Page 9 of Wrong Number, Right Unicorn

I counted to five before responding.

“It wasn’t little, Grams. It was full. And other things happened there too.” I wasn’t even sure all what and was very confident that I didn’t want to.

“People don’t have a sense of humor anymore,” Grams grumbled. “Can we get the tea? I do need it to go with Matlock.”

We stopped at the big box store on the way and grabbed some groceries for her as well. Normally, I’d have offered to pay, but I had just borrowed bail money and paying that back was top priority.

Once home, I put her purchases away and told her to grab a shower and put on her housecoat. For her, a housecoat signaledshe wasn’t going anywhere, and I needed her to stay put and rest.

We really needed to have a discussion about why she mooned the officer. It was one thing with the security guard—they apparently had a past of some sort, so I could sort of piece together why she might think that was acceptable. It wasn’t, but Grams logic—yeah, I could see that. But there was no way, absolutely none, that the cop did anything to her. Who just goes and moons someone, especially someone with the ability to arrest you?

She agreed and padded into the bathroom while I put things away and made her some toast and tea. My hope was that she would have a light breakfast and then take a nap. She’d been up all night, and that wasn’t good for her—for either of us.

When she came back into the kitchen, she opened a drawer and grabbed a few bottles. The thing was full of pill bottles—tons and tons of them. I knew she’d had a change in her medications lately, having driven her to pick some up, but she had a whole-ass pharmacy in there.

“When did you move those over there?” I asked, seeing that the junk drawer was no longer junk.

“It got to be too much for that little holder you gave me.”

I’d given her a little lazy Susan that held quite a few bottles. It had been perfect because it made it easier for her to find the things she needed. Not any longer. When I got closer to the drawer to get a better look, I was in shock. She had a lot more prescriptions than before.

“Grams, why do you have all these?”

She picked them up one at a time and explained what they were, or at least which doctor gave them to her. I got lost only partway through and was amazed she was able to keep track of them all.

I tried to encourage her to consider a nap, but she insisted, “I’m feeling better now than I was. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” She took a handful of pills and grabbed her tea and toast.

She might’ve been feeling better, but she sure wasn’t acting better. And it wasn’t even that she was acting poorly, not like last night. She just wasn’t herself, and that worried me… too much.

“How about I get you a pill holder so you can at least organize them by the day and not have to do this every day?” I’d seen on TV that they even individually packed medications by the day for patients. I was going to need to look into that as well.

“Okay,” she said. At least she was amenable to that.

I counted the bottles one more time as I put them away for her. I took one pill a day during allergy season and it felt like a lot. This was… there were no words.

We sat at the table as she ate her toast. She told me to hurry along to work—well, school, until I reminded her I had a job now. I lied and said I already had the day off. She didn’t need to know that I was calling in sick for her. And then, instead of going to bed like I suggested, she went and watched Matlock. Only thankfully, watching didn’t really happen, and she fell asleep in her recliner. She needed the sleep, and I needed some time to think—Think about how to help her. Think about whether I needed to be moving in here. Think about how I was going to get the money back to not-Julian.

And after that, I needed to get some rest myself.

I took out my phone and typed:Thanks. I went to hit send, backed it out, and just stared at the blank screen. There was so much more than thanks. Davien was so willing to help, so kind. And, yeah, he was hot. But it wasn’t about that. It was... I didn’t know. I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Eventually, I thanked him and promised I’d pay him back, hitting send before I could change my mind. I wasn’t sure when that would be, and I felt guilty about that. But there was nothing I could do about that, at least not today.

At least Grams seemed to be less erratic. So that was something.

Chapter 5

Davien

I woke up late, thanks to the sleepless hours when all I could think of was Errol and Grams.

Stumbling into the kitchen, I made coffee, my eyes cracked open a little. Nothing made sense until I’d downed that first rush of caffeine.

I rested my head on a cupboard, waiting for the machine as it made noises like it was in pain. With a hot mug of coffee in my hand, I gulped that first mouthful. Nothing was as good as that, not the second or third gulp and not another cup or a brew at a coffee shop.

My taste buds reacted and my brain engaged, and I opened the back door and sat on the deck overlooking the back garden.

But though my right hand held the mug, my left which usually had my phone was empty. I wasn’t expecting work calls, having finished a big project two days ago, and I had the week off.

---