There were no high fives or shared glances. Cory kept his distance. The camaraderie that had started to build had washed back out to sea. Emma was cautious, knowing he could be doing this for attention, sulking like he used to so she would come back around and tend to him. But when the afternoon practice ended and the kids left and Cory said good-bye to Tyler, Emma knew he wasn’t sulking. He was just keeping his distance. As he should be. She saw him get in the old pickup truck and leave the parking lot. Alone. Cory realized he was still only halfway through Celebrate Recovery’s eight weeks when he tried to start taking better care of himself. This began with getting back into shape and starting to exercise. Sometimes he would jog in the middle of the night on a back road going nowhere. The night stars reminded him of all those times when he was young, looking at these same stars and believing he could be something when he left this place behind.
