Chapter 15
Fai
My body ached as I stretched under the warm water, letting the shower work through yesterday's stiffness.
The hike had been harder than I had let on, and every muscle was happy to remind me of that this morning.
It had been worth it, though. It had given Gabriel and me a chance to start finding our footing with each other.
I had never been the best at making friends, choosing to self-isolate the majority of my life.
I don’t think I had ever made a real friend on my own.
Every person I called a friend had all but forced themselves into my life.
Sarah befriended every person she met, Jackie and Oliver could make friends with a broomstick, and Goldie forced her way into my life and refused to leave.
Connecting with Gabriel was a challenge I hadn’t been expecting, but our hike proved it wasn’t impossible.
While the majority of what we discussed was surface level, we had a few moments to dive into the nitty gritty of each other’s past. It would take years to fully catch up, but I was feeling hopeful we could do it.
I turned off the shower, drying off my sore muscles before pulling on my clothes for the day and praying to God Gabriel would give me a day to recover physically before suggesting any more hikes.
I thought a trip into town could be a good compromise if he wanted to get out of the cabin.
For a man who isolated himself in these mountains, he seemed itchy to get out.
He had offered hikes, drives around the property, sightseeing, and a two-hour drive into a bigger town to try some restaurant he was obsessed with. While I was grateful for the suggestions, I was here to get to know him, not galavant around the state.
With my hair still wet, I wandered out of the bathroom and toward the living room where I assumed Sarah was.
I had woken up alone, her side cold. When we were married, she woke up before me most days, but often didn’t leave.
Well, she would go make a coffee and bring it back to bed and wait while I slept.
Most mornings I woke up to her reading over patient files or a new book, an empty mug on the nightstand and a smile on her face.
Waking up today, to her side empty, was a good reminder that she wasn’t mine anymore. She had found someone new.
It was only a matter of time, but it still hurt like a bitch.
I looked around the empty living room, confused.
There was evidence of people, a brewed pot of coffee in the kitchen, a few dishes in the sink, and the fireplace roaring.
It was the sound of laughter drifting through the closed windows and doors that led my eyes to her.
She was sitting on the back porch, a blanket wrapped around her as she and Gabriel laughed.
I was grateful she was giving him a chance.
I moved to join them when the phone in the living room began ringing. I contemplated calling for Gabriel, but I didn’t want to interrupt their conversation, hoping he could make Sarah see who he truly was.
I picked up the phone and settled into one of the living room chairs. "Hello?"
It was quiet for a moment before a familiar voice spoke. “Fai? Is that you?”
She sounded genuinely confused, as though she hadn't been the one to dial. "Jackie?"
“Yeah…” She trailed off, her tone growing suspicious and more reserved. The usual tone she took with me these days. “You’re with Sarah?”
“Yeah, she actually came with me. Did she not tell you?” I asked.
“That liar,” Jackie mumbled under her breath. “You’re telling me she isn’t at a work conference in Montana?”
“Nope. Well, we are in Montana, but not at a work conference,” I explained, trying to keep my voice light.
Jackie James was a lot of things. Firecracker was near the top of the list. She had a way of lighting up a room that was nearly impossible to resist, and a temper that ran hot and fast before burning itself out.
She would come back around, usually with an apology and a clearer explanation of what she had actually meant, but you had to be ready for the unfiltered version first, especially when she was angry.
“Why in the world is she in Montana with you?” she asked angrily.
I chose to ignore the venom in her tone. It was better for both of us. I also chose to do something out of character when it came to my recent behavior with Jackie. I told her the truth.
“Sarah came with me because we’re meeting my brother. My brother who wrote to me after our mom died. So… yeah. She came as emotional support.”
Silence. Not even the sound of breathing.
“You have a brother?” she asked quietly.
“Apparently,” I mused. "Younger than you, which is still throwing me. You called me your pseudo dad for long enough that I think I developed a complex."
She laughed. Quietly, briefly, but it was real. "Why did you need my emotional-support-Sarah for that?"
