AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sophie remembered those exhilarating few years when she’d gotten sober on her own. She’d gotten engaged and married Jared. They’d bought the very house in which she now lived. She’d assumed she’d buried her demons once and for all.
But in reality, it was as though she’d walked a tightrope. And you can’t walk a tightrope for the rest of your life. At one time or another, you’ll fall.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you,” Sam murmured.
“You were when I needed you the most,” Sophie assured her. “The past year has changed everything. Patrick and I talk about it all the time. How messy it all was. How amazed we are that it all fell into place.”
Sam’s smile brightened. “Have you heard from Jared lately?”
“Nothing,” Sophie said. Her heart jumped. “It’s strange, isn’t it? I spent twenty-five years of my life with that man. But now that he’s gone, I hardly think of him at all. My therapist thinks that my addiction was tied up in my love and codependency for Jared.”
“And what do you think?” Sam asked.
“I’m certainly not as smart as my therapist,” Sophie quipped. “All I know is, I can’t remember feeling as loved or as protected as when I’m with Patrick. And even though I think about using every once in a while, it’s more of an abstract thought. I can’t imagine ever going through with it.”
Sam squeezed Sophie’s hand. “Remember to call me. Anytime. I’ll be there as quickly as I can.”
The front door burst open down the hall, bringing a sharp draft of chill. “Hello?” Derek called. “Is anyone home?”
“We’re in the kitchen!” Sam popped up, and Sophie followed her down the hall and into the foyer, where two snow-covered men removed their hats, gloves, boots, and coats. Sophie burrowed her face into Patrick’s chest, her heart fluttering. Patrick hadn’t slept over at her place last night, and the interval between seeing one another had felt impossibly long. She felt like a high schooler who called her boyfriend as soon as she got home from school. Her love was her life force.
“Happy New Year’s Eve,” Patrick said quietly. He kissed her gently and then lifted her into him.
“We brought plenty of alcohol-free champagne for tonight,” Derek announced, gesturing at the paper grocery bags lining the foyer.
“And five types of cheeses, dates, blueberries,” Patrick went on.
“And three types of chips?” Derek asked.
“Four,” Patrick corrected. His dimples deepened.
“Food coma time,” Sam said, collecting two grocery bags in her arms and heading back to the kitchen. Derek followed her with the rest.
With just Patrick in the foyer, Sophie rose on her tiptoes and kissed him again with her eyes closed. A wave of heat filled her chest. “Did you finish the job?”
“We did.” Patrick laced his fingers through hers. “Just in the nick of time.”
“And you don’t have another one till February?” It was beyond Sophie’s wildest dreams, imagining more empty afternoons with Patrick: time for blissful, two-hour lunches, movies, walks through the snow, and naps in winter sunbeams.
“February 9th,” Patrick said.
It was nearly five thirty, and an inky darkness bled across the bluffs. Far above were the first dappling of stars. Derek put a Carole King record on the record player, and Sam pouredeveryone what they wanted to drink—wine for Sam, beer for Derek, and sparkling water with lemon for Sophie and Patrick. According to Sam, Rachelle and Darcy would join them with dates soon. Rachelle had an entire menu planned for the eight of them.
As Derek and Sam prepped vegetables in the kitchen, calling themselves “sous chefs” for Rachelle, Patrick and Sophie cozied up on the couch by the big bay window and gazed at the violent sea as it roiled beneath the ominous sky.
“It looks like 2023 is fighting to stay alive,” Patrick joked.
Sophie dropped her head on Patrick’s shoulder. With a jolt, she remembered the final day of 2022—one year ago. She’d woken up before Jared and popped several pills while standing on the back porch. The cold air had bitten her cheeks until the drugs had made it so she couldn’t feel anything anymore.
Over breakfast, when Jared had asked if she was “daydreaming again,” Sophie had laughed and pretended to be happy. Sometimes, when she took enough drugs, she’d half believed her own happiness until the drugs had faded, and she’d again noticed the hatred that echoed from Jared’s eyes.
It wasn’t clear to Sophie why Jared hadn’t left her years ago. She’d never given him a child. They’d never had anything but a marriage certificate and property keeping them together. That wasn’t much these days.
And Sophie had been too out of it to find her way out.
“Where did you go?” Patrick called her back to the present. He smiled down at her lovingly, and Sophie raised her chin and kissed him.
She loved sobriety. She loved being here, with Patrick, without the desire to flee her own consciousness. She loved the cozy air in The Jessabelle House and the sound of the crackling record player. She loved hearing Derek and Sam squabble and giggle in the kitchen.
