Page 191 of Contentious

Ty opened the page and gasped at the video of a person riding a thirty-foot wave. “Holy cow.”

“You’ve got to be really, really experienced to try something like that. I’ve been surfing all my life, and I’d never go near a wave like that.”

Ty clicked on another link that showed a man surfing with a child on his back, transitioning to the child standing in front of him as they rode the wave. “That looks sick. Can we do that?”

“Sure, we can try, but we have to wait until I’ve recovered enough to pick you up.”

“How long will that take?”

“I wish I knew, buddy. It’ll take the time it takes.”

“That’s such an adult answer.”

“Haha, shockingly, we don’t know everything.”

“Can I ask you something else?”

“Anything you want.”

“The stuff my dad said about you…”

Carson winced but wasn’t surprised that Ty had questions.

“What did he mean?”

“He found out that I’m a recovering drug addict. Do you know what that means?”

“You took medicine that you shouldn’t have?”

“Right, and I got addicted, which means I wanted more all the time, and I did some bad things to get drugs. I’m not proud of that time in my life, but I’ve accepted that addiction is an illness and worked hard to get better. I’ve been clean for more than eleven years, and even though recovery was the toughest thing I’ve ever done, it was also the best thing. I met a lot of great friends who are also working hard to stay clean, and I’ve helped a lot of people who needed it like I once did.”

“It’s nice of you to help them.”

“People helped me when I was at my lowest point. That’s how we pay it forward. Do you know what that means?”

Ty shook his head.

“It’s when someone helps you, and you return the favor by helping someone else who needs it. I’m very active in the recovery community, which is made up of other people who’ve suffered from addiction to drugs or alcohol.”

“If addiction is an illness, why did my dad make it sound like you did something bad?”

“Because,” Carson said with a sigh, “when you’re addicted, you do whatever it takes to get more drugs, and sometimes you do bad things like steal.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I want you to feel free to ask me any questions you have about this at any time. There’re no bad questions, and it’s important that if you don’t remember a single other thing I ever tell you, remember this—don’t ever, ever, ever fool around with drugs. Nothing good comes from that.”

“Thank you for explaining it to me.”

“Thanks for listening.”

“I’m going to go play with my toys now.”

“Sounds good. I’ll check on you in a bit.”

“Okay.” He took off at a run while Carson released a deep breath, hoping he’d done and said the right things.

Cresley took Ty’s place on the sofa and reached for him.