Page 51 of The Perfect Secret
“Except I’m not an addict.” Hannah cringed inside at the words she blurted. She possessed more tact under ordinary circumstances, but anything having to do with Jeff brought out the worst in her.
He stared at her until she wanted to break eye contact, but she remained firm and he looked away first. “I did form a mental picture of you.”
“Which is?”
“You’re not forgiving, which means he hurt you. You’re afraid of getting hurt again; therefore, you don’t want to get too close to him. And based on what I see now, you don’t want to fall for any of his shit again, either. Am I right?”
“Yeah.”
“Great, why are you here?”
“Because he told me he had a job and I wanted to know if he was lying or not.”And maybe because I want to forgive him.
“So you’re curious.”
“My grandmother thinks he’s changed and I don’t want to see her get hurt.”Or me.
“Ah, you’re here for her.”
She didn’t bother to answer. She had nothing to prove to this guy. Bracing herself against the counter, she started to slide off the stool.
“I have a habit of being an ass,” he said.
Hannah laughed. It was either laugh or tell him he was right. “I might have deserved some of it.”
“So, what do you want to know about your brother? Of course, you need to recognize there are only certain things I can say as his sponsor.”
She returned to the stool. “How long have you been his sponsor?”
“A year.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
“Are you going to doubt everything I tell you?”
“I’ll stop doubting when you start breaking that habit you apologized for.”
Mike let out a roar of laughter and his gold tooth glinted in a shaft of sunlight. “Touché. Yes, for a year.”
“How serious is he about recovery?”
“He’s been clean for a year.”
“And?”
“He’s putting in the time. He calls me when he needs support. He goes to meetings twice a day. He works here and he gets paid and he doesn’t use the money to buy drugs, although he’s tempted.”
“It’s the temptation that worries me.”
“We’re all tempted, sweetheart. But he’s fighting. Hard.”
“Where is he now?”
Mike looked at his watch. “At a meeting. His shift starts in an hour if you want to hang around.”
She climbed off the stool. “No, I don’t.”
“Now imagine how he feels.”