However, this was Bronte’s second time – and second time round was worse. There was so much shame in a relapse. When an addict first got clean or sober, they had to work hard to win back the trust of the people they loved – but when they got it, it was beautiful. Relationships often became honest and pure, perhaps for the first time ever.
It was infinitely harder to pull it off twice. People were willing to forgive once, but a relapse soured everything.
Outside, Bronte and the husband exchanged a few words. He touched her face and she nodded, then they turned towards the steps which led to our door and disappeared from my view.
Even though I wasn’t needed, I went to the admissions office, where it was all go. Brianna and Eden were processing the paperwork and Priya had Bronte’s luggage up on a desk, rummaging through the contents, looking for contraband.
Passively, Bronte sat on a chair, her arm bent at the elbow as Nurse Moze took a blood sample. She was as pale as milk, except for a cluster of delicately broken veins in the middle of each cheek. Not a scrap of make-up – her eyebrows and eyelashes were so fair they were invisible and her wispy, faded hair was carelessly caught up in an elastic band. I itched to tell her that she should use a proper bobble, that it was no wonder her hair was broken and flyaway, the way she treated it. But sadly that wasn’t part of my remit.
Her clothes were really quite something – her jeans looked as if they’d time travelled from 1973, where they’d last been seen on a ten-year-old boy haring around on a Chopper. Was this an aristo thing? Long, elegant fingers, no nail varnish, but there was no avoiding the ring on her wedding finger, a monstrously ornate Victorian-style gold and ruby affair.
‘What are these?’ Priya had found a card of tablets in Bronte’s wash bag.
‘Her birth control.’ Eden’s voice was too boomy for the small room.
‘Are they, Bronte?’ Priya asked.
‘Oh? Um … yes.’
Priya examined the brand name, made a note in Bronte’s file and moved the tablets to an in-tray.
‘She needs to take them.’ Eden’s face darkened.
‘We need to check what they are.’
‘You think she would try to smuggle …？’
Wouldn’t be the first time, buster.
Pleasantly, Priya repeated, ‘We need to check them.’
‘Give her her birth control. She’s my wife and I insist.’
Coolly, Bronte followed the exchange.
Frankly, I was delighted I’d gatecrashed! This sort of insight was priceless.
‘Bronte is in our care now.’ Priya was firm.
‘Eden …？’ Bronte shook her head at him. ‘Please …’
‘Okay.’ Visibly trying to calm down, he said, ‘I should go.’ He flicked an angry look at us. ‘May I have privacy to kiss my wife?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘She’s in rehab now.’ Christ, were they all in denial? You’d expect the clients to be, it was part of their condition. But when the very people who were checking them in were also at it, you’d seriously wonder.
Incredulous, he asked, ‘You think I’m going to slip her something as I kiss her?’
‘It’s happened!’ Moze, Priya, Brianna and I exclaimed, simultaneously.
In foul form, Eden Tollemarche departed.
It was time to start group and as Bronte was here, she might as well come with me.
‘The bloods that Nurse Moze took?’ I asked her. ‘Are they going to come back clean?’
‘I don’t know … I mean, I was detoxed, I haven’t taken anything since …’
‘Okay. Let’s go.’
In the Abbot’s Quarter, as Bronte sat down, Harlie gave her a thorough scan – and I could read her mind. A lash and brow tint, some red-cancelling primer followed by a decent coverage foundation. Maybe even a handful of hair extensions to give those poor, broken strands some body.
Bronte removed her jacket to reveal a T-shirt that said ‘I’m Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come’。
‘Morning, all,’ I said. ‘As you can see, a new member has joined us. Bronte, would you like to introduce yourself?’
‘Um. Okay.’ In a low voice, she said, ‘My name’s Bronte. I’m …’ She cleared her throat. ‘… addicted to heroin. I was clean for over four years. Nine months ago I broke my ankle, got put on Vicodin and … relapsed.’
Chalkie was checking her out – the humongous ring, her slender, elegant limbs, all of it.