Page 3 of Keeping Secrets

They settled in around the table with full plates of food, and a newfound warmth settled into Keely’s chest. She had family. She had friends. She had a place of her own.

She was doing pretty good at this whole adulting thing.

Now she just needed a job.

"This lasagna is amazing." Nick was already halfway through his slice.

"It’s so good," Keely agreed after her first bite. "Thank you, Chloe."

"My pleasure," Chloe said. "I really didn’t think we were going to stay and eat it. We just wanted to see if you were settling in okay."

"I love the company, really. And I’ll be unpacked in a day or two. Then I need to dive into the job hunt. Do you have any leads? Is the ice cream place you work at hiring?"

Chloe shook her head. "Not right now, sorry. I can point you in the right direction if you want to find some work online, though."

"Thanks, but with all my classes online, I really want a job that gets me out of the house."

"I so get that. It’s why I work at Kula. Well, that and the free ice cream."

"Sure, rub it in," Keely said with a laugh.

Chloe giggled. "Sorry."

"It’s okay. I’ll find something."

"Maybe the Bottlenose?" Chloe asked, looking at Travis. His eyes widened, and he shook his head. Chloe’s cheeks turned bright pink.

"Oh. Right. Sorry. Never mind."

"It’s okay," Keely said. "Alcohol was never my poison of choice. Still, my sponsor wouldn’t think much of me working at a bar. It’s not the smartest choice for someone who’s fresh out of rehab."

"You’ve been clean a long time now," Nick said quietly.

"Almost six months," she confirmed. Then she shrugged. "Still a baby, really."

Chloe reached out and gave her arm a squeeze. "You’re doing great!"

"Thanks." She looked down and carefully loaded her fork with pieces of cucumber and olive. It felt silly that Chloe’s praise would land so hard and mean so much, but it did.

At some point in the very recent past, a tenuous pride had eclipsed her shame. She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but one day she’d realized that when she thought back on her struggles with addiction, the knowledge of how far she had come outshone the guilt of falling that low to begin with. She was on the straight and narrow now. And Chloe was right. She was doing great.

More than anything, she was grateful.

She had come so close to losing everything – to losing her life, both figuratively and literally. And while she was proud of her efforts, she knew that the real credit went to her parents. Without their endless love and forgiveness and determination to pull her out of the hole she had fallen into… Well, she didn’t like to dwell on that. But she knew that she wouldn’t be sitting here today without them.

She had overdosed. Seen others overdose. Looked death in the face more than once.

And because of that, each moment of her ordinary life had gained a new shine. Like a child seeing the world for the first time, she was astonished by the beauty of ordinary things. Just to be sitting here around her new kitchen table with people that she cared about, eating nourishing food made with love… it meant the world to her.

Conversation had ebbed away as they enjoyed the phenomenal lasagna that Chloe had made. The homemade noodles had a pleasant chew to them, but at the same time they were so tender that they nearly melted away along with the fresh sauce and creamy cheese. It was a hearty, heartening meal. Pure comfort food.

As Keely ate, she stole glances at Travis through the copper-colored curtain of her hair. Her brother’s best friend had always been a charming, affable kid – qualities that had only solidified as he’d aged. Until recently. He had been strangely quiet the past few weeks.

He was quiet now, expressionless as he ate his food. That wasn’t like him at all. He should be making conversation, gently teasing.

They had known each other for ages, but in a distant sort of way. He was Nick’s best friend, and she was the annoying little sister. She had thought that they’d struck up a genuine friendship, or maybe even something a bit beyond, when she came to stay in Pelican Point a few weeks back, but things had slowly petered out.

She was trying not to take it personally. Which had been hard when he was ignoring her… and not so hard when she saw that he was also withdrawn from Nick and Chloe.

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