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“So, tell me why we’re here.”
“You know why we’re here.”
“You didn’t say explicitly.”
“I’ve been thinking about drinking.”
“Just thinking?”
My brain blanks for a moment. I had a monologue prepared about how I’d been thinking about having a drink. How I’d gone to the store and bought a bottle of Macallan 18 but I hadn’t drunk it.
I clear my throat. “It’s consuming my thoughts.”
“But you haven’t drunk anything. This is good. It’s smart that you’re getting in front of this.” His voice is even, not giving anything away and a part of me deep in the crevices of my mind believes that Tuck knows the truth.
Cassie returns with our mugs and the putrid liquid they call coffee. I watch as she pours both of our cups before retreating without another glance at me. My eyes follow her away from the table and then back to Tuck still not convinced about his story. “I have to come clean about what I did.”
“And that is why you’re thinking about alcohol?”
I nod. There was some truth to it. The idea of throwing myself at the mercy of our ethics board has me wanting to drain the contents of every bottle in a two-mile radius.He just didn’t know that I’d already started.“Charlotte doesn’t know.”
“Doesn’t know…”
“About my past with alcohol.”
“You mean that you let things get so out of control?”
“Yes.”
“Almost ruined your future?”
“Yes.”
“Almost killed yourself?”
I grit my teeth. “You’re not helping.”
“Frankly, neither are you.” He leans forward, taking a sip of his coffee and not even making a face as it slides down his throat.
His words are like an electric shock to my insides. “I’m afraid to tell her.”
“Because of her stepfather?”
“How do you—“
He cocks his head at me. “Come on now, you weren’t giving me any information. I wanted to see who had my boy so smitten.” My heart thuds in my chest as I think about how differently he phrases things in comparison to my own father. Tuck truly was the father I wanted.The one I needed.
“I don’t know how she’ll take it.”
“What are you afraid of?”
“That she’ll leave me.”
“For being honest with her?”
“For lying to her.”
“What have you lied about? You have a past with alcohol. Why would she leave you over that?” He steeples his hands under his chin and gives me a look that saysunless there’s something you’re not telling me.
