Carl leaned across the table and tried to make eye contact. “Listen to me, Jack. You’re a good guy with a lot of talent. You don’t have to let this ruin you. Get yourself some therapy, check into a clinic if you need to—do whatever you have to do to get through this, because you could go far in this business. But at the rate you’re going, you’re heading for the same end as a lot of other talented people we don’t remember, because they ruined themselves early in the game. See what I’m saying?” I nodded silently. “And if you need money for this stuff, you just let me know. We’ll work it out, all right?”

I forced myself to look him in the eye. Carl was a good man, I’d always known that. He was also the closest thing I had to family out here in California, and I didn’t want to let him down. “Thank you,” was all I could muster, and I hoped he could see in my eyes everything else I wanted to say but couldn’t find the words for.

He nodded and stood. “Breakfast?”

My stomach lurched at the thought of food. “Uh, no, but thanks.” He grinned slightly, and I grinned back—a lopsided, exhausted, defeated grin. “I’m going home.”

“Let me drive you back,” he said, reaching for his keys on the counter.

“No, I’ll be all right—”

“Look.” He stared at me hard and spoke with a firm voice that told me there was no point in arguing. “I’m driving you home, because you’re in no shape to drive, and I don’t want to lose another actor to another bad decision.” I dropped my gaze, nodded, and followed him out to his car.

“So that’s why your character was killed off.”

Jack nodded. “You watched Deep Cover?”

I wasn’t about to admit I’d planned my evenings around it. “Yeah, enough to know when people came and went. That was a great episode too. Really touching.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen that one,” Grace admitted. “I was never a big fan. ER was more my speed.” She winked at Jack, and he laughed.

I was grateful for her remark, which diffused a bit of the gravity in Jack’s storytelling. It was hard to imagine someone as talented and personable as Jack falling into such a destructive trap.

“So then what?” I asked.

I left DC, which was painful, but definitely the right thing to do, and started seeing a therapist. As for detox, I counted myself as lucky for having only a few months of bad habits to get over instead of years; as it was, it took more willpower and discipline than I thought I had to kick them, and it was only thanks to Carl’s and, surprisingly, Todd’s accountability and help that I got clean.