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“And Margo was the one to help you?” Drake stated. It all made sense now.
“Well, she had the unlucky privilege to be the doctor in the ER that night and then lectured me for the next twenty-four hours about what I was doing to my body. She drove me to my first AA meeting, and it was tough at first. You know my friends were all in that party lifestyle, and the clean version of me was a downer to them. I slipped up a few times, and Margo was a sponsor of sorts. She said she wouldn’t tell you or our parents on one condition. I had to check myself into rehab and agree to see a therapist. That was the summer before law school.”
“You let me think you were sleeping with Margo instead of telling me you needed help? The last time we spoke, I called to ask you why you were seeing her.” Drake took a deep breath, and he watched anger, annoyance, and regret wash through his brother’s eyes.
“It was a dick move, and I owe you an apology. I probably owe you at least a dozen more for all my stunts over the years. My therapist calls it displaced blame. Taking out my demons on you is a shit excuse, but it’s the only one I have. But the fact that you could think I would sleep with your ex-girlfriend or she would sleep with me was idiotic on your part.”
Drake put his hand on his brother’s shoulder, unsure if he would push him away, but he needed to bridge this space between them.
“No, you’re right. I shouldn’t have assumed either of you would do that to me, and I’m sorry I made this about me. I’m sorry you didn’t feel like you could come to me,” Drake admitted.
“I wasn’t ready to talk about any of it. It’s like I needed time to be pissed at the world and destructive. And just bad.”
“You’re not bad, just difficult sometimes.” They both laughed. “Did Mom know you were sick?”
“She isn’t an idiot, but she never asked me directly. She likes to live in her nonconfrontational world and not look at the cracks too much.”
“You may want to at least let her know you’re not here as a patient anymore. She made it sound like you were on a day trip, like maybe she thinks you still need to get your act together.”
Ian laughed and shook his head. “I guess I can’t blame her for not being sure.”
“So, if you’re not here for yourself, why are you here?” Drake asked.
“In my work as a public defender for juveniles, I refer a lot of the kids to rehab. You know most kids don’t want to be criminals. Something else in life has pushed them into acting out or desperation. Then they end up exposed to alcohol and drugs. Volunteering here gives me a chance to check-in on previous clients. When I sit in on sessions and remember how dark things can get.”
“Margo knew all about this?” Drake asked.
“Not all my drama, but she had a front-row seat to me getting my act together. You can’t be mad at her. Doctor-patient privilege. Sponsors are sworn to secrecy. I put her in a bad position. But I honestly never thought it would come up. Neither of us ever expected you to come back home. Also, I thought you two were done?”
“So did I.”
*
After talking to his brother, it was clear Margo was the reason he was restless in LA, and she was the reason he was considering this move back to Virginia. He needed to know if they’d made a mistake all those years ago. Even now, were they both just blaming the other and afraid to try again? The only way to figure it out was to spend as much time with Margo as possible.
He’d discovered she’d channeled her love for the holidays into volunteering for lots of events at the hospital. So he logged into the hospital’s virtual bulletin board and signed up for all the same events. The first one was tonight, pine cone art in the children’s oncology department.
Now he had the perfect excuse to be wherever Margo was.
After grabbing two candy cane lattes, Drake arrived at the hospital children’s event, which was packed with dozens of kids with their families and numerous nurses and doctors still in their uniforms. He spotted Margo’s dark braid and was happy to see she’d also changed into jeans and a bright red Christmas sweater. Maybe he could convince her to get a bite to eat with him later.
Before he could deliver her a coffee, another resident spotted him and was batting her eyes, asking if he wanted to join her table.
“Actually, I’ve already got an assignment, but thanks.”
He caught Margo watching him and smiled broadly at her, but her lips remained in a tight line.
Setting one of the cups on the table in front of her, he leaned down to speak in her ear. “A peace offering.”
He stood and walked around the other side so he could face Margo and survey the table full of glitter, glue, pine cones, and several young faces.
“Hi, team. I think this is my seat?” Drake said.
The kids nodded.
“Are you sure you’re in the right place, Dr. Maguire? This is the children’s holiday glitter art day,” Margo said.
“Uh, I happen to love glitter.” He pinched a pile of green glitter and flung it up in the air over the table. “Duh.”
