“Hello?” Mel answered her phone with obvious confusion.
“Mel, it’s Luke, Bree’s uh,” I paused.
She laughed. “I know who you are. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you had a few minutes to talk.”
“Is Bree okay?” she asked with concern.
“Yes. No. I mean, yes, physically she is, but something’s wrong.”
She blew out a breath. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Be super quiet coming in. I’ll leave the gate open and please don’t ring the bell.”
She groaned. “She’s not sleeping,” she said.
“No, she’s not and I don’t know how to help her.”
“I’ll be right there.”
I felt like help was on the way. Bree didn’t talk a lot about her past. I knew her, but I only knew her on a surface level. I didn’t want to pry, but I had a lot of questions about Nate. I wanted to better understand the relationship because I got the feeling it wasn’t all that healthy.
Making myself some toast, I sipped my second cup of coffee. While I waited for Mel, I did a grocery order, adding Bree’s favorite foods. Alcohol was going to be my next suggestion. It wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t nurse-like, but it was a friend move. I would ply her with alcohol until she passed out.
I heard the front door open and jumped off the stool to meet her. Mel was carrying her heels in her hand as she tiptoed towards me. Clearly, she understood the situation. I jerked my head towards the sliding glass doors, indicating I wanted to go outside.
“Thank you for coming,” I said once the doors were closed.
“Of course. How bad is it?”
“She hasn’t slept since Tuesday.”
She winced. “She was in such good spirits on Monday.”
“And Tuesday she was great all day, too. I’m afraid it’s my fault.”
“Why is it your fault?”
I closed my eyes. “My mom showed up unexpectedly. The three of us hung out on Tuesday. My mom is a handful. She was polite to Bree, but she also doesn’t think Bree and I should be together.”
“Fuck her,” Mel snapped.
I shouldn’t be surprised. I wasn’t offended. “My mom doesn’t know her. She saw the mansion and just made a lot of assumptions.”
She shook her head. “Fine. It doesn’t matter. Tell me about Bree.”
“I was hoping you could tell me what to do for her. She said she’s battled insomnia for a while.”
“Since her mother died. It can get very bad.”
“What do I do?” I asked feeling desperate. “We’ve tried everything.”
She sighed, looking at me with pity in her eyes. “This is on her.”
“What do you mean?”
“Bree has always internalized everything. She gets an idea in her mind and it blossoms and grows faster than a cancer. It occupies space in her head and it overpowers her ability to be rational. She gets this way and it’s impossible to talk to her. She goes down a rabbit hole and no one can pull her out... except Bree herself. Her father sent her to shrink after shrink after shrink.”