Laura admitted she had a problem with alcohol. She worried it was getting out of control. She took herself to the doctor to confess her drinking habits to him.
He recommended a support group.
One evening, Husband and I drove past a bus stop. We saw Laura waiting. We knew where she was going, her first meeting for support that night. My beautiful daughter waited to meet people who shared the same problem as her.
The knot tightened in my stomach to see my beautiful daughter wave to us. She should have been waiting for a boyfriend, she should have been going home to a family of her own, she should have been going to work. Not a meeting with alcoholics, like her.
Laura said the meeting was therapeutic and she would be attending more.
I invited her to dinner one day, she declined, a support meeting to attend. It seemed to be doing her good. I relaxed to the concept.
Husband came home from work later that summer evening. ‘Have you heard from Laura today?’
‘Yes, she’s gone to a meeting.’
‘I don’t think they hold meetings outside a pub.’
She had lied to me again.
Laura was due to visit me the next lunchtime before her shift at work.
She rang instead, ‘I won’t be coming today. I need to nip down the street before work.’
‘Are you okay?’ I asked.
‘Yes, too much to do, that’s all.’
My uneasy feeling spiralled, because of her slow speech.
I jumped in the car and made my way to her flat.
addictchild 