Page 20 of Serenity

“So you survived on wine, Chinese food, and pizza while Iwasgone?”

“Prettymuch.”

His gaze shot to the bedside table again. “What about your medicine? Where’s your pill box? It’s not where you usuallykeepit.”

I shook my head, trying to clear the fog and remember where I’d last seen my medications. “I think they’re in thebathroom.”

He strode across the room, ducking into the bathroom for less than a minute before returning to my side with the plastic box in his hand. “I left on Thursday. The slots for Friday and Saturday are empty but Sunday is still full. But they’re the only pillsinhere.”

“What?”

He lifted the box up so I could see it better. “Today is Tuesday. You always refill it on Monday morning. It should have pills in it for the rest of the week, not just Sunday. Have you not been taking your medication while Iwasgone?”

“Of course I’ve been taking my pills.” I rose up on my knees and yanked the box from his hands. “I’m not stupid. I know how important my meds are, and I never miss taking them. I might have fallen apart a little, but I’ve been taking care of myselfforever.”

Or at least I never missed my meds in the past. But I’d been nauseous ever since he walked out the door and had a hard time keeping them down. It had only gotten worse as time went on, and I figured it was because I was so upset. I’d never had my heart broken like that before, and I’d assumed that was why I felt so awful. That and the alcohol I wasn’t used to drinking. “I was a little out of it, but I know I took mypills.”

Hadn’t I? Or was I drunk enough that I’d forgotten someofthem?

Dillon went back into the bathroom and grabbed the bottles from the pharmacy. He dumped the contents of my anti-rejection meds on the bed and counted them out. “Thirty. Is that how many should beinhere?”

“Sixty, minus twenty-eight, and another two from yesterday. But then there’s the two left in the box,” I mumbled to myself as I was calculating how many pills I should’ve gone through since I picked up my last refill. “Shit. I think I missed a couple of dosessomehow.”

Dillon kicked at the empty wine bottles on the floor. “I’m pretty sure these are yoursomehow.”

“I wasn’t thinking straight. I just wanted the pain to stop. To sleep through the worst of it until I could pull myself back together again. But I swear to you I thought I was keeping better track of my pillsthanthat.”

“Fuck.” He whirled around and punched the wall. Hard enough that his fist went through the drywall. I climbed off the mattress to check if his hand was okay, but I only took two steps before my legs gave out and I started togodown.

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