“Chloe?”
“Liam?” a scratchy voice called back.
He followed the sound to the second doorway and stopped on the threshold. “Sorry if I woke you. I helped myself to your hide-a-key.”
“Hey, Liam.” A smile laced her voice this time.
He entered the room. “Mind if I turn on a lamp?”
“Here’s one.” A rustle sounded. Then a clatter. Something clunked to the floor.
He rushed over. “Sit tight. I’ll get it.” He flipped on the lamp and took in Chloe. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes glazed over. He felt her forehead and found her skin warm.
Her bedside table turned up an empty glass, a bottle of Tylenol, and a prescription bottle.
A pill organizer lay at his feet. He picked it up and set it back on the table. “When did you have Tylenol last?”
“Mmm... not sure. Meghan was here, and Sean, and that was in the morning.” Her forehead wrinkled. “I think it was morning. Is it nighttime outside? It’s nighttime inside.”
Something was off. Her words were a little slurred and her eyes... She seemed kind of out of it. “How are you feeling, Chloe?”
“Head hurts and my throat hurts and my whole body hurts. But I’m kinda floaty too.” She narrowed her gaze on him. “Are you moving? No, I’m moving. Am I moving?”
He put his hand to her forehead again. She grabbed his hand and held it there. She was warm, but not alarmingly so. He scanned the pills on her bedside table again and picked up the pill organizer with the hand she wasn’t grasping. “What’s in here, Chloe? What are these pills?”
“Vitamins from Meghan. She brought them over this morning? I think it was morning.” She moved his hand to her cheek and sighed.
Something she’d taken must’ve had a bad effect on her. “How about we call Meghan and figure this out, huh? I’m gonna need my hand.”
She let go but her bottom lip turned out. “Awww.”
He grabbed her phone off the bed and found Meghan’s number in her contacts. The woman answered on the second ring. “Hey, honey. How’re you feeling?”
“Um, it’s actually Liam. We met last week.”
“I’m not likely to forget,” she said with a wry tone. “Is Chloe okay?”
She was currently playing with his other hand. “I’m not sure. She seems... out of it. Loopy, I guess. She’s slurring her words and seems a little confused. I was hoping you could tell me what’s in this pill organizer.”
“Oh no. I only brought her vitamins. Nothing that would cause this. And she’s taken Tylenol, of course, and that prescription she asked me to pick up. Hang on, let me see what I can find out about that med.”
“All right.”
Buttercup hopped up on the bed and Chloe beamed. “Buttercup! Come here, my little Butter Butter Boo Boo!” She gathered the cat into an embrace and buried her face in the yellow fur.
The feline’s horrified eyes shot to Liam.
Hang in there, girl.
“Oh boy,” Meghan said. “Apparently, in rare cases that medication can cause some unusual behavior. How many has she taken?”
Liam emptied the bottle on the nightstand and counted. “Just two, it looks like. But I took this same med and didn’t have any problems at all.”
“Everyone’s different though.”
“Right, right. Should I take her to the hospital?”
“Let me call Dr.Angela first and then call you back.”
