Page 128 of A Lesson for Laurel

“About an hour from here. I parked around the corner and walked over.”

“Are you working?” he asked.

“I’ve got a job,” his father said. “I work in a manufacturing plant doing maintenance.”

He looked at Abe and before he could say anything, Luke came in. “No warrants. He’s got a past arrest about five years ago for possession but nothing else.”

“What do you want, Dad?”

“I want to be let go,” his father said. “This was stupid. I know. I just won’t get paid until tomorrow and need to pay rent. I can’t be homeless. I need a fix. For some reason I thought of the money here. I was desperate.”

“So you pay your bills over drugs?” Abe asked.

“I’m trying,” his father said. “I can’t quit cold turkey, but I need to keep it in me in small doses at the very least to function.”

“Can we talk?” Luke asked Easton and nodded to the back of the house. He followed Luke. “If you want to get him into a rehab I can bring him in, book him, we can fill out paperwork and get him in that way. It might be the only way. You press charges, he goes before the judge and says he wants to clean up.”

“Yeah,” he said. He knew that was a possibility, but it wasn’t something he was positive about. “I’m not sure I believe him. The drugs always meant more to my parents than me.”

“If anyone knows that,” Luke said, “it’s me. We share that. My mother didn’t want help and I cut her from my life. No judgment there.”

He hadn’t known that, but it did make him feel a little better that he wasn’t alone.

“If my father wants help this might be the only way. He has no idea I’m an attorney. If I offer to pay for it, I don’t think he’ll follow through. I’m sure he’d cause more problems too.”

“Probably the case,” Luke said.

The two of them went back to the living room where they’d moved his father.

“Do you want help getting cleaned up?” he asked. “If you could get into rehab would you take it seriously?”

“Yes,” his father said. “This is my last chance. I know that.”

He looked at Abe. “If you press charges they are going to lock him up. He won’t make bail. Once he goes before the judge he can plead guilty and then ask to go to rehab. It can be court-appointed which will force him to stick it out.”

“Your call,” Abe said.

He looked at his father who nodded. “There you go,” he said.

Luke pulled his father up and read him his rights and then brought him out to the car and put him in.

“How are you feeling about that?” Abe asked.

“Numb,” he said and walked out the door back to Laurel’s. Abe would give him space, but Easton knew who he had to talk to and texted Laurel.

42

HERE FOR YOU

“Hey,” Laurel said. “Come here.”

She was stunned to get the text and call from Easton asking if she could come home.

That had to be huge for him to voice that and she agreed.

They were both off tomorrow for the July Fourth weekend. Leaving a few hours early today wasn’t a big deal. She more than made the time up and Lily would understand.

“Thanks,” he said. “You didn’t have to rush.”

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