Page 9

Chapter 9

Emmy

P lacing the doughnuts down by the sad coffee urns, it was just depressing, yet there wasn't anything better to get with the budget. At least people would eat the doughnuts. Whenever I would pick up cookies, they just sat there untouched.

I looked around to see who came to today's meeting.

On the side of the door, there was a ginger Viking standing, looking in, but also seemed like he wanted to avoid AA like the plague. Which wasn't uncommon for someone that was just starting their sober journey. At least, I hoped he was going to put the work in.

Of course, I knew who it was. It was the guy that haunted my dreams for the last four years.

I never thought I would see him in person again. For a while there, I followed his career and then that tapered off. I gave up the unhealthy dream of ending up with a star hockey player.

He was probably lost, but I had to ask. "Looking for the AA meeting?"

He nodded.

I swept my arm into the room and smiled. "Well, you found it. Have some lukewarm coffee and take a seat."

His eyebrow moved up. "Why is it only lukewarm?"

"I made it hours ago. It's not the first meeting of the night."

Some sort of internal debate seemed to go on since he still refused to move from just outside the door frame. As much as I wanted to just pull him in, that wasn’t conducive to recovery. So I tried to be welcoming and let him figure things out.

"Well, we're here if you want to come in. Don't feel like you have to talk. In fact, we recommend that for your first time to sit and listen."

He forced a tight smile and turned. I watched as his glorious tight ass that was just kissed in his jeans walked out down the hallway to the exit.

Damn.

I was genuinely disappointed to see him turn away. But I couldn't force him to come inside.

I still had to finish tidying up the room and turning it into a warm, welcoming space. We still had about ten minutes before anyone else would show up.

It didn't take that long. All the regulars were there. About ten people who had been coming to this group for a while now. It was one of my favorite groups since it had a nice mix of backgrounds and people in their recovery.

Right as I was about ready to call everything to order, the hockey Viking showed back up. This time, he had two coffee carriers from Tim Hortons. He set them on the table and poured a cup of coffee. Before coming to the circle, he tugged the cap down over his eyes a little farther.

Everyone else got up when they realized there was fresh coffee available. Coop came over and sat in the empty chair next to me.

I couldn't blame Coop for avoiding everyone and hiding under his cap and sunglasses. Even without Vancouver being hockey obsessed (myself included), people felt so much shame coming to meetings, and he was probably in incognito mode.

As he hunched himself over his coffee, I said, "You didn't have to do that."

"Sure, I did. I wasn't going to drink lukewarm coffee for the next hour."

I smiled. It was sweet that he got the coffee for everyone. Every so often, people would just get themselves a fresh cup. It made him seem like he wasn't a normal addict (not that I liked the term, since we just had drinking problems and addictive personalities). One of the common stereotypes with alcoholics were that they were selfish, and they liked to bury their problems.

I had no clue if Coop was trying to bury his problem, but he wasn't actively selfish. Never was selfish on the ice either. I didn't want to fan girl in front of him.

"Well, thank you. Normally, we would ask you to remove the sunglasses, but given how you're a bit of a local celebrity, we'll let it slide."

That got me a genuine smile that warmed me to the core. I wanted to make him smile all the time.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." He picked at his coffee cup and didn't look up at me. "It's okay if I just listen, right?"

I nodded.

While I made this offer with any newcomer, I really hoped that he would take me up on it. "Afterwards, I would like to take you for a proper coffee and we can talk more about the process."

"Okay."

Everyone was back in their seats, and I brought the meeting to order.