Tackling Love - Kathleen Kelly Page 0,23
you’re pretty.”
“She sure is. You ready to go now, Derek?”
“Okay, is Skye coming with us?” Derek is staring at me like some lovesick puppy.
“Yes, I am. Will they take him?” I ask Colt.
“Yes, as a favor to me, but it’s Derek who needs to do the work. If he doesn’t, no amount of treatment will help. He needs to find a reason to do it, if not for his son, then himself.”
I nod. “I’ll grab my bag, and we can get going.”
Colt stands and helps Derek to his feet. The three of us get into Colt’s Jeep. We put Derek in the back, he promptly falls over, closes his eyes, and begins to snore.
“How romantic,” I say sarcastically.
“Nothing like the soothing sounds of a drunken man to set the mood,” Colt agrees.
The drive downtown takes about twenty minutes where they have private parking at the back of the facility.
“I didn’t even realize what this place was. From the front, I thought it was a private medical building.”
“Well, it is,” teases Colt.
“Yes, I know, Mr. Biceps. But you’d never know it was a rehab facility.”
“That’s one of the reasons we use it. It’s discreet.”
“Does that mean expensive?” I ask because I know the Geyser family can’t afford this type of expense.
“Yes, but don’t worry, I’ll cover it.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Blaise. He deserves a dad who’s clean and sober. You should hear the way he talks about Derek. He idolizes him as every kid should do.”
“Really?” asks Derek.
We both turn to look at him. “Yes, Derek. Your son loves you.”
Tears well up in his eyes, and he wipes them away. “I’m such a fuck-up.”
Colt raises his eyebrows at me and gets out of the Jeep. A beefy man, dressed in white comes out. Both of them help Derek out of the car and into the building. I follow them in through the doors. Inside is nothing like I had pictured in my mind. It’s painted a soft green and very clinical. There’s a small reception area which is protected by a thick glass partition, next to it is a door with no handles, and behind the glass is another man dressed the same way.
“Good evening, Mr. Anders, who do we have here?” asks the receptionist.
A buzzing sound signals, the door opens, another large man comes out, and they take Derek away.
Colt focuses on the receptionist. “Here’s his wallet.” Colt slides it under a hole in the bottom of the glass partition. “His name is Derek Geyser.”
“Who do we need to notify of his stay here?”
“He has an ex-wife, Maria. I have her number, and as far as I know, he doesn’t have a job.”
The receptionist nods and goes through Derek’s wallet taking out his license. “Could you fill in this form with her contact details along with the payment method, please?”
Colt frowns, takes the clipboard, and sits on one of the benches. I sit next to him.
“It’s very plain in here,” I whisper.
“It’s supposed to be calming. They’ll take all his clothes and give him slippers and a tracksuit, so he’s comfortable. It’s also a way of making sure he’s not hiding anything.”
“You seem to know a lot about this…” I probe but trail off.
“Told you, sugar, my team uses this facility from time to time.” Colt stands and pulls his wallet out of his pocket and hands it to me. “Could you read out my credit card number, please?”
I do as I’m told and riffle through his wallet, looking for a credit card, then rattle off the numbers. Colt finishes filling in the form and goes back to the window.
“How long will you keep him?”
“Thirty days. If he’s coping, we’ll let him leave. A team will go in and sanitize his home to make sure there’s no alcohol on the premises. Some patients have very ingenious ways to hide their addictions. After that, we’ll monitor him for the first week. If he messes up, we’ll ask him to come back in for another thirty days and start all over again. Are you paying for the whole or an extended stay, Mr. Anders?”
“Whatever it takes, I’ll pay, but can we keep that between us? Derek doesn’t need to know.”
My heart melts as Colt says this to the receptionist. He’s a gorgeous man inside and out. The fact he doesn’t want any recognition for helping Derek amazes me. The receptionist nods and takes the clipboard with all of the information written on it.
“Would you like us to notify you when Mr. Geyser