Chapter 20
Cristie walked into the kitchen twenty minutes later with her backpack over one shoulder and her purse over the other. She was freshly showered, with her still damp hair pulled back into a French braid at the back of her head. “Well, I’m going home,” she said, smiling brightly.
“That fast? Won’t you at least stay for breakfast?”
“No, but thank you. I’ve got a long drive and I’d rather drive earlier than later.”
“Alright, but, let me make you a wrap real quick,” Avaleigh said.
“You sure you don’t want to stay an extra day or two?” Daniel asked.
Cristie shook her head. “I shouldn’t be here. He’s got a lot of healing to do, and I can’t be the reason he does it. It’s got to be about him.”
“You are right about that,” Daniel said. “He’s in the shower in the master bathroom. You don’t want to wait until he’s out to say goodbye?”
“We already did. But I want you to know how much I appreciate you both and your hospitality. How much I appreciate the trust you put in me. And I’m so thankful that I was able to help. I do think he’d have come around eventually, but sooner is better than later, right?”
“I’m not sure you’re right about that. If he’d stayed in that mindset, he might have just kept sinking. I really believe you’re the fulcrum that caused him to pull his head out of his ass,” Daniel said.
“There’s that delicate diplomacy I fell in love with,” Avaleigh said with a laugh.
Cristie laughed too. “I’m going to miss you guys.”
“We’ll miss you, too, sweetie. I hope you’ll come back real soon,” Daniel said
“That’d be real nice,” Cristie said, careful to not say she would or she wouldn’t.
Avaleigh handed her an insulated lunch tote with a frozen reusable ice pack inside.
“There are a couple of bottles of water and one of tea. There’s some nuts and granola bars, and some cheese and pepperoni, and I slipped a couple of my homemade pralines in there, too.
” Then she handed her a traditional brown paper bag.
“There’s a bacon, egg, cheese wrap in there, and here’s your coffee.
I used vanilla creamer in it,” Avaleigh said, handing her an insulated travel mug of coffee.
“Aunt Avaleigh! You’re awesome!”
“Of course. And don’t forget who your favorite aunt is,” Avaleigh said, hugging Cristie as best she could around everything she carried.
“Here, let me carry some of that,” Daniel said. “I’m going to take a quick look at your truck before you leave, too.”
“I can do that, Uncle Daniel,” Cristie said.
“Didn’t say you couldn’t. I said I’d take care of it for you,” Daniel said.
“I appreciate it. It’s parked by Kaid’s house.”
Daniel took her backpack off her shoulder, and her lunch tote, and lunch bag with her breakfast in it, leaving her with her purse and her coffee.
“Thank you again, Aunt Avaleigh,” Cristie said, as Daniel headed toward the front door.
Avaleigh cupped Cristie’s face in her hands and looked into her eyes. “No, baby. Thank you. I’ll always be grateful.”
Cristie hugged Avaleigh then hurried to follow Daniel.
“You have your phone charged?” Avaleigh called after her.
“Yes, ma’am, I do!” Cristie answered before the sound of the door let Avaleigh know she’d left the house.
Ten minutes later, Daniel was back, and taking his seat at the table once again.
“Want me to warm your breakfast for you?” Avaleigh asked.
“No, I’m good love,” Daniel said, rolling up some scrambled eggs in a slice of toast and eating them like a taco.
“That shower was wonderful,” Remi said, walking into the kitchen wearing a pair of his father’s sweat pants and one of his teeshirts.
“Isn’t it amazing, how such a little thing as a shower can bring so much, I don’t know, renewal, cleansing and I don’t mean dirt,” Daniel said.
“Yes. I thought for sure you’d all hear my sigh when I first stepped under the water,” Remi said. “And thanks for laying the clothes out, by the way. Didn’t want to walk across the house naked to get to the few things left in my room with Cristie here.”
“Good call. She was staying in your room while she was here. But, she’s gone. She left just about fifteen minutes ago, heading back to Missouri,” Avaleigh said, watching Remi closely.
Remi nodded, but didn’t seem any more affected than he had before. “Yeah, I figured she’d be going soon. She said as much after you two came in the kitchen.”
Avaleigh walked toward him from the stove, placing a plate of eggs and toast in front of him. “You know, she cares more than you realize.”
“She did once, and that’s just going to have to be enough,” Remi said.
