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Lisa was sitting on the sofa, arms spread wide, smiling at me. She was causing me way too much trouble. This was supposed to be a simple drop-off. Not a babysitting trip.
She jumped up and clapped her hands together. “Ready?”
I sighed and grabbed my keys off the table. One more day. I would give her one more day. If she didn’t go to the rehab center tonight, I would leave her here. She had been enough of an interruption. Missing the meeting was bad enough, I couldn’t miss the wedding.
Not to mention I missed Joseph. I tried to never be away from him for too long. At times when it was unavoidable, we texted all day long. He filled me in on how well his swimming was coming along and how much he loved Ava’s family.
Lisa grabbed my hand and pulled me outside. I yanked my hand away. This wasn’t some fun family outing.
I clicked open my car to drive her to the heart of the city to a restaurant. She took my keys and locked the car, then walked right past it. I shouldn’t have been surprised that she already had a place in mind. It would be someplace that took forever and would potentially stall her going to the rehab until tomorrow.
No one paid attention to us as we walked. She appeared to be a normal older woman walking with her friend or son. At my request, she wore long sleeves to cover her tattoo and track marks. Her face was still pockmarked, but she had enough makeup to cover that up. The only thing she couldn’t fix were her teeth. They were broken, brown, and barely stayed in her face. If she completed rehab, I would get her into a good dentist.
She turned a corner and kept walking with determination in her step. How did she know where she was going? I had assumed she looked up close restaurants, but we had been walking for a few minutes. Fuck, was I allowing her to go to a drug deal?
“Where are we going?” I grabbed her arm and spun her around.
“Relax, Tristan, it’s a surprise.” She grabbed my other hand and looked into my eyes.
Her daughter had the same eyes. Big brown eyes as dark as the demons hiding inside them. When I first met Ashley, I had drowned in those eyes. I fell hard for her. Believed everything she told me. Even when she said she didn’t need help, I listened. She got worse, and I didn’t force her to get help.
Now, her mother was looking at me with those same eyes. I couldn’t save Ashley, maybe I could save Lisa. “No, we are not going to some drug deal. You are getting the help you need. I will toss you over my shoulder if I have to.”
“Oh, stop. We aren’t going for drugs. I promise after this, you can take me to the rehab as long as you promise me something.” Lisa kept a hold of me.
“What?” Her games were getting old.
“You call me daily. Visit me every week. And once I”m clean, I get to meet my grandson.” Tears swelled in her eyes.
“I call twice a week and visit twice a month. Before you meet Joseph, you need to be clean for six months with no blocker medication. Nothing.” I wagged my finger at her.
“Deal, now let’s go. You are gonna love this surprise.” Lisa turned and skipped down the street.
I had no intention of keeping the deal. There was no way she would be able to stay clean. She spent more than half her life high, she wasn’t going to change now.
Lisa took a left, and a huge stadium stood in the distance. It was home to the Carolina Sharks.They were currently ranked number two in the professional baseball league. I took Joesph to a game last year. He just kept asking to drive to the beach for a swim.
Lisa did a little jig and waved both of her arms at the stadium. What was she doing?
“I’ve seen this place before,” I sighed.
“Well then, let’s go watch a game.” She linked her arm in mine.
“Lisa, we can’t just walk in. You need tickets.” I looked at my watch. “The ticket office is closed and we aren’t gonna pay a scalper two times the price of what a normal ticket would be.”
“It’s a good thing I’m Lisa Moore of Moore Tech. You know who provides the tech for all the security cameras and the jumbo screen?” She closed-mouth smiled.
“Moore Tech.” I knew the answer, but how did she?
“Exactly. Of course, I didn’t know that until I called. The manager was honored to give me two tickets on the first baseline.” She skipped toward the entrance.
“When did you call?” I asked.
“While you were crying on the phone about buying land.” She walked over to a security guard. “Lisa Moore.”
“Ma’am, right this way. He escorted us inside and directly to our seats.
A minute later, a server came over to take our drink order. Lisa ordered us both sodas. I tried to protest, but she made a good point. If I was drunk, I couldn’t drive her to the rehab center.
