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"That's amazing," she said in surprise.

I smirked. "What?"

"Nothing. I assumed you were a newbie, one of those one-weekers or something. Most people who don't come to meetings have a really hard time staying clean."

"Never said it wasn't hard."

"But," she continued as if I hadn’t interrupted, "that's what I get for assuming, right?"

"No, tell me what you get."

She laughed, which had been my intention. Man, she sounded angelic like that. "I'll let you figure it out."

"Maybe I will, next week."

I was being stupid. I should never come back here. This girl was going to get me into a different kind of trouble that I wasn't sure I was ready for. But I needed to come…well, I kind of promised Joe I would.

"I'll be here," she said easily, shrugging one shoulder, and smiling before moving past me to stand at the back of the group. That thought made me feel somewhat easier about this whole group thing.

I walked past the body shop to my apartment. I liked walking and running. It not only kept me in shape and busy, but it kept my limp from being so noticeable. It never bothered me too much. And when I ran, I didn't notice it at all, but when I walked, especially at the end of the day, you could tell sometimes.

My apartment was the next block over from the shop, above a little Chinese restaurant that made their own fortune cookies. It actually wasn't a bad place to live, smelling cookies baking all day. My apartment was small, and the dark brick walls made it seem even smaller. It was a studio apartment, so the bedroom and living room had no real walls to separate them. I didn't have much.

But it was mine. I paid the rent, the lights, bought my own food. The fact that I paid those bills with the new last name I had to change to Sawyer to make sure that nobody ever came looking for me didn't matter.

I took a quick, hot shower and then laid on the couch and watched hot rod rebuild shows as I ate a sandwich. I texted Joey and told her I went to a meeting. She told me she got settled into her new place and started the new job on Monday.

This was my life and I wouldn't wish this nonexistent life on anyone.

But I thanked God for that nonexistence every…

Single.

Day.

END OF PREVIEW

For information on where you can buy this book, and the author, her site is here:

http://shellycrane.blogspot.com/p/wide-awake.html