You look great, Tori.”
I couldn’t have rolled my eyes any farther. Maybe I should’ve handed him a spoon so he could continue to eat her up with his gaze.
“Thank you. So do you,” she answered, coloring even more as she wrung her hands together.
They both stared at each other, and an awkward pause filled the air as we all waited for them to say something else.
“Give her the flowers, dude,” I coached him finally, unable to take it any longer, and Greg sputtered to life as he peered down at the floral bouquet he’d obviously forgotten.
“Oh, yeah. Here, these are for you.” He extended the gift, and Mom took them while she beamed.
“These are beautiful. Thank you.”
“Let me put those in some water, dear,” Grandma said, taking them and hurrying toward the kitchen.
“Greg,” Grandpa stepped forward, smiling bigger than I’d ever seen him do. “Nice to see you.”
“You too, Warren. How’s the ranch doing?”
“It’s all right. Getting everything ready for planting. Just went to Phoenix and bought me some new seeding equipment for the tractor. I’m looking forward to trying it out this next week.”
Good gosh. Was this really what adult people talked about up here?
“Sounds great,” Greg replied sincerely. “I hope it works well for you.”
“Greg,” my mom interrupted, moving beside me. “This is my son, Chase, I was telling you about.”
“I kind of figured as much.” Greg laughed. “He seemed like he was on watchdog mode. Way to keep an eye out for your mom, kiddo. Pleased to meet you.” He extended his hand, and I eyed it warily before I took it, shaking it once.
“So, I hear Warren has been talking you up to Coach Hardin for the quarterback spot.”
He liked football, did he? Maybe there’s hope for him after all, I thought.
“You’re gonna have to work hard,” he continued. “Jeremy Winters is leaving some big shoes for you to fill, isn’t he, Brett?” he said, turning to clap him on the shoulder.
And all hope for Greg flew straight out the window.
Grandpa cleared his throat. “Don’t be putting him off yet. I’d wager Chase’s stats could beat Jeremy’s any day. He’s good.”
I clenched my jaw to keep it from dropping in surprise at my grandpa’s rapid defense. I had to get out of here. This was getting too bizarre.
“Nice to meet you, Greg,” I said, stepping briskly past him. “Have a good time, Mom. Don’t forget who you are,” I added under my breath, and she laughed and blushed again.
I grabbed Brett by the arm, dragging him after me. “Come on. We’ve got people to kill upstairs.”
“I think good ol’ Greg boy has the major hots for your mom,” Brett whispered as we made our way up.
“Shut up, man,” I warned.
“Dude, I bet you end up with a new baby brother by next year,” he prattled on, oblivious to my mood.
I swung around and faced him. “If you don’t want me to knock that stupid head of yours right off your shoulders, then I suggest you shut it now.”
Brett simply snorted. “Yeah. You saw it too, didn’t you? That’s why you’re all worked up about it.” He chuckled as he walked over to the couch and plopped down, picking up a controller. “I’m telling you, don’t worry. This guy is the real deal, Chase. He’ll treat your mom well.” He chuckled again.
I heard the front door close, and I turned to look out the window, watching as Greg led my mom to his massive beast of a truck and helped her inside. I could hear her laughter tinkling through the air, and I felt slightly sick.
It should be my dad she’s with, I thought bitterly.
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I wanted her to be happy again, I just wasn’t sure I was ready for it to be this way.