A Nantucket Affair (Nantucket Beach Plum Cove #4)(36)

“Have you eaten yet? I was thinking we could go grab dinner, maybe.”

“Shoot, I wish I’d known you wanted to go out. I just had a burger.”

“Oh. I guess I’ll heat up a frozen pizza or something.”

“Okay, see you in ten.”

In exactly ten minutes, Sue heard the sound of a car pulling in the driveway. Curt was home. But it was too dark out to see the new car well. She walked outside to take a look, anyway.

“So, what do you think?”

“What I can see of it looks nice. I’ll get a better look tomorrow.”

Curt followed her inside. She’d just taken her pizza out of the microwave right before he got home and settled back in her seat at the island to continue eating. Curt leaned against the counter while she ate.

“How was your mom?”

“She’s good. I told her about the car. She said she wants a ride.”

He liked that. “Excellent. I’ll drive next time we go see her and take her for a spin.”

“How was the Club Car? Anyone else there we know?”

“Yeah, Paige and Peter were there, actually. Paige gave the car a thumbs up. And Brandi was there with a friend, sitting at the bar.”

Of course she was. Brandi was always out.

“I suppose she loved the car, too?”

He nodded. “Everyone did. It’s a great car.”

“How are Tom and John?” They were Curt’s best friends. Sue was friends with Tom’s wife, Linda. John was very much single. He’d been divorced for just over five years and wasn’t in any hurry to get serious with anyone again. But he loved to date.

“They’re good. Tom and Linda just booked a cruise to Bermuda. And John is John. Tom and I actually left at the same time, but John stayed to have another drink with Brandi and her friend. I can’t imagine Brandi would be interested in someone his age, but maybe her friend is.”

Sue just smiled. For a relatively smart man, Curt could be dumb sometimes.

“John is a handsome man, and well off. Plenty of women like that and don’t mind dating an older man.”

“Maybe.” He still looked doubtful.

“So, remember our trip to Boston last year? I was thinking it might be fun to do something like that again soon. What do you think?”

“Sure, though might be good to wait a month or so, after A Nantucket Affair. We still have a lot of work to do to get ready.”

“I’ll keep an eye on what’s coming and maybe we’ll book something after that.”

Curt yawned. “Sounds good. I’m going to go watch some golf on TV for a while.”

He headed off to the living room while she finished her pizza, then went upstairs to change into her pajamas and read in bed for a while. She thought a lot about what her mother had said earlier, and as she drifted off to sleep, an idea came to her.





Chapter 21





Tyler adjusted fairly quickly to the environment at Murphy House. It was similar to the first rehab he went to, so he knew what to expect. The first few days were the hardest, because the physical craving for alcohol was fierce. But he was kept busy with lots of different counseling sessions, some were one-on-one and others were group sessions. And they got a lot of physical exercise, which helped burn off frustrations.

The ages ranged from eighteen to mid-fifties and several of the guys, like Tyler, had been through the rehab process before. As they went around the room sharing their stores in group sessions, one thing that stood out was the shame they all felt from relapsing and disappointing the people they cared for. Some of them had triggers like Tyler—a loved one dying unexpectedly, a divorce, or a job loss. But others couldn’t pinpoint any trigger in particular beyond a strong desire for a drink that they tried to resist until it was impossible and they gave in.

One of the guys, Ben, was a successful bond trader and spoke about how his life really couldn’t be better and he still screwed up.

“I just got engaged a month ago, to a great girl from a good family. Her dad actually owns the financial services firm that I work for. And work is going great. I’m one of their top traders. But expectations are high and there’s a lot of pressure. I think I worry sometimes that I don’t deserve to be so successful and that it could all disappear at any moment. Amy could realize I’m not the guy she wants to spend the rest of her life with. It just got to the point where the little voice calling for a drink got louder every day.”

Tyler could relate to that, too. He thought he’d been handling his mother’s death okay and he had Kristen, who was amazing. He should have been able to resist, and it scared the hell out of him that he’d fallen. He wouldn’t blame her if she bailed like his wife did. Who would want to sign up for dealing with this? The fear of that happening again had only made him crave another drink even more. The alcohol numbed everything and let him put his head in the sand and just not deal.

But he was feeling stronger after two weeks at Murphy House. Kristen was coming this Saturday for a visit, and he was both nervous and anxious to see her at the same time. He knew it was asking a lot of her to stick with him. It was helping to talk everything through, and to be in an environment where alcohol wasn’t an option. And he wouldn’t be going home until his counselors and he both felt that he was ready and able to resist temptation.