He motioned to a loveseat in the corner opposite his mechanical hospital bed, so I sat and clasped my hands together over my knees.Talking to men older than me had never been comfortable.Noah Lee had ruined it for me.And besides my brothers, I’d never really known any other men well enough to care.But it seemed like Callum wanted to connect, and I knew my discomfort was something I should probably try to work through for Stu’s sake.
“Yes, sir.She is special.”
“You know her well?”
“I used to.We grew up together, but I’ve been gone a long time, so I guess we’re gettin’ to know each other again as adults.”
“She comes here once or twice a week,” he said.“I’m only here temporarily.In fact, I’m set to go home next week, but there are a lot of folks who live here and will die here.Avery’s visits are a breath of fresh air.I have family who visit when they can, but not everyone is so lucky.”
“I understand.She brightens my days too.”
“Stella, the woman you just met, she tells me when Avery was datin’ that fella from over east of Jackson, he didn’t like her visitin’.She stopped comin’ for a while there.You’re not gonna be another one who tries to dull her shine, now are ya?”
“Oh, no sir,” I said with a chuckle.“I wouldn’t dare.”I couldn’t live with myself if I did.
“That’s good then,” he said, and he pulled a photo album from his bedside drawer.“Here it is.I have hundreds of pictures on my cell phone, but my wife made this album for me before she passed, so I like to keep it close.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you.”
He sat next to me on the couch slowly.It looked like sitting was still painful after his hip injury, but other than that, AJ was right.I never would’ve known he was experiencing pain.
“Gotta take it slow these days.The doctors want me to use pain medication, but I won’t do it.”
“Why not?It helps.”
“Sure it does, but that stuff lulls you into a false sense of wellbeing, and the next thing you know, you’re on your ass with another broken hip.Besides—” He flipped open the album, but then looked up at me, and there was a lifetime of wisdom in his eyes.“Stuff is dangerous.I have a feelin’ you know a little about that?”
Breath rushed out of me, and he nodded.“I thought so.”
“Yes, sir.I’m an addict.I’ve been in recovery more than four years now, but I’m still an addict.”
“My son went through it after he broke his leg skiing.That’s how I knew.He’s in recovery, too, and somehow you remind me of him.”
“And your son, he’s…”
“He’s sober and healthy, raisin’ his family over in Boise.Here he is.”Callum thumbed over a couple pages, then landed on one with a big eight-by-ten printed photograph stuck inside a thin, plastic jacket.He pointed to a middle-aged man who looked a little like him in the eyes and the shape of his jaw.“That’s my son, August.My wife always called him Auggie.And that woman there is his wife, Dina, and those are my grandsons, Griffin and Chase.”His finger lingered over the image of two boys maybe two years apart in age but almost identical, with black hair and brown eyes.“Those boys wouldn’t exist without NA and all the recoverin’ addicts Auggie met in the program.I’m grateful to men like you.”
“You are?”
“Sure.If it weren’t for you, my son wouldn’t have had anyone to turn to when he needed help and guidance.”
“Wow.I guess I never really thought about it like that.”
“Yeah.So, who helped you?”
“A lot of people.Avery Jane doesn’t know it, but she helped me.My brother, my friend Nesty, and a guy named Mo in California.He made a big impression on me.He showed me that sober life probably wouldn’t be a perfect life, but that it was worth fightin’ for all the same.And he encouraged me to connect with my family again when I was ready.It took me a few years, but I finally got there.”
“And your son?”
“Oh,” I breathed.“He’s… perfect.He’s funny and lovin’ and now that I can see him and hear his voice?Nothin’ in this world can compete.Not drugs, not alcohol, not anything.”
“Good,” Callum said.“Never forget that.You got a picture?”
“No, I don’t.All I’ve got is this.”I pulled the tattered piece of Stuart’s baby blanket from my pocket and held it in front of me like a photo.It had been that important to me, and when I looked at it in the darkest parts of my sobriety, I had imagined Stu’s face so many times.
“Well here,” Callum said.“Give me your phone.”He held his hand out till I dropped my cell into it, then he clicked it on and tapped around on the screen for a minute.And when he handed it back, Stu’s face smiled out at me from a family picture on the Spitfire Ranch at Lee Valley website.
