AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He just nods and plants a kiss on my forehead. “What’s next?” he asks, and I release him. He fiddles with the covers on the bed.
“Kitchen’s done,” I say.
“I can start on the bathrooms,” he offers.
“Those are done too.”
“Damn, McKinney. You’re a machine.”
Ian straightens and holds up his hand for a high-five. When I slap his hand, he grabs me and pulls me in for a kiss.
“Sneaky bastard,” I murmur against his mouth.
“You love me,” he says. I feel his smile against my lips.
“I tolerate you,” I say.
“Same thing.”
Ian grabs one of the boxes near the bedroom door marked “clothes” and carries it to the closet.
“Hey, have you talked to your mom this week?” he asks, and I hear the thud of the box as it hits the floor.
I follow him, standing in the doorway.
“Just once, earlier this week. She’s supposed to be going on a date this week.” I crack each of my knuckles.
Ian looks up at me. “A new guy?” he asks.
“A new guy.”
He knows what this means. A breakup is likely not too far around the corner. She’s been single since last November—the last time I was home. It was her longest stretch of singleness and sobriety that I can remember. My grandmother said she wasn’t going to meetings or anything, but my mom asked me about my meetings and seemed curious.
This potential new relationship means another chance for her to slip back into old habits. It will also be a chance for me to really put everything I’ve been learning into place.
My Adult Children of Alcoholics online group watched me make leaps and bounds last semester. I’ve only missed one meeting in the past six months due to tech week, which is one of those things in theater where it’s impossible to do anything but tech week. I feel steadier than I have my whole life, setting emotional boundaries with my mom, not trying to convince her to go to AA meetings, and, of course, moving farther away than I’ve ever been from her.
The idea of it was terrifying, but between Ian and Jessie, my grandma, my ACA group, and even AA, I felt like I had the support to do what I needed to do: live my own life without being consumed with worry about my mom.
And I’m celebrating seven months sober next week.
The real test will be this new relationship and what happens with her inevitable breakup, and how I’ll handle it from hundreds of miles away.
“Did you tell your group yet?” Ian asks. He means my ACA group.
“You’re the first to know,” I say.
He gives me an encouraging smile. “Definitely let them know too. I’m here to support you, but those people are gold.”
“They really are,” I say, trying to fight a smile.
Ian’s support through all of this has really sealed the deal for me. If I wasn’t convinced about relationships before, now I don’t think someone could convince me out of it. I wouldn’t want to do this—any of it—without Ian.
“All right, enough yapping. Back to work, Davidson,” I say, pointing sternly at Ian.
He salutes me, and I go back to the living room to start sorting through our boxes labeled “miscellaneous.”
Which is, like, twelve boxes. How can everything be miscellaneous?
