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The brunette winced at the bite in the doctor’s tone.
She honestly thought it had only been a week, two at
the most. “I didn’t think it had been that long…” Hearing
that her mom probably hadn’t slept in the past month,
actually just hearing her mother’s name had Carter fighting
back tears. How could I have been so fucking stupid…

Her hands were fidgeting at her sides as she chewed
on the inside of her bottom lip. Carter’s eyes met Teddy’s
as she nodded, “Um… After the last time you saw me…
Things got pretty bad… I went on a bender,” she sighed,
running a hand through her hair, “and one morning I woke
up in a cold shower with a friend yelling and smacking me…
After that… I decided that I needed to get clean.” Her mind
tracked back, the past several weeks, trying to calculate
exactly how long she had been clean. “I didn’t want mom
to see me come in here on a gurney, so I locked myself in
a hotel room and forced myself to get clean.” Carter blinked
back a couple of tears, “I thought it had only been a week,
Teddy. One very long and painful week…”

“You’re  right  about  the  long part,” Teddy said, but
she  could  no  longer  muster  any   semblance   of
contempt. She could see the truth in  Carter’s  eyes,
and how hard this girl had tried; if anyone deserved
a second chance, it was her.

“Listen, Carter…” Teddy said,  her  voice  reserved
and tentative. “No one ever  said  you  had  to  go  it
alone.  It  was  very  brave of you to try… but I think
it’s  time to for you to face your mother now. I know
isn’t  easy, but just tell her what you told me. I have
a   feeling  she’d  understand  better  than  anybody.”
Teddy, too, understood  —  she  knew  exactly how
taxing it could be to a soul when there was  nothing
left  to  her  but  her  own   company;  she knew that
being  alone would only make it  that  much  harder
than  it had to be. But if all that Carter had said was
true,  she was already on the home  stretch;  she’d
made  it through the worst of it, and there were only
 brighter days yet.