Cruel Trust

Twenty-Six

I asked Andrew to meet me at Starbucks after work, and when I pulled up, I saw his truck was already in front. Sighing with relief, I parked next to him and ran inside. Stepping behind the chair he was sitting in, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.

He looked over his shoulder and me and smiled that dazzling smile that could sweep me off my feet every time. "Hey," I said, sitting down next to him on the oversized chair.

"Hey, baby. What's going on? You sounded pretty panicked on the phone."

I took a deep breath and opened my purse. "I have to show you something I found at my house today."

"Okay?"

I pulled the pill bottle out of my purse and handed it to him. He looked at it and then back at me. "Julia's medication? Why was it at your house?"

"I don't know...look at the name." I pointed at the label, but I could tell that meant nothing to him. "Invega treats schizophrenia, Andrew."

I let that sink in. When he raised his face to look at me, his eyes were cloudy. "What? Julia is schizophrenic?"

"That was my exact reaction."

"You didn't know?"

"Of course not! I knew she had some struggles with depression in high school, but nothing like that. Even when I was going through my darkest days, she never mentioned it," I whispered, more to myself than to Andrew.

"Jesus," he mumbled. He looked down at the bottle again and then back up at me. "Wait a minute...this prescription is from last April," he said, alarmed.

"What?" I asked, leaning over to look at the bottle.

"Yeah... that means..."

"... she may have been off her meds for a year or more," I whispered.

"Holy shit. We've got to go see her, figure out what's going on."

"I don't know—" I started, but he was already walking away.

"Where are you going?" I asked, following him outside.

"We have to go talk to her," he said, and even though I didn't want to, I had to admit he was right.

When we got to Julia's house, her car wasn't in the driveway. It was 6:30 pm; she should've been home from work by now.

"Maybe she went out to dinner or something," Andrew suggested, parking his truck on the street.

"Yeah, maybe. Should we wait for her to get home?" 

"I don't know...it could be hours."

"We can come back later. Wanna go grab a bite?"

"Sure, where do you want to go?"

I grinned, and he didn't even have to wait for an answer.

"Yes ma'am," Andrew said in a drawling voice. "Mexican it is."

After we stuffed ourselves with burritos and jalapeño dip, we drove back over to Julia's. It was 8:30 by that time, and her car was in the driveway. Andrew pulled back into the same spot on the street and put the truck in park.

"Okay, let's do this," he said.

"You have the bottle?" I asked. He tapped his pocket and the pills rattled.

We walked up her front walk, my fist was ready to pound on the door when it opened. I stepped back instinctively. Julia looked at me for a split second and then her face broke out into a grin.