She motioned to the others to sit, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement at the threshold into the room. Matty was standing there, rigid and alert. Her eyes were calculating the situation. She’d clearly come to see if Reese needed her.
She didn’t. But it was a touching gesture all the same.
With an even tone, she looked right into Seth’s eyes, letting hers soften. “You sound frustrated. That’s to be expected.”
He winced just the tiniest bit but didn’t say anything.
She continued. “Are you having any withdrawal symptoms? A headache perhaps?”
He frowned but nodded. “I’ve had one since I got here. They only gave me one fucking Tylenol. That’s not going to help.”
“Well, how about this? If you’ll sit down and allow me to give Leadership, then afterwards you and I will go see Clinton and discuss your headache? I don’t want you to be in pain if I can help it. We give each other respect. Deal?”
The fight left him like a gut punch. His shoulders drooped, his face went slack, and the fire that was in his eyes seconds ago extinguished. He just needed to be heard and given some sympathy.
He ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair. “Fine. Yeah, okay.”
“Thank you.” She waited until he sat down before beginning again. “Now, let’s start again. How many of you have children? Raise your hand.”
Well over half of them raised their hands.
She pointed to one with a bald head and a nose that reminded her of Cindy Lou Who in the Jim Carrey version ofHow the Grinch Stole Christmas. He had a yellow tag that said Tom. “Do you mind telling me how old yours is?”
He blinked a few times while his eyebrows met. It took him a moment to answer. “Uh, one is seventeen and one is, uh, eleven.”
The uncertainty in his voice told her he was just guessing and was most likely not that involved with them.
“I was around your youngest’s age when my mom started her descent. Well, that’s what I call it. My mom’s fourth husband cheated on her. I was so pissed. I really thought he wasn’t like the others. He had made her happy. Or at least that’s what I thought. As I got older, it became clearer that she was a difficult person in general to be around. Anyway, the alcohol use skyrocketed around that. When she wasn’t drunk, she was sleeping or yelling at me.
She had completely stopped working. I didn’t realize at the time what was happening. I knew we didn’t have money, but I didn’t think very far into it until I started noticing things missing around the house. Pictures disappearing, leaving just a dust ring on the wall. The bike my grandpa had gotten me just, poof, was gone while I was at school. She was selling things to pay bills and buy liquor. Eventually, she was able to get disability for her bipolar disorder, and that stopped, but money was always nonexistent.”
“I’ve done that,” a redhead called out from her right. He looked sheepishly at her. “I even sold my son's crib, and he was still using it. That was the last straw, and my ex left me.”
“How does that feel now?”
He dragged his hands over his face. “Damn awful. I’m supposed to be his daddy, you know? I’m supposed to protect him, and I didn’t. I was the one he needed protecting from. I can’t even blame her for keeping me from him. I haven’t seen him in a year.”
That prompted a few more to speak out about who in their lives was hurt by their actions. The conversation began flowing with Reese leading and prompting when needed. Pointing out things that they didn’t see from the outsider's view.
By the end of Group, there were no more looks of doubt. She had proven her competency.
Chapter eight
Chapter Eight
The smell of the steaming plate of chicken Alfredo in front of Matty made her mouth water. She couldn’t wait to dig in, but first she had to get her dinner date set up.
Pushing her plate to the side, she motioned across the table. “Would you like me to cut the steak for you and fix your potato?”
Kenny nodded, closing his eyes while letting out a little laugh. “Yes, please.”
She reached across to grab the plate, its edges warming her fingers.
One thing she had learned from her dinner dates with Kenny was that food like steak needed to be cut into small pieces, as he never learned how to cough things up. If he were to choke, he wouldn’t be able to clear his airway. He couldn’t coordinate his hands well enough to do it himself, but he was perfectly capable of feeding himself once the plate was prepared.
The steak was incredibly tender. She could have probably used a butter knife to cut it. “This steak looks great.”
“Is it pink?”
