Gio

“I’m glad he’s okay.” Annie whispers. She stands close to the door, like she’s ready to run at any moment.

“Me too.”

“We should talk.” She says, her eyes glued to the linoleum floor.

“About what?”

She wraps an arm around her stomach protectively. Her eyes scan the room, looking anywhere but at him. “This…us. You know.”

“I don’t know, Annie. What?” I feel defensive now. I do know what she wants to talk about, but I don’t want to hear it. She wants to break my fucking heart and I’m not ready for that kind of damage, not yet.

I want to push her away. I want to be the first

to draw the line in the sand.

“We don’t work.” She finally says.

The words hit me like a ton of bricks, even knowing they were coming isn’t enough to protect me.

We work. We fucking work. I want her, I need her.

“Why?” I ask.

With one word, she stabs me in the heart. “Johnny.”

“Fine.” I concede, pulling my cell phone from my pocket. “I’ll call Charlie. He’ll take you to Johnny, okay?”

She opens her mouth and then shuts it just as quick. “Thank you.” she finally settles on saying.

Yeah.

I hope it is worth it.

Johnny has been in rehab for a week.

I think this might be the longest he’s ever made it. Byrne’s are no strangers to rehab. Our father has done so many stints in rehab facilities, I’ve lost count.

My father being in rehab was always my favorite as a child. Normally when he was admitted we would be shipped off to stay with our grandparents. My grandmother was a sweet woman who baked cookies with us and lived in a small house that always smelled like cinnamon. I wished she could have taken us full time, I longed to live with her, but two kids were too much for her.

When she died, I didn’t leave my room for two weeks and Johnny got high to numb his pain.

We visited my father in rehab each of the many times he went. We never had money so it was always a state run rehab facility that smelt old and dusty and had a constant soundtrack of screaming. Johnny always hated it, I did too but I hid it better.

The place Gio has Johnny in is nothing like those places.

There are endless windows letting streams of sunlight in and it smells like rain and spring time. There are real flowers on every surface I can see, and the fake wood floors are spotless.

“Annie Byrne!” A cheerful middle aged woman greeted me when I walked through the sliding door with Charlie on my tail. “Gio called and let me know you were coming. Johnny is so excited to see you.” Her smile is warm and inviting.

“I’ll wait out here.” Charlie gestures to the waiting room. “Just let me know when you’re ready to leave.”

I nod, and give Charlie a soft smile. There’s no reason to be mean to him. This isn’t his doing and he’s only ever been nice to me.

“Follow me,” the woman gestures and leads me down the hall. “I’m Marg, by the way. I don’t know how much your partner has told you about Golden Oaks, but it’s an all inclusive facility. Johnny does have a roommate, we encourage sharing a space to further the rehabilitation process. Now, Johnny is still detoxing, so he might be a little agitated, but I assure you he is doing a lot better.” Marg stops in front of one of the doors and turns back to give me a sympathetic smile. “Now I know this will be hard, but I promise you this is the best place for your brother to be. This is Geroge,” she points to a tall, muscular man standing in the hallway. “Leave the door open and if you need anything, call for Geroge, okay?”

“Okay.” I repeat.

Marg pulls open the door with the same chipperness she has shown since I’ve arrived. “Johnny,” she calls. “Look who’s here to visit.” Satisfied with the smile on Johnny’s face, she adds “I’ll leave you two.” and goes on her way.