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The change in his attitude was nothing short of miraculous, and I saw the fear in his eyes at the threat of losing his parental rights over Colby.
“I … you’re right. I just need a few weeks to sort myself out, get a new place, new job,” he informed me, counting the barriers to seeing his son on his fingers.
“No, first, you need to stop drinking.”
Glaring at me through narrowed eyes he shook his head. “I do not have a drinking problem.”
“Liar. Try again.”
“Things have gotten on top of me but I’m not alcohol dependent.”
“Liar,” I stated again.
“I don’t need it, I drink to forget.”
“Can you hear yourself? You’ve told me in that last sentence you’re alcohol dependent.” I sighed. “How are you going to get a house with no job?”
“I have money from the divorce,” he snapped.
“And how long is that going to last?” What Logan didn’t know was I’d been here several times before, with Hammer and Wiggy. An idea came to mind, and although I still had to put it to Billie, I felt confident enough to extend this thought to Logan. “I can help you, but you’d have to be willing to do it my way,” I stated without feeling.
“You’ll help? Why would you want to help me? What makes you think you can in the first place?”
“Trust me, I know an alcoholic when I see one. You think I’ve been gigging for as long as I have and can’t spot a drug user when I see one. Don’t insult my intelligence.”
“I don’t do drugs,” Logan barked quickly.
“What are you talking about? You’re a fucking college professor, don’t tell me you haven’t attended drug seminars. Alcohol and tobacco are the two biggest self-administered drugs in the world. You want my help or not?”
He nodded, and for the first time I saw how helpless he really was when he was conscious.
“Okay, let me speak to Billie, but if you move from here before I come back tomorrow the deal is off, and I’ll march your ex-wife to the courthouse myself.”
* * *
My heart sank when I rode up on my bike at 1:00 a.m. and saw the sitting room light still on. Billie opened the door as I took off my helmet and was halfway down the path toward me. “Hey, darlin’ you should have gone to bed.”
Immediately she slapped my chest, tears rolling down her cheeks, crying in distress. “Where have you been, what happened to him?”
“Everything’s okay,” I said in a quiet calm tone. “Come inside and I’ll tell you all about it. Logan is fine, he forgot what day it was,” giving her the least offensive version of everything I’d gone through since I’d seen him.
Hugging me tight, with her arms around my waist, I heard her sigh of relief and knew despite everything my girl and her son had been through, Logan was still important to them. Therefore, although it wasn’t my fight, I’d never have Billie’s one-hundred-percent attention as long as Logan was creating issues for Colby.
It was almost 2:00 a.m. by the time we went to bed, and although I’d spared Billie some of the finer details of my visit with Logan, I had posed a possible solution to help. Billie had convinced herself her ex wouldn’t agree, but she had no idea how low someone on drugs can go.
An addict’s self-respect can be swapped in a heartbeat for their next bottle of booze or the next fix. I’d seen it dozens of times. However, I figured as Logan’s drinking was binge led, and not years of abuse, I was confident the threat of losing Colby, combined with how selfish he was, might have been motivation enough to help him on his road to recovery.
We were about a week out from closing on our new home, so the solution was easy for me. Logan would take over Billie’s place, but I asked Billie to sell it to me. When Logan got back on his own two feet I’d sell it back to her. Meanwhile, I’d figured if I was Logan’s landlord and not Billie, he had no room to manipulate the situation and tug my girl’s heartstrings.
However, I had one last piece to add to my plan and called on Hammer for help. With Wiggy in rehab and us not being able to tour, Hammer had been financially stretched. I had always offered to help, but he was a proud man.
My bandmate was delighted when I offered him the babysitting gig to keep Logan on the wagon, and he was perfect for the job. Being a recovering addict, he knew all the dodges, and was as strong as an ox. Therefore, while Wiggy was tucked away in rehab, which had been looking more like a medium-term thing, Hammer could earn a way and help me out with Logan. I didn’t want him to be Logan’s sponsor, but to stay in the house and ‘police’ Logan’s recovery.
When the arrangements were put to Logan the following day, he knew he had no other way out, and the thought of losing control of Colby to me was the main motivation for him to agree.
