Page 138 of A Dirty Business
We were all updated.
My mom had overdosed on painkillers, and while they believed she’d make a full recovery, a social worker would be assessing her.
He gave us all a hard look. “This was a suicide attempt. Let’s be very clear on that. She will be moved over to the psych unit once she’s stable. If you’re not on board with her mental health team, then she could do this again. I was told the nurses overheard an argument in here already. My advice? Get on the same team regarding Mrs.Montell, and then do what you need to do to get her on board. The more cooperative she is with her mental health team, the better results you can expect. Now. Let’s hope Mrs.Montell wakes up with a renewed outlook on life, but considering the looks each of you has, I’m guessing that likelihood is slim. Good luck, Officers.”
He left and left a pregnant pause of silence in his wake.
Leo let out a sigh, returning to his chair and taking the second coffee with him. “I told her what happened, Bear.”
“Goddamn,” Bear roared. “Why’d you do that? I told her we had this covered.”
Leo rolled his eyes, but I was the one who got in Bear’s face.
“You were kind to me minutes ago, but now I know the real reason, and do not think for a second that you’re off the hook.”
Roles switched real quick because Leo informed me that they hadn’t been checking on my mother like they’d let me believe. They’d given her an ultimatum after she’d fallen off the wagon once again, which I knew she would do, because she’d been doing it for half of my life.
Bear held up his hands, a frustrated sound escaping him. “We—she doesn’t listen to reason. We tried. We did. She—she’s not going to change until she hits rock bottom.”
“So you thought to speed it up by abandoning her? What’d you do? Get my phone and block her from my own phone so she couldn’t contact me? You know she would’ve since you both weren’t taking her calls.”
I was reeling, my mind whirling over what they’d just shared they’d done.
It wasn’t drugs. It was a suicide attempt.
My mother ... what had I done? I’d let them take over for me. I’dletthem. I hadn’t fought—I’d abandoned her.
It took me a little bit before I clued in that neither answered me. I looked at them. Both weren’t looking at me either.
“What?” I ground out.
Bear firmly wouldn’t meet my gaze, but Leo did, and for the first time I saw a softening from him. “We didn’t block her from your phone, Jess.”
He didn’t finish saying the rest of the statement.
My knees gave out, and I reached out for the bed, and I fell into the chair behind me.
My mom had never called me. She hadn’t tried. She’d, just ...
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
JESS
Time stood still but also sped up after that. It was a weird mind fuck.
When my mom woke up, she wanted nothing to do with me. She did not have a new outlook on life. The doc’s wishes didn’t come true, but she went into the psychiatry unit, and I was told that Bear and Leo would take it from here.Again.
I didn’t have a good outlook on that, either, but while she was getting taken care of, I had other items to handle. Mainly, Leo and Kelly.
The difference between those two was that I didn’t know I had a Kelly matter to handle. She informed me of this later in the week, asking me for a sit-down. I’d not told her about my mother yet. And when I got there, I didn’t feel this meeting was going to be a good one.
“Justin and I had a big come-to-Jesus meeting and ...”
Oh, boy. I hated the “...”; those silences were brutal, I’d come to learn.
I readied myself because at this point, who the hell knew what else was coming down the pipeline.
Her hands were on the table, her hero in a bag next to her. That should’ve been my first clue. That the hero was bagged. That was a whole different level of preparing. Not where she would eat it here or eat it on the way out. That’s how Kelly usually did it. This said she was going to take it somewhereelseto eat it. That was awhole differentthing there.
