Rejuvenate | Spruceworth 5.2

Chapter 47

Chapter 47

~Shaw~

       As I was getting ready to head off to work, my cell phone started ringing. I looked at the caller ID, seeing Grant's name on the screen. I answered it immediately, never wanting to miss one of his calls. "Hello?"

       "Hey..." Grant said quietly. "I, um..." He sighed heavily. "Promise you won't get mad?"

       Grant didn't even have to say anything else for me to know what happened. And of course, I wouldn't get mad at him. I knew what he was going through. I knew how hard it was to stay off of drugs.

       "How much did you take?" I asked.

       "N-Not much," Grant said. "I... was just stressed because school is starting and... I'm sorry."

       "Hey, it's okay," I said. "I'm not going to get mad if you have a relapse. You have no idea how many times I relapsed. That's why I'm here. To help."

       Grant released a breath of relief. He must have been quite worried that I was actually going to get mad at him, despite all the times I would help him come down from his high or talk him out of taking some drugs in the moment.

       "C-Can I come over after school?" Grant said. "I think this was just a one off but... I don't want to be one my own just in case it's not."

       "Yeah, of course," I said. "I'll be home by then. And if you need to talk before then, just send me a text. I'll keep my cell phone in my uniform so I'll feel it vibrate."

       "You shouldn't do that..."

       "It will be fine. I'll see you after school, okay?"

       "O-okay."

       After we hung up, Holden looked at me. "Is everything okay?"

       "Sort of," I said, putting my shoes on to head out the door. "Grant just had a relapse, so he wants to come over after he's done school for the day. He'll need to be around someone, and I don't think things actually worked out with his mother."

       Holden sighed. "I was afraid of that. I kind of figured that she wasn't serious when she said she'll try harder to support him. I've gotten used to my parents lying so it's not that hard to recognize."

       "That doesn't sound like a good thing," I said.

      "Yeah, I know," Holden said. He then started pushing me towards the door. "You're going to be late for work. Leave already."

       "Wow, it's like you want me to leave or something," I said.

       "I want you to get to work so you're not late," Holden said.

       "Alright, alright, I'm going." I kissed my husband before heading out to go to work for the day. Honestly, I was a bit worried I wasn't going to be able to focus because of the call I got from Grant. I really was going to keep my phone in my uniform just in case he needed to talk to me, but I just kept wondering if he was ever going to call and if he was going to be okay.

       The more time I spent working, the more I was able to focus. I kept telling myself that Grant was okay; if he wasn't, he would call me. He might even go to my house anyway to talk to Holden. Grant did prefer to talk to me at times because I was the one who struggled with substance abuse, but Holden still tried his best to help Grant out if I was unavailable for some reason.

       I finished my shift without Grant calling me, so maybe things went okay for him at school. There was still about two hours before he got out of school, so he still might call or text before then.