Page 44 of Veiled Amor

“And shortbread.”

Danny guessed Arson knew now he was welcome to stay for breakfast. He kissed the top of Aoife’s head and palmed her belly with the barely there bump.

Later, Arson was sitting in the passenger side of his truck when Danny climbed in to drive him home. Arson was looking down at his ringing phone.

“Not answering it?”

“It’s Capone.”

“Have you fallen out?”

“Nah, he’s a good guy, he’s checking up on me, they all do it. I don’t know what to say.”

“I’m sure something will come to you.”

“I’ll call him back. Need to talk to Tag first. Say sorry. Again. His old lady already hates my guts.”

Danny cut a glance sideways to see Arson staring out of the window. “What can you do to change that?” Eyes turned to him, Arson half-grinned. “Not gonna assure me she doesn’t?”

“If you think she hates you, there’s some basis there. Do you know how many apologies I had to say to my family when I was in recovery? Fucking hundreds. I still say them to this day. It’s my actions they believe better when I back those apologies up with meaning. I was full of shite back then, said what anyone wanted to hear.”

“I can’t imagine you as anything other than who you are now, holy man.”

“It’s good to be me now. But the darkness can get to us all. I ran toward mine, and it took me a long time to find my way out. Rock bottom is downright terrifying. But the optimistic lining is, there’s only up to go.”

The rest of the drive was silent.

Danny walked up the path with Arson. “You gonna be okay from here?”

“Yeah.”

Danny knew it had to come from him.

It was as Danny turned to take a walk home, he heard. “Hey, holy man… Danny?”

“Yeah?”

In front of him was a man, broken and resigned.

Give him strength, Lord. Let him take the ultimate step.

Arson inhaled and let it go in a staggered puff, stuffing his shaking hands down in the front pockets of his stonewash denim. “I need help. Will you help me?”

“Of course I will.” He walked back and clapped him briefly on the arm. “Did you give that Utah place a thought?”

“If I go inside now, I’ll pretend there’s nothing wrong. I’ll go all day and not drink. I’ll lie to myself. I’ll only have a few tonight for fun, to get in the mood. If I go inside, holy man, it won’t change.”

The first step, Danny knew, the fucking hardest.

“Then you won’t have to go inside. I can make the calls to see if they can take you today.”

“You don’t have to…”

“Do you want this?”

“Yeah. I need it.”

“What are favors for if not to call in for a friend. They’re doing me no good sitting unused.”