“I’m so calling her that now,” I teased, but I did answer. “I’m still freshly sober, and I was worried. I’m trying to be smart this time around, and coming alone didn’t feel smart. Sarah was really the only one who could come with me—”
“You couldn’t take Goldie. I think this place would fall apart if one of you wasn’t here to keep Oliver and me in line,” she interrupted, but somehow knew what I was going to say anyway. “How long? Have you been sober, I mean?”
I swallowed and stood, moving to pace off the nervous energy. "Seven months now. What are you at?"
“Nine years,” she answered proudly. And damn, should she be proud.
I had spent enough of my adult life in and around this addiction to know how rare that was.
I had known people who never stopped drinking, some still in the same bars they had always haunted, others behind a different kind of bars, and more than I cared to count who were no longer here at all.
I had also known plenty who were working at it, fighting for it day by day.
Jackie was one of the few who had gotten sober and simply never looked back.
She was stubborn to her core, and that stubbornness had served her better than almost anything else.
“Want to know the most wild part?” She mused, “It’s been almost a decade, and it’s still really hard.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “You’re telling me. I’m proud of you, I really am.”
Silence settled between us, and even with the distance, I could hear her turning something over. "You did a lot to help, Fai. You took me in, helped me get sober that first time, and kept me on track those first few years."
“No, I didn’t do anything, Jackie. It was all you. It was always you,” I argued, not wanting her to discount her own accomplishments.
“Yeah, I put in the work, but you did a lot.” Her voice raised slightly to punctuate her point. “Do you remember when I was sobering up, you took me to that hospital?”
I sighed, leaning against the bookshelf as I ran my free hand through my hair. Even thinking back to that day was painful.
Nine Years Ago
She had almost died, at least it felt that way. I shouldn’t have cared as much as I did. I had only met her a couple days prior, but I had spent those days glued to her side.
I barely even knew her. Jackie. That’s what she had given me when I picked her up on the side of the road last Thursday.
She was asleep on a bus bench in the pouring rain.
She was too young and too vulnerable to be in that position.
I watched as many cars passed her by, paying her no mind. But I couldn’t.
“Ma’am?” I called through the rain as I crossed the street to where she was laying. She was out cold, the rain not bothering her sleep, the drops rolling down her pale skin. “Miss?” I shook her shoulder, her eyes opening slowly.
I was met with bloodshot, golden brown eyes.
“Hello?” she slurred as she sat up.
“Are you okay?” I asked again.
She took a moment as she focused on me, and I smelled it on her immediately. She reeked of alcohol, vodka to be specific. “Yeah… yeah, I’m fine.”
I gave her an incredulous look. “No, you’re not.”
Even drunk off her ass, she threw me a glare. “I was perfectly fine until you woke me up. I don’t even know you.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her arguing. I pulled her to standing, wrapping my arm around her waist to keep her upright. “My name is Fai. What’s yours?”
“Fai?” she slurred. “Isn’t that a girl’s name?”
“Sometimes. It’s short for Faizal.”
She hummed and said my name a few more times, as if she were taking it for a test ride.
“It’ll work,” she finally accepted.
I chuckled again and walked us towards my truck. “What’s your name?”
“Ophelia Jaqueline James.” She said the words as if she were on a stage performing a play, even had an accent to go with it.
“Very… regal,” I mused as we got to the truck and I fished my keys out of my pocket with my free hand and unlocked the passenger door.
She giggled. “It’s stupid, that’s what it is. I’m Jackie.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jackie,” I greeted.
She, of course, saluted me and collapsed into the passenger seat. I had assumed Sarah would yell at me for bringing her home, but it was the only safe place I could think of.
Instead, Sarah helped me get her settled into the guest room, where Jackie slept for the next several hours.
I hadn’t realized she had a drinking problem. Not yet. I assumed it was a night out gone wrong and knew it wasn’t safe for her alone on the streets. Hell, I had practically kidnapped her. But I couldn’t leave her in the rain alone.
I assumed she would sober up and leave the next day. Instead, I found her rifling through the kitchen cabinets looking for a drink. That’s when she learned, and was very unhappy about, our alcohol-free house.