Free Always: Broken Series Book Four by Annie Jocoby

let out a breath. “Scotty, I don’t want to push you, but I feel that I need to. You’re taking a leave of absence from work, you’re drinking seemingly all the time, and you’re not eating. You’re going to turn into your mother, and that’s the last thing that I want to see.”
    Scotty looked away. “So this is what it’s come down to? I hit below the belt when I said that your workaholicism might be responsible for Abrianna’s death, and now you’re accusing me of being like my mother.” She narrowed her eyes and got up to go to the kitchen. I followed her and watched as she poured herself a glass of whiskey, straight up. With a defiant look on her face, she drank down the entire glass and made herself another one.
    “Scotty, I’m warning you…” I suddenly was having a problem not strangling her. Not literally of course, but I was feeling like Addison was not only out of control, but Scotty was too. That was hardly fair to me – I was essentially being asked to not only take control of Addison’s illness and her treatment, but also I was going to have to somehow keep Scotty from completely falling apart.
    “You’re warning me what?” She downed the second drink and already started to slur her words. “What? Go ahead, tell me what’s on your mind. Dad.”
    She’s baiting you, Nick. Don’t let her do it. All my knock-down drag-out fights with Rielle flashed through my brain. I didn’t want to go there with Scotty, too.
    Scotty was standing there, and she had her hands on her hips. She started to pour another drink and I knocked the bottle of whiskey out of her hands. “That’s enough. You’ve had enough.”
    She shook her head. “You know, I never thought that I would say this. But I really understand why mom drank. I do. Life is just so shitty. So shitty. You have to do something to get through it.”
    I went over to her and put my arms around her. She cried, but then she walked away from me. “Scotty, you can’t do this. You can’t completely fall apart like this. You have to be strong.”
    “Strong.” She shook her head. “I’ve been strong my entire life. I’ve had to go through the worst nightmares that anybody can ever survive. I’ve had to fight for everything I have. And I’m tired, Nick. I’m tired of fighting. All I want to do is take this bottle of whiskey and get into bed. That’s all that I want to do. I’m just tired.”
    I had the temptation to try to shake some sense into her. I wanted to yell and scream and somehow get her to face reality. But I couldn’t. I knew that if I did what I wanted to do, it would do nothing but push her even further away. “Scotty, maybe it’s time you started seeing Adele again.” Adele Holloway was Scotty’s shrink for many years. I credited Adele with getting Scotty to where she was finally able to face her past and get on with things.
    Scotty just nodded. She looked like a little girl, standing there in the kitchen, tinier than ever. She always had a tendency to be as slight as a sparrow, and it was always a challenge for me to make sure that she ate enough to be truly healthy. Now, she had lost weight, and it showed. I went over to put my hands on her hips to bring her to me, and I could feel her bones.
    “I’m tired, Nick. I’m really, really tired. I never thought that I could be this exhausted.”
    “I know,” I said, putting my hand in her hair. I didn’t really know what more to say to her. I wanted to tell her how unfair it was that she apparently was going to put this whole thing on my shoulders, because she was checking out. At the same time, I knew that such accusations wouldn’t do any good. The only thing that would do any good at that point, maybe, was her straightening things out with her therapist. “Let me make you an appointment to see Adele,” I said, getting out my phone.
    I called Adele, told her that Scotty had an emergency and needed to speak with her. I was able to make an appointment for Scotty to