Chapter 7 #2
Kelly was in her late thirties and was the longest employee the diner had.
Ranger didn’t know how long she’d worked here, but rumor had it, it had been since high school.
And it never failed that she showed up with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.
She knew every resident in town’s favorite dessert, plus their usual orders.
Her apron pocket was full of stickers and other goodies for kids, and she currently held the longest employee record of days since breaking a dish.
“Ranger.” She smiled in greeting as she handed over menus. “Mr. Cross. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that you were trying to avoid me with the way you two rushed back here.”
Ranger gave her a sheepish expression. “Sorry about that.”
Outside of the club, Cross was the only person who knew about Ranger’s addiction.
He didn’t include those who attended the meetings with him because they were in the same, or similar, boat as he was.
The word ‘anonymous’ was in the title for a reason, and Ranger rarely attended open meetings.
Cross and Ranger had been in the diner together before, but Kelly did not know who he was outside of a friend of Ranger’s.
“My girl, I would never avoid seeing you. How else would we get you to come back here and spend these extra few minutes with us?” Cross asked her smoothly.
Kelly gave him a playfully reproachful look. “You flirt.” For barely a second, a sad glint entered her eyes as she glanced between the two open chairs on either side of Cross and Ranger. “Will anyone else be joining you?”
“Not today, my dear,” Cross replied jovially.
Kelly nodded once, but it took her another second to smile again. Without pulling out an order pad, she asked Cross, “Vanilla sweet cream cold brew? Or did you enjoy the brown sugar espresso so much that you want to try that again?”
“Your memory never ceases to amaze me, my girl. I’ll take the cold brew, though. I have a meeting this afternoon, and while I need to be awake for it, I also would like to sleep tonight so no more espresso for me after lunch.”
Kelly giggled. “I completely understand that logic. Anything else?”
“Apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream,” Cross ordered. “Oh, and can you add some chocolate and caramel drizzle on there for me?”
“For you, absolutely,” Kelly said with a wink. Turning to Ranger, she asked, “Black coffee and loaded fries?”
“Please,” Ranger answered without even looking at the menu.
“Tally will be so pleased her culinary skills are not being wasted on you,” Kelly quipped as she accepted back the unneeded menus.
Shit. If Scar thought Tally was unhappy with Ranger’s order, the man would come out here and beat Ranger’s ass. There was no doubt he was skulking around here. While he didn’t work at the diner, he was always present if Tally was.
“Shit,” Ranger repeated out loud. “Um, switch mine to whatever Tally thinks I should be eating for lunch.”
Kelly smiled at him, not even bothering to hide her manipulation. “She’ll be thrilled you put such faith in her. Be back soon with your coffees.”
If Cross thought the exchange was strange, he did not comment. Instead, he asked again, “What’s on your mind, Ranger?”
Ranger resisted the urge to make a childish face at his sponsor, who was proving not as easily distracted as Ranger had hoped in their relationship. “How… How do you tell someone you’re in recovery?”
Cross lifted a bushy white eyebrow. “A romantic someone?”
Hating that he felt like he was back in high school confessing to having feelings for a girl, Ranger nodded.
“I met her last night. We…hit it off really well,” he amended, not wanting to confess all his dirty secrets to his sponsor.
“But I want to ask her out properly, and I don’t want to blindside her with this or be accused of lying to her.
She means something to me, and I don’t know what that looks like yet, but I can’t hide this from her.
I won’t. But I also don’t know how to…confess something like this. ”
Cross studied Ranger for so long in silence that Kelly came and went with their coffees.
Cross reached for his drink. “The spirit of the one-year rule exists for a reason, but I’ve seen people successfully navigate relationships in early recovery when they go in with their eyes wide open.
And you’re smart to want to be up front with her, especially if you think that this person could become important to you.
The relationships we cultivate can’t be as meaningless as they once were.
The people you allow in your life now have the power to help you in your recovery—or help you fail. What do you know about this woman?”
“Not much,” Ranger begrudgingly confessed. “But I want to know more.”
Cross took a sip of his iced coffee. “Here’s what I tell all my sponsees who are looking to bring someone new into their lives, friend or otherwise.
Imagine you are locked in a room with this person and there’s a single table in the center of the room.
In your case, a syringe of heroin is sitting on that table.
Would this person help you stay sober or watch you relapse? ”
Ranger frowned at the mental image that question sparked, his hands tightening on his coffee mug. “I don’t know her very well yet, but she’s a good person. I believe she would help me keep my sobriety.”
“Even good people with good intentions can have negative effects,” Cross warned. “But,” he added brightly, “I am happy for you, and I don’t want to discourage you. I simply want you going into this with your eyes open. This will not be like any other relationship you’ve had in your past.”
Thoughts of Cameron dancing in his head, Ranger muttered, “God, I hope not.”
Cross let out a quick chuckle. “As for how to tell her, there’s a couple of different ways.
You can choose to do so alone, or if she knows your sister and Ghost, maybe invite her over to their house so they can help you navigate the conversation.
If you prefer, you can also bring her here and I can be present.
Regardless of what you choose, in my experience, blunt honesty is your best bet.
Don’t sugar coat it. Allow her time to process.
Even offer for her to attend an open meeting with you or give her information on Al-Anon.
She needs to understand that your sobriety is not a joke or something to be taken lightly.
This is your life, and if she chooses to be a part of it, there will be rules. ”
Ranger rubbed his forehead. “More rules,” he grumbled. “You know, I had to leave her because of my fucking curfew. Thirty-four years old and I have a fucking curfew like I’m a child. Why the hell would she even want to be with me?”
The quick, sharp slap up the backside of his head had enough force that it sent Ranger’s face flying forward, nearly hitting his coffee mug.
He had to throw his hands on the table to right himself.
Not even waiting for Ranger’s response, Scar walked off to whatever shadow he’d come from while eavesdropping on the diner patrons.
Cross blinked, his eyebrows shooting up into his hair. But he must have pieced together quickly that Scar was with the club, likely from the man’s cut, because he simply picked up his coffee and took a sip. “What he said.”
Ranger let out a long groan while rubbing the back of his head. Of course the only time, other than with Tally, that Scar got over his touch sensitivity was when he was choosing violence.
* * *
Past experience told Toni that if one of her parents relapsed, the other wasn’t far behind.
She’d attended meetings with them in the past, heard shares of how couples who were both addicts helped the other keep their sobriety.
Even when one stumbled, the other helped them get back up.
She remembered wishing her parents were more like that.
While she believed that they took their sobriety seriously, she also believed that when one started to fall, the other took it as a sign that they could, too.
After Jumper, who was married to Jasmine, came to retrieve his keys, the two women left, both stating that they needed to start getting ready to go to work.
That was when Toni realized that she hadn’t made any effort to call work or tell anyone beyond Susie that she was alive.
Thankfully, she knew from reviewing her schedule for today before she left her office yesterday that she’d meant to spend the morning doing case work at her desk, with one witness call scheduled before lunch, and then the occasional client call that afternoon. For her, it was a fairly light day.
From her now-charged phone she was able to contact her secretary to let Gwen know she wasn’t feeling well and would be working from home that day, and asked her to reschedule her witness call to that afternoon.
Unfortunately, she had no idea how she was making any of her work calls that day yet, because her briefcase was still at her house.
It hadn’t even crossed her mind the night before to take it with her.
She also didn’t have her car, which she felt was the starting catalyst to all the weirdness currently bombarding her perfectly curated schedule.
She had no idea how she was going to get back to her house to get her briefcase.
Calling Ranger for a ride seemed…awkward, and she wasn’t sure if she had the guts to face him in the daylight.