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“You have a meeting tomorrow is all I know.”
“No, I don’t.”
I hadn’t been going into work since my life fell apart, and I didn’t plan to until I got Nicole back. None of it mattered.
Once inside my unit, I heard Serena and another woman talking around the corner.
“She’s really adamant about it,” the other woman said.
“Thanks for all that. I think I understand now,” Serena responded.
I rounded the corner.
The other woman was Nicole’s friend from Barbados, Sandy. Her eyes narrowed when she saw me.
Serena and Sandy hugged before Sandy left, without a word to me.
“What did I miss?” I asked my sister.
“Nothing. We were just chatting.
“And?” I asked.
“This has all got to end,” Serena said. “Mom has called a family meeting for tomorrow, and you’re going to be there, and sober.”
“Mom?”
“She sees you and Dad fighting, and it’s making everybody miserable, including her. Especially her.”
I thought I was the miserable one here. “I’m still not going to London.”
“Both of you are talking, but neither of you is listening. That stops tomorrow,” she said.
I went to my liquor cabinet. “Sure.” I opened it, but it was empty. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“Don’t worry,” Duke said. “It’s safe, but like the boss said, you’re cut off for tonight.”
I stormed to my bedroom. “Fuck you too.” Inside, I opened my drawer.
It was empty. Serena had taken my backup bottle as well.
Chapter 45
Josh
Wednesday morningI rolled out of bed, exhausted after a mostly sleepless night. My mouth felt like I’d chewed a squirrel and his tail was still in my mouth. I wandered out to the kitchen.
Serena was cooking breakfast. She handed me some tablets and a glass of orange juice. “Take these.”
I held out the glass. “Only if you make it a screwdriver.” I needed the hair of the dog this morning in a bad way.
“It already is.”
I threw the tablets back with a gulp from the glass. “This is just orange juice,” I complained.
“Yeah, and those were Tylenol you just swallowed. No alcohol. You remember what happened to Vasili.”
Ever since Vasili at work had been diagnosed with liver failure and needed a transplant, I’d been religious about not mixing any Tylenol with alcohol. He’d thought washing down the pills with vodka would double the pain relief. Lesson learned: read the label. We had two eyes, two ears, and two kidneys, but only one liver. He swore he’d never violated the label, but I wasn’t taking any chances with my liver.
