Know Me Well (Wishful 3)

She kissed the coin and tossed it. It seemed to hit with far more gravity than a mere nickel merited, causing a resounding sort of thunk before sinking to the bottom, where it glinted faintly in the dying light.

“I guess we’ll see.”

~*~

Back at the pharmacy, Autumn gave her one last hug. “Now, no matter what happens, if you need to come knock on my door at any hour, you can. I’m available to listen to details of juicy make up sex, or to support a crying jag and bitch fest if he’s an idiot. There’s an emergency pint of Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer with your name on it, either way.”

“Thanks.”

“He’s not going to be an idiot.”

No, that role is pretty clearly being played by me.

“I’ll see you later, okay?”

After waving Autumn off, Riley went to retrieve her purse.

Christ, she was tired. She’d been running on fumes for weeks, juggling all the responsibilities for work, spending every spare minute with Liam, and then trying to get this presentation put together for Peyton Consolidated. It was no wonder she was ultra susceptible to Amber’s particular brand of nasty.

Liam was justifiably angry. She’d give him a little time to cool off, take some time herself to get past the hurt and irritation, then they’d straighten this out. She’d apologize for jumping his case and explain. But later. After she’d had time to think, to find the right words. Rushing in without a plan certainly hadn’t gotten her anywhere, and she was hardly in the right frame of mind to clearly explain herself. Besides, shambles that it was, she wanted some quiet time alone in her pharmacy.

There was comfort in the routine of checking the machine, recording the call-in prescriptions, then going about the regimented process of measuring, counting out, compounding. She made notes about inventory, called a client or two, and retreated to the office to start working up an order for Monday. They were down to their last box of Epipens and one of the two inside was damaged. If anything came up with that before the next delivery, she’d have to send her customers over to Walgreens. There’d been too much of that these last few weeks. A lot of balls had been dropped in the wake of the flood.

As she continued to clear off the paperwork that had accumulated, Riley sent up a small prayer of thanks that the Board of Pharmacy hadn’t been by for an inspection. She set the records to rights on that front, and went ahead and started on the quarterly estimates for her accountant. Might as well get ahead on something since she was here and had the time. One hour bled into two. By the time she reached the bottom of the pile, it was nearing ten and her back was making its protests known. Time to wrap this up and head home.

She opened the drawer to put her work away. An envelope slipped out, as she slipped the ledgers inside. Old mail. How long had that been in there? Slipping a finger beneath the flap, she opened the envelope and pulled out the contents. And felt the bottom drop out of her stomach.

Oh shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Her insurance had lapsed. The renewal should’ve been sent in two weeks ago. How the hell could she have let this happen? The check covering her stock losses after the flood should’ve been enough to jog her damned memory. Jesus Christ, this had potential disaster written all over it. And, of course, customer service wouldn’t be open again until Monday morning.

“It’ll be fine,” she told herself. The pharmacy was closed until noon on Monday. She’d call first thing and get it taken care of. There was no reason to worry.

At the faint sound of the bell, she startled and reflexively checked the time. After ten now. She grabbed the last Epipen from the desk before she settled.

Liam.

Of course, he’d come back to check on her. Nice to know he wasn’t the type to let a good mad fester.

Deep breaths. He’d come to her. Even if it was to finish out their fight, he’d come. That meant he wasn’t through with her.

She slipped the Epipen into her coat pocket. “I’m really glad you came—” Riley broke off as she swung out of the office to see two men in masks crossing the room.

They stopped, as shocked to see her as she was to see them.

One beat passed, then two, as Riley tried to fight through stunned disbelief. This was Wishful. Stuff like this wasn’t supposed to happen here. She started forward—to do what, she had no idea—but one of them pulled a gun.

“Hands where I can see them!”

His shout kickstarted the heart that had stopped and she jolted. Adrenaline dumped into her system. Run. Run. RUN. But there was nowhere to run, no escape with the counter and both robbers between her and the door. Moving slowly, she laid her shaking hands on the edge of the counter.

Keep cool. She slipped her thumb beneath the edge, pressed the panic button as the gunman crossed the room.

His partner backpedaled two steps. “Man, I didn’t sign up for this. Nobody was supposed to be here!”

“Shut up and come on. She’ll make this quicker.”

“You’ve done nothing yet but pick a lock. You could walk away right now.” Her voice trembled only a little.