"Vanna—"
"I've put you through hell. Both of you." I force myself to turn my head, to face him. "I stole from your sister, Garrett. I took something that mattered to her more than anything, something that survived the fire that killed your parents, and I pawned it for drug money. She has every right to hate me."
His jaw tightens, but he doesn't deny it.
How can he?
We both know exactly what I've done.
Every ugly detail.
"That's not the point right now," he says.
"That's exactly the point." I push myself up straighter, ignoring the way my body protests. "You're asking me to go to rehab, to get clean, to be better. But even if I do... some things can't be fixed. Some damage is permanent. I can never give Leah back what I stole from her. I can never give you back the years I wasted. I can't undo any of it."
"Maybe not." He leans forward, elbows on his knees, his gaze steady and unwavering. "But you can't undo the past by giving up on the future. You can only move forward and try to be different. Better."
"What if better isn't good enough?"
"Then at least it's something." He reaches for my hand again. "One day at a time, right? That's what they say in the meetings?"
One day at a time.
One hour.
One minute.
One breath.
Whatever it takes to get from here to there.
I look at our hands—his so steady, mine trembling slightly from the early stages of withdrawal.
We held hands like this on our wedding day, both of us crying happy tears.
We held hands the first time he told me he loved me, sitting on the tailgate of his truck watching the sunset paint the mountains gold.
We've held hands through funerals and failures and too many hospital visits to count.
Maybe we can hold hands through this too.
"Okay," I say again, and this time the word feels less like surrender and more like a choice.
His fingers tighten around mine.
One day at a time.
Starting now.
CHAPTER TWO
Bloodhound
The road stretches out in front of us like a promise I'm afraid to believe in.
Four hours.
That's how long it takes to get from Morgantown to the Poconos.
