“No. And I’m going to murder Pat for making so many people think that.”
Luke nodded. “I’m glad of that. I don’t think Isaac really believes you are either, but he’s beating himself up a lot for getting worked up about it. We need to find him before he does something he’ll regret later.”
“Then let’s go find him. He might have gone to America House. He’s not in any of the public areas in this building.”
Luke nodded. “That was my thought too.”
Tim, Luke, and Katie walked quickly out of the building and toward America House. Luke tried calling Isaac again, with no luck.
But when they all got to America House, there was Isaac, sitting alone at the bar, a full pint of beer in front of him. He was clearly lost in his own thoughts and didn’t move as Tim and Luke approached slowly.
Tim’s instinct was to run over there and take that beer away from him. But he thought more delicacy was called for. To Luke, he whispered, “What should we do?”
“I think you should talk to him. Try to be understanding. He spends all his days fighting his demons, and usually he wins, but I think today, they might be winning.”
“He did that interview with Marcus Holt today. They were supposed to talk about his alcoholism. Maybe it dredged something up.”
“Yeah. I don’t think this is really about you and Pat. But I think you should be the one to talk to him.”
“Okay.” Tim took a deep breath and walked forward slowly, not wanting to spook Isaac.
Was this the future he was signing on for? Would he have to rescue Isaac from himself more? Likely yes; alcoholism didn’t get magically cured and go away. Maybe it would get easier with time, but Isaac hadn’t even been sober for two years. Probably there would be hard times like this ahead. Was Tim prepared for that?
No. But he’d take Isaac with all his flaws in a heartbeat anyway.
He sat on the stool next to Isaac and said, “Hi.”
Isaac swallowed. He stared at his glass. “Hi.”
“I’m sorry for not answering my phone. I had a really terrible afternoon and wasn’t looking at it.”
“You shouldn’t have to be at my beck and call.”
“No, but I could have texted you back. I’m… I’m not back together with Pat, in case you were thinking that.”
“I wasn’t… well. I knew that was true on some level, but part of me kept thinking about it anyway.”
Tim took a deep breath. “He, ah, followed me around all afternoon. I told him off about eight times. I think he may even have heard me that last time. I never want to see him again, Isaac. He orchestrated the whole day so that we’d been seen together.”
“I saw you on that fucking gossip show. When I was at the broadcast center. It was on TV.”
“I know. All Pat’s doing. If I had known at the time that was what he was up to, I would never have spoken to him at all.” Tim leaned forward and cautiously put a hand on Isaac’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
Isaac shook his head. “It’s not you. It’s not your fault. I didn’t really think you were stupid enough to get back together with him. But sometimes I…. It’s my fucked-up brain, it gets the better of me. I’m usually better at coping with it, but today all of my emotions are turned up to eleven, and I just… I freaked the fuck out is what I did.” Isaac sighed. He pressed a hand to his forehead. “And I felt like such an idiot. I trust you. I do, I promise. I just got all up in my own head. And all I kept thinking was that I knew a surefire way to make it stop.” He lowered his hand and gestured toward his glass.
“Did you drink any of that?”
“No. I haven’t. Truthfully. I ordered it about ten minutes ago and I’ve just been watching the bubbles.”
Isaac’s sadness radiated off him, and Tim felt it in his gut. He wanted to cure it, to take it away, but he knew that wasn’t possible. “It’s not too late, then.”
Isaac reached for the glass but pulled his hand back again. “How could you possibly want to be with someone as fucked-up as I am? One setback and here I am, ready to drown my sorrows.”
Tim found some comfort in the fact that Isaac didn’t really believe him capable of getting back together with Pat, but the larger