Complicated Relationships (The Southern Devotion Series Book 3) Read online

  Running my fingers through my hair once more, I remembered the night we spent on the beach after we first met at work. She asked me about my bald head that night. I had to tell her about my sister being bullied at school and how these nasty girls cut her hair in so many different lengths that we had to shave it off. I shaved mine to make her feel less insecure.

  As much as I love my friendship with MJ, I’m beginning to wish I’d never moved here to stay close to her. Macy is happier which is important to me though. Living with Angel started out fun, and Macy loves her, yet somehow all of us missed her downward spiral. Now that it’s in my face I look back and realize I’ve never seen her spend an entire night without an alcoholic beverage in her hand. Gracie and Mary Jane have known her for years and never spotted it from what I can tell. Why did I promise to keep her secret? Why am I trying to do this on my own? My cell phone buzzed in my pocket.

  MJ: Macy called me and said something is wrong with Angel. She also said you and Lanie had a fight?

  Me: I’m taking care of it.

  MJ: I want to help. I love both of you.

  Me: I’ll let you know if I need help with it.

  MJ: Promise?

  Me: I’m done making promises.

  MJ: Tristan, what’s wrong??

  Me: I’ll call you later. Love you.

  MJ: Love you too. You better call me later, or I’m coming over there.

  Me: Don’t threaten me (smiley)

  Sliding down to the floor, I put my head in my hands as I let out a groan of frustration. My fingers dangled over the screen of my phone contemplating what to do. Finally, I opened the screen and began to research alcohol rehab facilities nearby. It’s time to break a promise.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Baby Steps

  I tracked down the top rehab in Nashville. They informed me that, since she is over eighteen and not married, she’d have to commit herself if she hadn’t done anything illegal like a DUI. Otherwise, I'd have to prove that she is a danger to herself or others. Seemed stupid to think she has to commit a crime before she gets help. If you're drinking yourself to the point of blackouts then, you're a danger to yourself in my opinion.

  Angel’s bedroom had been quiet; the door closed her off from having to face me. I knocked three times before entering. She was asleep in her bed. I sat next to her stirring her awake. She rubbed her eyes, “I’m not drunk. I needed a nap.”

  I pushed her hair away from her eyes. “I can tell, you smell better than usual.”

  She smiled sadly, “Is that a compliment? If so you should work on your verbiage.”

  “You need help, Angel.”

  Angel sat up pulling the blanket with her to stay covered. “I know. Are you willing to help me?”

  I shook my head, “You need professional help. You need to check yourself into rehab. There's a great place not far from here; I've done research on them. I'll help you pay for it.”

  She panicked, “Please, no. I can’t be locked up, T. I promise, I’ll do anything else. If you tell me no more alcohol then fine, we’ll get rid of everything in the house again.” She grabbed my hand, “Please give me a chance to do this on my own first. If I can’t do it, then I’ll check in myself. I’m asking for a month. Please.” My eyebrows creased as I thought about her offer. When I hadn’t said anything a moment later, she added, “I’ll talk to Lanie for you. I’ll explain everything. I’m sorry I’m ruining your life. You and Macy are my family.”

  Pulling her into my arms, I kiss her forehead softly. “You haven’t ruined my life. I was wrong to say that to you. You have to do this though, or I will have you committed. This is your second chance; you will have to use it wisely because there won't be any after this one.” Angel began to sob, and I pulled her closer. “What started this, Angel?”

  She held tight as she said, “I’m always alone now. I’m tired of being alone.”

  “What do you mean by alone? You have a ton of friends that care about you, and you are out partying with people every night.”

  Angel moved away from me fidgeting nervously. “My friends have all moved on and gotten married. I go out every night and get so drunk that I end up sleeping with someone whose name I can’t remember in the morning. Waking up to you that day was refreshing because I wasn’t terrified out of my mind. The only thing that I do right is carry condoms with me. I’ve made it a regular monthly trip to go to the health center to get tested for STD's. My life is spiraling out of control, and I’m tired of feeling this way. I drink to numb the loneliness, T. I’m utterly alone.” She broke down in gasping sobs with her confession. .

