“Good.”
“Not good. I don’t want this to become public knowledge.”
“Who else knows?” he asked.
“A co-worker. And you.”
A very bad word filled his mind.
“Anyway,” she said, “I think a rehab center is too drastic an overcorrection for my situation.”
“It’s not.” He didn’t want her near him, disrupting everything, stirring up bad memories, bringing her drama and her perfumethat smelled like the beach and her to-go coffee cups and her scarves with no ends.
She studied him. “You seem to know something about this. Have you gone through withdrawal?”
“No.”
“But someone you care about has. Right?”
He remained silent.
“Ah,” she said. “Well.”
He could sense that she wanted to ask follow-up questions. He let her know by his expression that follow-up questions weren’t welcome.
“For better or worse,” she said, “I’ve decided not to go the rehab center route. At this point, my choices are to rent your cottage or drive back to Nashville and detox by myself.”
“You can’t detox by yourself. You’ll sabotage yourself doing it that way, so it’s not even worth the effort.”
“I’ve already failed once doing it that way. Look, I realize—fully—that you’re under no obligation to rent your cottage to me. But if you do, I’ll pay you back by doing a fantastic job decorating it for you.” She formed prayer hands. “I won’t be a burden. You won’t see me or hear my wails of anguish or anything.”
The words to turn her down formed in his mouth, but guilt over Kayden slid into him like a blade, preventing him from speaking them.
“I’d really, really love to stay here,” she said. “I promise you that I’ll make my time here worth your while.”
If Kayden had found herself in the same circumstance as Genevieve, asking to rent a guesthouse so that she could get clean, he’d have wanted the property owner to provide her with a safe place.
Was he really considering letting her stay? He couldn’t deal with having her and her addiction on his farm—
That wasn’t true. It would have been true if he’d only hadhimself to consider. If that had been the case, he’d already have told Genevieve good-bye and shut himself inside his farmhouse.
For Kayden, hecouldfind a way to deal with having Genevieve and her addiction on his property.
He hadn’t done nearly enough for Kayden when he’d had the chance. Because of that, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for Kayden now. Including helping Genevieve, who shared Kayden’s struggle.
He took a few steps back, putting square footage between them. “You’ll have to agree to my conditions.”
“Which are?”
“I can’t have Oxy in that guesthouse, so I reserve the right to search it at any time. If I find Oxy or any other opioid or any illegal drug, then you’re out.” Ultimatums often didn’t work with addicts, but he couldn’t bring himself to do this any other way.
“Agreed.”
“We’ll need to exchange numbers, and you’ll need to check in with me once every twenty-four hours over the next week while you’re going through withdrawal to let me know that you’re okay.”
“Agreed.”
“You have to confide in a family member or a friend.”
