Chapter 76 Cord
Cord
Cord considered flying to Greece. He almost returned to New York. But he was frozen, stuck in Savannah. Do the next right thing, they said in the rooms, yet another insipid and lifesaving AA platitude. He woke up, drank coffee, read the Big Book, went to meetings, slept in his mother’s bed.
Hello, Step One, my old friend. I’m here to work through you again!
Cord stayed sober. At the Palmetto Shores gym, he lifted and did cardio. The only people he shared his new phone number with were Regan and Giovanni, who texted him to fuck off, which seemed fair. Giovanni added, Not trying to be mean, but I honestly need a break from this.
I love you and I understand completely, Cord responded.
He emailed NYC Ventures that he was on an extended mental health break, and Jacobey responded, “Take care, man,” cc’ing HR.
With the help of a Reddit hacker forum, he removed the Sweethearts app from his phone, then deleted Instagram, the New York Times app, Apple News, Facebook, Snapchat, Bluesky, and Twitter.
Cord met Miguel at Sandfly Coffee, paying for lattes and commiserating with the kid about growing up gay in suburban Savannah. As Cord had been at his age, Miguel was tough, capable, and worried he’d end up alone. He needed nothing from Cord but company.
The strangest development was Cord’s text relationship with Regan.
He should have been texting a sponsor when he wanted to drink, but instead he sent notes and emojis to his sister.
He sent a fire emoji when he lingered at Publix, dangerously close to putting his hand on the elegant neck of a bottle of wine.
She texted back a heart-hands emoji, and this helped him keep walking toward the bakery, where he bought a glazed donut or three.
He sometimes ate one before he reached the register, but he “kept his side of the street clean,” fessing up and paying the forty-five cents.
For her part, Regan would text Cord a broken-heart emoji when she wanted to contact her scam lover, Francois. Cord would text back heart-hands. Did it help her resist? Cord believed it did.