  "Jesus, Angel. You can't go on like this. I wish you'd said something. You, me, and Macy, we can do things together. Hell, I'm not married and doubt it's in my future anytime soon."

  She sat up wiping her eyes. "Don’t say that. I'll make Lanie understand."

  "I didn’t mean anything about Lanie. That's still pretty new. Even if she forgives me, there won't be any aisle walking for a while except at the grocery store."

  Angel snickered and smacked my chest. "That was corny."

  "It made you laugh though. Come on, let's go downstairs and get something to eat. I'll grab Macy, and we'll have a family dinner."

  "That sounds great, T."

  Macy anxiously awaits our arrival at the bottom of the stairs. She's bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Need to pee?" I asked her with a teasing grin.

  "Can we talk?"

  "Sure, over dinner. Or did Ashton and Gracie feed you?"

  "I had a snack there, but I could eat some dinner."

  We didn’t have much along the lines of real groceries, so we pulled together a few deli meat sandwiches with chips and apple slices. It was nice to sit down at a table together, something we hadn't done in a while. "Now can we talk?" Macy asked anxiously.

  "Yeah, sure. Although you should know that those words never instill confidence in someone that the talk will go well."

  Macy rolled her eyes dismissing me by swirling her hand around. "I have this brochure for a summer camp that I really want to attend. It only lasts for a week, and it's at the end of summer. It's for kids like me that have excelled in school so much that they've skipped grades. My friend Sammy is going, and it's not that expensive." Every word after brochure she sped through so quickly that I barely kept up.

  "Slow down, Macy. Take a breath. Does the brochure have the pricing in it?" Macy gave an affirming nod. "And is Sammy a boy or girl?" Macy's eyes rolled to the side in thought as her lips puckered. "So, boy, I'm assuming due to that look."

  Her shoulders pushed upward as she leaned her head to the side with an innocent enough looking smile. "He's only a friend. They have boys and girl cabins though, of course. Tristan, please."

  I placed my palm out and rolled my fingers back and forth in the international sign of 'gimme'. The pamphlet contained all the information about activities, lodging, food, and last of all the price. "Wow. We need to work on your idea of what's expensive. It will cost a week worth of pay and then some. You know what I'd have to do to make tips cover this? Don't answer that."

  "Mary Jane said that she and Derrick would pay for it."

  "What? When did you talk to MJ about it?"

  "In Fall Creek Falls on the hike. MJ suggested I talked to you first and said that if you couldn't swing it that she'd be glad to help."

  Nothing stabs a man's pride more than people assuming he is too broke to support his family. "Give me some time to think about it."

  "It starts in two weeks and there are only a few spots left."

  "Ok, give me two days to do the numbers. We're not asking MJ and Derrick to pay for it."

  After dinner, Macy went up to play on her computer for the night while Angel and I began to detox the house. "I didn’t realize we had this many bottles of alcohol in the house." We pulled three bottles of Vodka out from under the sink, two bottles of Jack Daniels from above the refrigerator, and four bottles of Bacardi 151 in the back
of the pantry.

  Angel shamefully confessed, "I've been buying it and hiding it so you wouldn't notice how much." Her problem was more advanced than I realized, and I felt like the worst friend in the world for not noticing the severity sooner. Allowing her to deal with this on her own didn't work the first time, I'm not sure why I think this time will be different. It also angered me that she had so much strong alcohol in the house easily accessible by my teenage sister.

  "Do you have it hidden anywhere else?

  Angel hangs her head down once more. "In my car and the bedroom closet."

  "In your car?" I shriek out like a high pitched female. "Tell me you didn’t drink and drive, Angel. Especially after the drunk driver killed the father of three of our close friends."

  "No, I never drove after I drank. I kept it in there for safe keeping. Sometimes I'd go out there at night and drink."

