Page 83 of That Weekend in Paris
“I’m not too sure,” he says, and I can hear that something is terribly wrong. “What’s happened, Klein? Is it the baby?”
“No,” he says. “She’s actually good. Small but the doctors say she’s headed in all the right directions. I’m grateful beyond words.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m so glad.” I wait, feeling there’s more he wants to say.
“Do you have a minute to talk?”
“Of course.”
“Something has happened that I’m not sure what to do about.”
I hear the weight in his voice and feel a pang of alarm. “What is it, Klein? What’s happened?”
“I got sick again the morning after I got back from Paris. The same as that morning at the hotel. I went to see a doctor at Vanderbilt. He ran a tox screen that showed traces of ipecac. It’s a substance used to make people throw up if they’ve ingested poison. The sickness hit me after taking my vitamins in the morning.”
“Riley put the ipecac in the capsules.” I say this with utter conviction, thinking back to the moments before I left Riley’s hospital room, the venom in her voice when she made it clear that if she couldn’t have Klein, no one would.
“That’s what it looks like.”
“Oh, Klein,” I say, newly struck with horror for what I am hearing. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Fortunately. Apparently, the amount I took in this last time was enough to make me sick but nothing worse. The capsules in some of the pills I hadn’t taken yet contained enough to cause a lot more than just vomiting.”
“I’m so sorry, Klein. What are you going to do?”
He’s quiet for several seconds. And then, “Curtis thinks I need to go the police.”
“What do you think?”
“Logically, I know that’s the right thing.”
“But she’s the mother of your child.”
His silence tells me I’m right. “I feel sorry for the baby. I mean what a start. First, Riley telling me she hadn’t kept her. And now this.”
I consider my words for a few drawn out seconds, and then, “The really good thing is that she has you for a father. And she needs you to protect her. Riley could have killed you, Klein. I think you have to report it. Even if she isn’t charged or punished, maybe it will stop her from doing something like this again.”
“I know you’re right. It’s just so ugly.”
“It is.”
We’re silent for a bit, and then he says, “Where are you?”
“I’m in Virginia. At my mom’s house. She left me the place, and I haven’t been here for a long time. Just kind of needed to get away.”
“Ah. Are you and Josh—”
“No,” I say. “We’re not.”
“Oh.” There is relief in his voice. “Can I be honest, Dillon?”
“Yes.”
“I miss you.”
“I miss you, too.”
“Will you give me some time to get my life straightened out?”
