Court Dates and Second Chances
Written by Emma McCoy
5 minute read
“Previously on” Nina:
A former resident of the Robin Harlowe Center for Women, Nina (fifty nine) has graduated from her recovery program, secured at a job at a local super-store, and moved in with her friend Candy (twenty seven), who has graduated from the same program. At one point, Nina and Candy were the two residents who could always be counted on for a fight, but now they share a subsidized apartment as they try to pull their lives back together—Candy in particular is working on getting more visitation with her six-year old son. [NOTE: In a previous story, her son had passed away. I’m changing this detail in order to continue the story]. After a workplace injury leaves Nina with a fractured hip, there’s not much to do around the apartment as she recovers.
Nina sat, breathless, as the vampire jumped across the snowy field, jumping higher than any human ever could, right toward the group of werewolves.
The front door opened. Nina turned around on the couch to find Candy dropping her stuff in the doorway, rolling her neck. Candy’s bleached hair was growing out to its natural brown, and it looked like her haircut was two flavors of ice cream, vanilla and chocolate. Privately, Nina thought the brown looked better.
“How’d the hearing go?” Nina asked.
Candy gasped at the TV. “Are you on Breaking Dawn already?”
“I’m on the fourth one. I think it’s Breaking Dawn, but another part.”
“Well yes, it’s part 2.”
“Is it the last one?” Nina frowned. “It feels like there’s still so much story to go.”
“If you’d read the books, like I told you to, you’d know there’s a whole other chunk of story from Edward’s perspective.”
Nina sniffed. “I prefer Jacob.”
“I can’t believe we’re friends.”
“But, the hearing?”
Candy sighed and sat next to Nina on the couch. “It actually went fine. I just get nervous. Plus the skirt is pretty itchy.” They’d found the wool skirt at Goodwill a few months ago, and Nina had to pin it to make sure it stayed. “Brayden was there with his dad and he gave me a hug, which felt pretty rad. I think his dad is impressed I’ve been clean over a year now, and the judge liked it too. I now get unsupervised visits at their house every other Saturday.”
“Candy! That’s huge!” Nina cried.
“I think George will probably stay in the house for a while, but the mediator doesn’t have to be there now,” she smiled.
“What’s the next step?”
“Next step is visits outside the house. I want to save up to take Brayden to the aquarium. His dad even let me have some drawings Brayden made in class, and they’re all of fish and sharks and things.”
Nina hugged Candy as best she could with her hip propped up. “I’m so proud of you, Candy.”
“Thanks, Nina.”
“It’s the strangest thing,” Candy said. “I liked some of the stuff they told us at the Center about not trusting in ourselves and learning boundaries, but I didn’t really care for all the Jesus stuff. But now…I don’t know. I was in such a bad place, and I now I get to see my kid without a cop in the room. It feels like Jesus might have something for me. I didn’t even think I’d live through the year, much less have a job and an apartment and a friend and successful court days. So that’s cool.”
Nina, who’d been all-in on Jesus since she overdosed, grinned to herself.
Who in your life would you like to share this with?
About the author
Spring Church member, Emma McCoy (M.A.), has two poetry books: This Voice Has an Echo (2024) and In Case I Live Forever (2022). She’s been published in places like Across the Margin, Stirring Literary, and Thimble Mag. She reads for Chestnut Review and Whale Road Review. She’s probably working on her novel right now. Catch her on Substack: https://poetrybyemma.substack.com/