“No, she still does. She was deeply hurt by your rejection, but she still got in her truck and drove down here without hesitation the minute she found out she might be able to help you,” Avaleigh said.
Remi looked up at his mother.
“Eat your food, it’ll get cold, and even your mother’s eggs are not that great when they’re cold,” Daniel said.
“I told you I’d warm your food up,” Avaleigh said.
“I said I didn’t need it,” Daniel said, popping the last bite of his toast and egg ‘taco’ into his mouth and grinning at her as he chewed.
Avaleigh took Daniel’s plate with her back to the stove and filled it again, then filled her own, and took them both back to the table.
She slid Daniel’s plate in front of him, and took her seat next to him.
“So, what’s next? How can we best support you while you get on your feet again? ” Avaleigh asked.
Remi chewed his food, as he thought about his mother’s question.
Finally he looked at both her and his father after he swallowed and gave a little shrug.
“If you wouldn’t mind too much, I’ll need a new place to stay.
I don’t have any money at the moment, and I’ll need to find a new job, so it might be a few weeks, but as soon as I get some income coming in again, I’ll be paying you rent until I can get another place. ”
“Sounds reasonable to me,” Daniel said. “Besides, this is always your home. You’ll always have a bed here.”
“You will want to close that account at the bank, and open another before you put any money into it,” Avaleigh said.
“Yeah, definitely,” Remi said. “I’ll take care of that right away. Closing the old one at least. I’ll open another one when I get my first check.”
“Anything else we can do?” Daniel asked.
“No, sir. The rest is on me. Like I said, I have a lot of amends to make. People I hurt, people I let down. It’s not enough to own your behavior and apologize, but it’s a start at least.” He yawned a couple of times in rapid sucession, then stretched before he went back to his food.
“Maybe get you some rest first, then decide where to start,” Daniel said.
“What I really need to do is go look for a job,” Remi said.
“I might have an idea, if it suits you,” Daniel said.
“Oh, yeah?” Remi asked.
“Those people Cristie and I found you with… they got me to thinking. They need help. There was a mother there with two little children, and something she said struck me. She said, the reason she told me where to find you is because I cared. She said she had nobody to care if she and her kids were okay or not. And as I walked around that place, I realized that was probably the case for a lot of them. So, I’ve been talking to Kaid.
We decided we’re going to do something about it.
We’re buying the land, and putting mini houses on it.
It’ll be for anybody who needs a safe place to live.
If you’ve got a drug or drinking problem, all you have to do to be able to stay there is attend one of the programs we’ll have active in one of the warehouses.
It came with the land and isn’t in bad shape so we decided to keep it and make use of it.
We’ll hire counselors to work there. We’ll split the property into an area for families and kids, and another for people who are struggling like you did.
I just don’t think it’s a good idea for little bitty kids to see all the addiction, so we’re going to keep it separate.
But there is nobody we’ll turn away. If they need more help than we can provide, we’ll find another place that can offer it. ”
“That’s amazing, Dad.”
“If it wasn’t for you losing yourself, I’d have never known they were there. They need help, we can help.”
“I’m glad something good came out of it,” Remi said.
“It’s going to need someone to be there, to oversee the houses as they get built and placed according to our plans.
Someone to oversee all stages of the community.
We’re in the process of applying for permits from the parish now.
It shouldn’t take more than a couple of months to start accepting the first people that want help.
With just me, Kaid, Maverik, Bane and Bam, we can build three tiny houses a day, electricity and water included in that.
We’ll build more as they’re needed. Hopefully, we can help people get back on their feet and find jobs, eventually they can move on.
I was wondering if you’d be interested in helping us oversee this project.
You know some of them. They might be more open to accepting help if you offer it.
And it pays. It could be the job you’re looking for. ”
“It sounds perfect. I’d really like to help people. I know how fast you can slip and not even realize it until you’re at the bottom.”
“Great. You’re hired,” Daniel said.
“Don’t you need to clear it with Kaid?” Remi asked.
“No. It’s my idea, Kaid is funding it, but I’m running it. Everybody is helping because they want to.”
“I’m in,” Remi said, gratefully.
“Good. Eat and get you some rest. You start tomorrow morning.”
Remi sat, his mind wandering instead of eating.
“Remi, are you alright?” Avaleigh asked.
“Yeah. Just thinking about Cristie driving all the way home alone.”
“Are you sure you’re alright with Cristie leaving?” Avaleigh asked.