  "Jesus, Angel. I don’t even know what to say." We had loaded up four cardboard boxes with liquor by this time. We're taking them to A Shot in the Dark to go in the bar. The back of my SUV was now loaded down with the boxes, and I promised that I wouldn't tell them from where they came. If I'm lucky, I can sneak them into the inventory without anyone seeing me. If not, I'll come up with a story about a vague friend.

  "I'm scared; T. What if I fail again?" She stumbled back a bit in fear. I pulled her into my arms for comfort. Running my fingers through her hair I tried to calm the trembles of fear her body was releasing.

  "I'll be here for you. Last time we tried this I let you do it all alone, but I'm not making that mistake again. If it's too much to deal with then, we'll go to the professionals. In fact, I'm going to find you a weekly meeting, and I'll go with you."

  "Thank you. I do better when someone else is with me. I went for years without facing my rape until Gracie had to face hers, and then we went to counseling together. I guess that was a bad example since I haven't dealt so well with it."

  My mind still reeled hearing that someone had raped her. "Rape? When were you raped?"

  "Sorry, I forgot you didn’t know. My first time was in high school, and it was by rape. I never told anyone until a couple of years ago when Gracie confessed that Hudson raped her. She and I went to group counseling together after that, and I thought it was helping. Apparently once the therapy stopped, I dove into liquid therapy instead."

  "How long have you been drinking like this?"

  Her shoulders rise and fall as she kicks at imaginary objects in the grass beneath her feet. "Maybe a year now."

  "Jesus, Angel."

  She laughed, and I offer a look of confusion. "You've been saying that a lot. If I were a dog, I'd start answering to Jesus Angel." She laughed teasingly then became serious as she said. "You're a great friend, T."

  "If I'm such a great friend why did it take a year to notice you had a problem?"

  Chapter Sixteen

  Mixing it up

  Lanie hadn’t called, texted, or even emailed me since that day we came home from the falls. Every time I picked up the phone to text her I had to stop myself so I could give her the time she needed. It's been almost two weeks now, and it was time to take action. Sitting around doing nothing was not the way I rolled. Lanie had told me once that she thought the best romantic moments were in movies from the eighties' era, and she missed those small gestures nowadays. She wasn’t one who enjoyed the cliché of giving flowers or jewelry, but would rather have something from the heart. I called up my eighties movies expert to get some ideas for romantic gestures.

  The doorbell rang, and I slipped downstairs to answer it before any else could. “You’re looking studly as ever,” Cameron said as I opened the door and waved him in. “What fabulousness do you need from me?” When I told him my idea of the eighties movies, I thought he’d pass out from the excitement. “Oh, my gosh! I have a million ideas for this, things I dreamed of myself. Like when the Princess gave the Criminal her diamond stud earring in The Breakfast Club or John Cusack holding the boombox up to Ione Skye to win her back.”

  I stopped him, “That one; that’s from Say Anything, right?” Cameron nodded with excitement that I knew a movie he referenced because he knows I’m behind on those. “That’s an awesome scene. Now we need a song for me to play for her.”

  Cameron thought for a moment and said, “Wait. No. The thing that every girl loved in the eighties' something that they found most romantic; mix tapes.” My eyebrow arched with questions that sprang to mind. Before I could ask them, Cameron said, “We’ll find some of the most romantic songs from back then that make you think of her. Then we’ll put them on a cassette tape, and I’ll deliver it to her with a walkman.”

  Bobbing my head, I asked, “Ok so when are going to rev up the DeLorean and go back in time to get a walkman and a cassette tape?”

  Cameron’s face lit up at my movie reference again, and he grabbed my face and said, “You are getting so much better Tri-Stud! And haven’t you ever been to a pawn shop or antique store? They have these things. Even if we can’t buy an actual cassette to record on we can buy a cassette of some crappy music, put tape over the square hole at the bottom and tape over it.” The explanation still confused me until he cried out in frustration. “You poor boy! Were you so privileged as a child that you never had a cassette tape growing up? I mean I know that CD’s have been around since before your birth but come on now! My family was rich of course, but Gracie and I used cassettes all day long! In fact, we used to host our own radio show.” He used his fingers to make quotation marks when he said radio show.

  “This seems like a lot of trouble to go through.”

