door and held it for me.
“I sent her a text to see if we could stop by. She said she’ll fit me in whenever we got here.”
“And you think she’s mad at you,” Sledge mumbled.
I didn’t think she was mad per say but I was worried she thought I was a bitch who hated her sister for being an addict.
I hated that Duchess was an addict.
I didn’t hate her.
Coming here was me making sure that Lynn understood that.
This probably went back to me always making sure other people were okay and not myself, but whatever. I needed to clear my conscience. Plus, we could give her an update on what was going on with Gunner. Well, as much as we knew.
My anxiety was off the charts waiting to hear anything from Kaye. I was calling her in two hours, and I didn’t care what Sledge said. I had waited long enough. I needed some answers even if all she had to say was they were working on it.
“Hey,” I greeted the receptionist, “I don’t have an appointment, but Lynn told me to just drop by when I could.”
‘Of course. She’s always open for her patients. It might be a little bit. I think she’s in a group meeting right now. She’ll get you seen soon.” She reached behind her and grabbed a small plastic cup. “Just go ahead and fill this up.”
I grabbed the cup. “Oh,” I whispered, “uh, I’m not here for that.”
“I thought you needed to see Lynn?”
“Sugar,” Sledge laughed.
Did I always have to look like a fool in front of Sledge? “I’m not a patient of hers. My sister was and I just wanted to talk to her about a couple of things.”
“Oh, gosh,” the receptionist laughed nervously. “I’m so sorry. Sometimes I hand these things out like candy not really thinking about it. Just have a seat and she’ll come get you when she’s ready.”
Sledge grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a group of empty chairs.
“Do not even say a word,” I hissed.
Sledge grabbed a magazine and sat down next to me. “You looked at the cup like you were supposed to drink out of it.”
“Shut. Up.”
He shook his head and opened the magazine. “I suppose it’s a good thing you don’t recognize a piss test cup right away.”
I buried my face in my hands. “I take back what I said before. I like burritos better than you.”
We sat there for almost forty-five minutes before Lynn peeked her head out the door to the hallway to her office. “Hey! You guys can come on back.”
Sledge dropped his fifth magazine on the table and grabbed my hand. He pulled me out of the chair, and I walked a little wonky over to Lynn.
“Your butt still hurt?” he asked.
“Yes.” I rubbed my butt and groaned. “Next time, warn me.”
“Uh, everything okay?” Lynn asked.
I snatched my hand away from my butt. Today I was just making a fool of myself. I just needed to accept it. “We rode his bike here. My butt isn’t used to it.”
Lynn laughed and held open the door. “I’ve been there, girlfriend. A few more rides and you’ll be a pro.”
“You ride?” Sledge asked.
We followed Lynn down the hallway to her office.
“Long time ago. I haven’t been on a bike in ages.” She held open the door to her office. “I’m too busy working all of the time. I don’t exactly have regular office hours.”
I sat in the same chair I had before and Sledge dropped into the one next to me.
“Really?”
Lynn sat down and shoved a stack of papers to the side. Her desk wasn’t exactly tidy. I had to wonder how she managed to keep track of anything on it.
“Yeah. I tend to work every day, but it’s not always the same times. Tuesday and Thursday are group meeting days, while Monday and Wednesday I try to do all of my solo meetings. But not everyone can come to meetings on those days so it really becomes a cluster fuck.”
Sledge snorted.
“Oh, gosh,” Lynn laughed. “Sorry about that. Being professional doesn’t always happen with me.”
I elbowed Sledge. “You really don’t have to worry about that with us.” Honestly, her cussing made me like her even more. I didn’t feel like I had to be perfect.
“So, what did you want to talk about? I looked through all of Duchess’ files and didn’t find anything about who Gunner’s dad might be.” She rummaged through a stack of papers and pulled out an envelope.
“You