Any Day Now

There were two more newcomers—a woman about fifty, fresh out of rehab, a guy about thirty, here by court order and needing thirty days of signed chits. And then a guy stood up and said his name was Mark. He didn’t add that he was an alcoholic but Sierra thought, We have a winner! His coloring was pale with splotches, he was trembling, his eyes were red and watering. He was a little stooped—his gut hurt. Chances were good he was just coming off a bender. They were going to corral him right after the meeting, she bet. Nothing more was required of him, just that he listen. And he might bolt, but they were already on to him. Something might’ve happened to get him to a meeting. His wife might’ve finally left him, he could’ve lost his job or spent one too many nights in jail. He didn’t look like he’d been in a fight. Just real hungover. As usual, she asked herself if she’d ever looked that bad.

When the meeting was over, people scattered pretty fast. This was, after all, a before-work meeting—convenient. She met a couple of women who welcomed her and told her they hoped she’d join them again and she said she probably would, but she wasn’t sure of anything except one thing—she was going to scope out the locations and times of the meetings around her so she wasn’t searching for one when she absolutely needed one.

Maybe she’d come again. She liked moody Moody for no apparent reason. He might be grumpy but he seemed steady.

She went to Cal’s to explain her new living space and, predictably, he was thrilled to hear she’d be staying at the Crossing.

The next morning she got up extra early knowing Sully would be up, but instead of rushing off to a meeting, she hung around at the breakfast bar until Enid and Frank showed up. After visiting with them for a while, she did a little cleanup in the store, then headed for the garden.

After two hours in the garden she took a nap, read her book for a while, washed some of her clothes and offered to cook Sully’s dinner. And she thought, My God, this is living. There was no television in her cabin, but Sully offered his if she wanted to watch TV. “Just lock the door when you go home,” he said.

“I’m surprised you lock doors around here,” she said.

“I forget most of the time. But lock yours. Every now and again we get a bad apple. Last spring Maggie shot a lowlife who’d kidnapped a girl.”

“Really?” she asked, astonished and impressed.

“I’ll tell you about that sometime when we run out of stories...”

She didn’t think they’d ever run out of stories!

Cal and Maggie were around the Crossing a little bit on the weekend, Maggie more than Cal. Cal worked on making a home every day.

Then came Monday morning and her new job began early. The diner didn’t open until seven but she was required to be there at six thirty to set up. There was training for her, but she’d waitressed on and off so many times over the years, very little instruction was required. There were several early customers who she learned were mostly locals or business owners and workers from the town and a bit later, a few tourists. It was steady but not what she’d call busy. There was competition off the highway and in surrounding towns—bigger places like Applebee’s and Denny’s.

And then at eleven who should come in but Moody. Just the sight of him had her beaming as though she loved him. Someday she’d figure out what it was about her and slightly mean men. Slightly if she couldn’t find a really mean one! She couldn’t put this on her brothers or father. Jed Jones might be nuts but he was sweet. Vulnerable. And the boys had always been kind, to women especially.

“Isn’t this a surprise,” she said to Moody.

“You aren’t hard to track down,” he said, sitting at the counter. “Coffee?”

“No, thanks,” she said. “I’m pretty coffee’d out. Oh! Do you want coffee?”

“You’re very funny, aren’t you?” he asked, not cracking a smile.

“To some people,” she said, grabbing a mug from under the counter. She poured him a cup. “Anything to eat? Breakfast? Lunch?”

“Nah. Just the coffee.”

She took a breath. “You were tracking me down?”

He took a sip. “No, not really. But then I realized you told me where you worked and I come by here sometimes. I thought I’d let you know—there’s a meeting here in town. Seven on Thursday nights at the church. I go sometimes, depending what’s going on.”

“Is that early meeting your home meeting?” she asked.

“I get up early. I like getting it out of the way.”

“Is this a house call?” she asked, teasingly.

“We don’t make house calls,” he said. “We do reach out sometimes, but if you ask me not to—”

“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s very nice, in fact.”

“Then I’ll take a chance and ask you if there’s anything you need. I’ve been around here a long time. And I’ve been in the program a long time.”

She’d heard at the meeting. “Thirty years,” she said. “That’s a long time, all right. Either you were pretty young or you’re pretty old.”

There was the glimmer of a smile, but it was small and showed no teeth. “Both.”

“Either you know the ropes by now or you’ve been a real tough case.”

This time he did show teeth. He even gave a huff of laughter. “Both,” he said again. “Think you’ll be around awhile?”

“I hope so,” she said. “My brother and his wife are expecting. I wouldn’t want to miss that. But this was a leap of faith. It’s quite a change. A beautiful change, but still...”

“You staying with your brother, then?” he asked.

She shook her head. “My sister-in-law’s dad owns a campground just outside of town and he loaned me a cabin. So I have a place of my own but I’m kind of with family at the same time. It’s private, but...”

He lifted his eyebrows. “Sully’s place?”

“You know Sully?” she asked.

“I think everyone knows Sully. Maggie is your sister-in-law?”

“And you know Maggie?”

“Sierra, I live here. In three weeks you’ll know everyone.”

“And you go to meetings here? In town?”

He nodded. “I think the word is out on me. I don’t talk about anyone else’s business. You going to stick to Leadville?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead. I did notice they have a meeting for everything in Leadville.”

“That’s for sure,” he agreed. “So, you have a place to stay, know where the meetings are, have family around—that can be good or not, depending. Anything you need right now?”

“Not right now,” she said. “I’ll be looking for a sponsor, but for right now I still have my last sponsor by phone. We talk all the time.”

He took out a pen, grabbed a napkin and wrote his name and cell number on it. “While you’re checking things out and meeting people, here’s my number. Why don’t you use it sometime. Check in with me until you get a new sponsor.”

“I don’t expect to need anything, Moody, but—”

“Then just check in to say hello,” he said. “It’s a good idea to have an anchor or two. Floating around without connections can be risky.”

“Okay, sure,” she said, taking the napkin, folding it in half and slipping it in the pocket of her shorts. “But I’ll probably see you around.”

“How you doing on the steps?”