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you?”
    Michael shrugged and stood up as he took note to various things that needed to be worked on.  “Casey for one thing.”
    “Sit back down and talk. I hate it when you pace.”  She patted the spot next to her on the swing and took another sip of her drink. 
    Sitting back down, he raked his hand through his hair and watched the cars passing by on the street.  She had moved to Queens to get away from Hell’s Kitchen, but with recent observation, Michael was realizing that Queens was getting just as bad, if not worse.  Averting his attention back to her, he coughed to clear his throat.
    “I’m feeling really guilty about some stuff.”
    “Like?”
    “I still have a lot of doubt about him and if he’s going to stick to the rehab.  Everyone else around me is being so supportive and upbeat.  It’s like you guys have forgotten about all of the times he has relapsed before and I’m the only one left with those memories. Hell, I don’t know. It’s just a jumbled mess inside my head.”
    “Oh, I have my doubts too,” she replied.  “I’m helping him pay for it all.  It’s definitely crossed my mind. But I’ve also done a lot of reading about it all.  You know how it is.  An addict has to fully hit rock bottom before they finally get the help and stick to it.  I’d say what you guys went through was definitely rock bottom.”
    “Yeah.  It’s just a trust issue.  I don’t want to let my guard down and have him show back up on my doorstep the way he did before.  I don’t think I can take that again.  I just feel like crap when I have all of these negative thoughts, like I’m letting him down.”
    She leaned forward.  “You haven’t told him you are doubting him, right?”
    “No, of course not.  Only you and Eva know.”
    She crunched a piece of ice between her teeth.  “Then you aren’t letting him down.  You are being human.  I think a lot of your fears will fade away when we go down to Austin and actually see what’s going on.  It’s a better clinic than any he’s gone to up here.”
    Michael ducked his head.  “What do I do if he does let us down again?  How are we supposed to handle that?” He looked straight into her eyes, remembering everything from the past and how it broke his heart worse each time Casey had flunked out.
    “We’ll just have to cross that bridge if we ever get to it. One day at a time, you know how that goes.  Just like with your alcoholism.  One day at a time, right?”
    She always had such a calm way to explain things to him.  He wished he could be as patient as she was.  “Yeah, I guess if I can get through it, so can he.”
    “It’s possible for anyone, Michael.”  She smiled and cupped his cheek in her hand, giving him a small kiss on his forehead.  “I’m gonna go inside before it starts raining.”
    T he screen door squeaked behind her and he was left alone with his thoughts.  The sky was turning grey.  He began working on the chores before the storm hit, finally calling it quits when he heard thunder in the distance.  When he went back inside, she was looking through several picture albums.
    “You decide to come in before you got st r uck?”
    Michael laughed and sat down beside her, his eyes skimming over all of the pictures of he and Casey when they were toddlers.  “Yeah.  Got your gutters cleaned out and one of your flowerbeds.  About all I could do.”
    She patted his arm.  “More than enough. Thank you.”  She handed him a picture of when he was about five, sitting on the old Ladder Twenty One rig with his dad beside him.  He was smi ling and the fire hat he was wearing was far too big for his head.  His dad looked proud with his arm around him. 
    “Wow, look at that. The station house really hasn’ t changed much,” Michael said.
    “I’m just going through some pictures.  One of Casey’s counselors said to compile some of his pictures through the years together to take.  I’m taking a walk down