  Cameron smacked my forehead. “That’s the point. She’ll know you went through a lot of trouble. Sure you can download a mix flash drive to give her but where’s the creativity or the effort in that? Come on, we have some antiquing to do.”

  Surprisingly enough, we found a box of recordable cassette tapes at the second antique store we hit. We grabbed up a couple of them and found a small cassette player that could record and play. Now we had to find music to put on it. We came up with ten songs pretty quickly.

  My list of take me back songs:

  Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper

  Can't Fight this Feeling by REO Speedwagon

  When I See You Smile, by Bad English

  I Wanna Know What Love Is by Foreigner

  I'll Be There For You by Bon Jovi

  Is This Love by Whitesnake

  I've Had the Time of my Life by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (Cameron insisted on this one)

  Heaven by Bryan Adams

  Alone by Heart

  And, of course, the list wouldn't be complete without: In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel, the song that John Cusack played on a boom box for Ione Skye in Say Anything.

  Cameron helped me record these songs onto a mix tape for Lanie and agreed to deliver them along with a short note that I wrote to her which simply read:

  Lanie,

  I miss you. I’m respecting your request for time to think by not calling. Please, accept this mixtape so that I can let you know how I feel through the words of these songs. I had my friend Cameron deliver it so that I didn’t put you on the spot.

  Tristan.

  It’s cheesy which is usually not my style but have you watched an eighties' movie? They’re all cheesy, and the girls love them. So, I’m taking a page out of John Bender’s book and sacrificing a bit of myself to get the girl. Sometimes we don’t have to keep up the tough guy exterior; it’s alright to show a soft side now and then. If this doesn’t work, I’ll show up on her front porch in parachute pants and dance hammer style all over her front yard. Technically that song came out in 1990 but I’m willing to embarrass myself in any decade to win this girl back. I’m not sure if what I feel for her is love yet, but I know that I like how I feel about her, and I don’t like being away from her.

  Cameron left and promised to call after he dropped the package off at her house. The next few hours were excruciating as I s
tared at my phone waiting for one of them to contact me.

  The doorbell rang saving me momentarily from my misery. Lanie stood on my front porch in a pair of jean shorts and a light pink t-shirt looking more beautiful than the last time I’d seen her. She lifted her arm and unclenched her fisted hand to reveal a small diamond stud.

  “I don’t have any piercings.”

  She grinned, “That’s why I bought a magnetic earring. In keeping with the eighties romantic movie gestures. I'm not a Princess by any means, nor are you a criminal, but still.”

  I took the stud from her and placed it on my earlobe with the magnet in back holding it in place. “How does it look?”

  She shrugged, “Well you’re no John Bender, but it’ll do.” Neither of us could stop grinning at this moment. It was as though a personal joke had been passed between us that no one else would get.

  “I love my mix tape. That’s the most romantic gift a man has given me.”

  I smirked and decided to say my thoughts out loud, “In keeping with the eighties' theme; you look pretty in pink.”

  She let out a burst of laughter that echoed through the foyer. I always wanted to see her this way, laughing and happy. “Come in.” I sat on the couch first so that she could determine how close we sit to each other; it exhilarated me when she sat right next to me with our legs pressed against each other.

  “Cameron is a sweetheart. I wish you’d delivered it, but I appreciate the reason you didn’t. I’ve missed you a lot. The truth is since you hadn't called; I was terrified to make the first move.” Before I could defend my actions, she stopped me. “I know I told you to give me time, but I’m a woman and we rarely mean what we say.” She winked at me. “Seriously, you hurt me pretty badly Tristan. I need you to promise that if we start this again we have to keep the honesty in our relationship.”

  "I promise." With a deep intake of breath, I closed my eyes and decided to break my promise to someone else. "Angel is an alcoholic. I spent the last few days helping her rid the house and her car of all liquor. I made a promise to her that I'd help her get through this and regain her sobriety. I also promised I wouldn't tell anyone unless she didn’t follow through on her part. I don’t want to keep anything from you, so I need you to keep this secret for me."