The memory was too fuzzy for me to see through it, so I couldn’t remember if the day had ended with a dairy overdose.It was doubtful, though, since the man had never deigned to acknowledge me unless he was cussing me, but it felt fitting to me that as I came to inquire about NA meetings at the community center, a memory of Noah Lee would creep up.
His love—or more precisely, the lack of it—was the catalyst to my addiction, and the original reason I needed meetings in the first place.
“How can I help you?”a man asked, and I shook the memory away as I focused on his face.He wasn’t familiar.
“Yeah.”I cleared my throat.“I heard y’all hold meetings here?”
“We do,” he said.“What kind of meetings are you looking for?We have all kinds of meetings here.”
The knowing look in the man’s shrewd eyes told me he’d taken one look at me and knew exactly what I was asking, but he wasn’t about to let me off the hook.
“NA or AA.”
He nodded.“Come with me,” he said, and he turned and didn’t wait for me to follow him to an office.
I shut the door quietly behind me when I entered, and he sat behind a big mahogany desk.He pulled open a drawer and took out a piece of paper.
“The meeting times are listed here.They don’t change often, but if there’s ever a scheduling issue or we have bad weather, you can find updates on our website.The address is there.”He set the paper on the desk, pushed it in my direction, and pointed to a blur of print at the bottom.
“Thanks,” I said, grabbing the paper.I folded it and shoved it in my back pocket.
“Right now, we only offer AA meetings.We had a guy who ran the NA meetings, but he and his wife recently moved, so until we find someone else, you’re welcome at AA.The meetings aren’t formal, and there’s usually crossover anyway.”
“It’s cool,” I said.“An addict’s an addict, and I’m no stranger to alcohol.”
“Me either,” he said.“I’m Theo by the way.Are you new in town?”
Reaching across the desk, I shook his hand.“Dixon.Technically, yeah, I guess I am.I grew up here, but I’ve been away a long time.”
“Welcome home, Dixon.”
“Thanks.”
“There’s a meeting tomorrow morning if you’re interested.”
“I’ll be here,” I said, thinking that, after facing the rest of my family, a meeting would be more than necessary.
ChapterFour
Avery Jane
“Was thathimagain?”Gran asked after I hit Deny Call on my phone and tucked it back beneath the counter.
Shrugging but not looking at her, I said, “Don’t know.I’ve blocked him, but he gets a new number and then it just shows up on my screen like any other local number.”
“You haven’t talked to him though?Lately, I mean.”
“No, Gran.I haven’t spoken to Cody in weeks, thankfully, and I don’t plan to, but I can’t help it if he finds ways to get through.”
The truth made my heart drop into the empty pit of my stomach and my knees weak with unease.
Cody Mahone had found countless ways to contact me even though I’d asked and screamed and then demanded that he stop.He worked on the ranch his family owned east of Jackson, so he was always too close for my comfort, and that fact was never far from my mind.
A month ago, when he showed up at my little cottage behind Gran’s house with my least favorite food, escargot, if you could even call it “food,” from a French bistro in Jackson and a bottle of expensive merlot, I called the Sheriff.She’d come out quickly, but Cody dropped the food and wine and ran when I yelled through my locked and deadbolted door that she was on her way.The purple stain left on my porch was a daily reminder to keep my eyes open for the asshole.
I’d given two years of my life to that man, but when I told him I was leaving him because he couldn’t bother to engage in our relationship,thenhe decided to be obsessed with me?
What even was that?
