They were at the end of the hall that had a sitting room. Carol pointed Denise to a chair. “You have been on your feet long enough. Let’s sit for a few minutes and start back.”

Denise took a chair and Carol pulled one close so she could face her.

“I lost the best friend I had since I was in High School. Jan really cared about me. She made over nine million after I left School Days.” She wrinkled her nose. “Lie. I got to quit telling them. I may start believing them. She made over nine million after I got fired from School Days. I was getting at least as much as she was. I made less than six in the years since I left. Booze cost me more than ten million dollars.”

Carol smiled. Denise may just beat this. “You know I will be pressing you as fast as you can go because Fritz has told us to do that and because I want that surgery before someone changes their mind. But let me promise you this. I will not force you faster than is good for you. If you feel I am, tell me. I will at times be very hard on you and at times be very kind and understanding. I base this on knowing what you need. But I can be wrong.”

“You may be hard at times but you have had me figured out from the beginning.”

“Yes that’s true. Remember I have lived with booze myself. I have lied to others, hid booze, gotten blasted out of my mind, gotten hurt, hurt others and lied to myself too. I have worked with at least two hundred others who have done the same. If you think you are unique in this you are sorely mistaken. Do you know we knew why you left us the night you told us you were going to the restroom?”

“No. Susan followed you, saw you buy the booze.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“We could only keep you away from the booze as long as we watched you. You had to change to stop. If we kept taking it you weren’t going to learn what it was doing to you.”

“Right.”

“And we knew you were either going to hide it in the AC cable cabinet or on the roof because there wasn’t anywhere else.”