Love on the Lake (Lakeside 2)

Teagan glances around the store, maybe realizing she’s drawing attention to herself. She plasters on a smile. “I’m so sorry. Of course I’ll call my doctor. I’m sure it was a mistake.” She adds generic allergy pills and two energy drinks to her order and pays for her prescriptions, then leaves the store.

She stops short when she sees my truck and whirls around as I head toward it and her. “Oh my God. Are you following me?”

I don’t see any point in lying. “I saw your car, so I stopped in. I think we need to talk, Teagan.” Close up she looks even more exhausted than she did yesterday, which is unnerving. Her eyes are bloodshot, and her bottom lip looks raw, as if she’s been compulsively chewing it.

“Well, I don’t think we need to talk. I have to go to work.” She sashays past me.

I grab her wrist to stop her. “Are you even okay to drive?”

“I’m fine.” Her chin trembles as if she’s fighting tears, and she shakes me off. “Just leave me alone, Aaron. You’re making a scene.” She stalks over to her car.

I don’t want to publicly embarrass her, so I let her go, but I follow her through town until she pulls into the pub parking lot before I head to Harry’s.

It’s already after four by the time I’m done picking up the new light switches, so instead of going back to the Winslows’, I head to the Footprint office, hoping that I’ll catch Dillion. At this point I’m not worried about making Teagan angry; I’m worried about her health, and the last thing I want is her driving under the influence of a pill cocktail and hurting herself or, worse, someone else.

It appears to be my lucky day, because both Dillion and Van are in the office when I get there.

“Hey, Aaron, you all finished at the Winslows’?” Dillion’s smile fades when her gaze shifts from Van to me. “Is everything okay?”

“Not really. Do you guys have time to talk?”

“Yeah. Of course. Take a seat.” Dillion motions to the seat across from her. “What’s going on?”

“Uh, is it just the three of us in here?”

“Yeah, it’s just us. Did something happen with a homeowner?”

“It’s not about a homeowner.” I drop into the chair. “It’s about Teagan.”

Van sits up straighter. “Is she okay?”

I shake my head. “She broke up with me last night.”

“What? Why?” Dillion’s expression turns to shock.

“That’s not the issue. I mean, it’s an issue for me, but that’s not the problem.” I fill them in on what happened: the accident she had, her not sleeping, the lying, the medication, even all the calls from Bradley, which Dillion already knew about.

“Shit. I had no idea it was this bad. How long has this been going on?” Van runs his hand through his hair.

“A while. I started noticing that she wasn’t coming to bed back before the first farmers’ market. I thought it might get better when it was over, but it’s only gotten worse. And when I confronted her about it, she lost it on me, and now she’s refusing to talk to me.” I grip the arm of the chair, hating that I feel like I’m betraying her but knowing that I have to. “I think we need to stage an intervention. I don’t like where this is going, and I’m worried she’s going to get hurt or hurt someone else.”

“I think you’re right,” Van says. “She’s already been in a car accident; what happens if next time there’s another car or a person involved?”

“I’m worried about what else she might be hiding.”

“Me too.”

And of course, because this day hasn’t been bad enough, at seven Van gets a call from the pub. Teagan apparently fainted and hit her chin on the sink on the way down and needs to be taken to urgent care.

The three of us head there, Dillion and Van together and me in my own truck. I doubt she’ll want to see me, but I want to see how bad the damage is.

When we arrive, she’s sitting on the floor behind the bar, a wad of paper towels pressed to her chin. They’re soaked with blood.

“What happened?” Dillion and Van flank her, helping her up off the floor.

“I fainted. It’s not a big deal.” Teagan tries to stand on her own, but she wobbles and sags against her brother. Her eyes are slow to track, and when they finally land on me, her brow furrows. “What are you doing here?”

“He came because he’s worried about you. We all are.” Van wraps his arm around her waist. “Come on, let’s get you to urgent care.”

“We’ll call you in a bit.” Dillion squeezes my hand on her way past.

Half an hour later Dillion messages to tell me Teagan didn’t need stitches and that they used Steri-Strips. She passed out because of dehydration and exhaustion, and they’re taking her home, so the intervention will have to wait.