Free Addicted Like Me by Karen Franklin

a home if I took either job, so Lauren, Ryan, and I moved a third time.
    The home I bought in Phoenix was close to the church we had attended the last time we had lived in Arizona, and it was located only two miles from my friend Shirley’s home. Shirley and her daughter, Lindsey, were still having issues at that time, but things
had improved since she had learned the Tough Love techniques and applied them in their home. My kids had not improved in the least. Before we left Colorado, Lauren stole some of my checks in the hope she could run away again, rather than move; however, she did not follow through. Ryan was adamant that he was not going to live with me and decided to go live with his dad, in Cottonwood, Arizona, a two-hour drive from the house where Lauren and I ended up. It upset me, but I let Ryan make his own decision. He wouldn’t be that far away, and he would come home to spend the weekend a couple of times per month.
    I continued to attend Tough Love meetings in Phoenix, with Shirley, and made sure there were consequences for any unacceptable behaviors Lauren tried to pull. As I settled in with her, things were less chaotic than they had been in Colorado. She even seemed to become inspired. She asked to go to a new, charter high school where the courses were designed to let her work at her own pace. Lauren actually went to school most of the time after I said yes and enrolled her, and she also got a job at a telemarketing company. I was pleased she was making progress in her life. Both the kids, in fact, seemed renewed. Perhaps it was due to the surprise they felt when I actually followed through with the threat of the move. In any event, this was a period when things were fairly peaceful, and I welcomed the needed break. Lauren was keeping from me what was just around the bend for her.

CHAPTER 4
    FALSE HOPE
    LAUREN TURNED SIXTEEN the year we moved back to Arizona, and she resumed old friendships. I was so relieved. She had been close to her friend Steve since they were three years old. He was a good kid, and I couldn’t have been more pleased when Lauren contacted him. She also spent time with Shirley’s daughter, Lindsey, whom she had known for a number of years. I was a bit concerned about Lauren’s involvement with Lindsey, because she had caused Shirley so much trouble, but the girls had known each other for a long time. Might they be good for each other? Shirley’s advice had certainly been good for me. Lauren also met Robert, her boyfriend at the time, shortly after we moved. He was a nineteen-year-old she
had been introduced to through her godmother Mary’s family. Robert seemed like a nice kid and had known Mary’s family for years, although I remember thinking he did not seem like Lauren’s type. I didn’t understand what she saw in him.
    Halfway through the semester Ryan attempted to move home, but that move was put on hold. I called Rick, and we decided it was better for Ryan to finish the school year first. At the time I was unaware, but found out later on, that Rick had relapsed. I had wondered what was up when Ryan wanted to come home. Turns out, Rick was drinking pretty heavily and so was his wife, and things were rocky in their marriage. It’s distressing to think Ryan had to tolerate the same type of environment I did, when my dad married Nora and they were both drinking a lot. He still came home on weekends, and when he did, Lauren, Ryan, and I started going back to our old church together. It was comforting to once again walk through the doors of the sanctuary, where so much healing had occurred for me.
    I was where I belonged, but Lauren was not. She was still trying to figure out if she belonged to herself or to her addictions. I had high hopes. Our church had one of the biggest teen programs in the country, and I had told Lauren that if she went on a retreat, I would pay to get her driver’s permit. She looked angry at first that she had to