Sugar Baby Beautiful(79)

“What kind of setback?”

“She’s not being honest with herself. For some reason she has been able to come terms with living a lie for the last six years, but she cannot accept her condition nor does she want to talk about anything. For someone to be in that deep of a hallucination and not want to talk about it afterwards… it’s not healthy, and no medicine can fix that.”

“So what do you want to do?”

“Keep her for another three weeks with minimal contact from you or anyone else until she’s ready to face herself.”

Sighing, I nodded and crossed my arms. “You all said the fact that she hadn’t hurt herself or others on top of maintaining a stable life while off medication proves that all she needed was to start focusing on getting back on the meds for the hallucinations.”

“Mr. Darcy, it’s been six years. We started her treatment three weeks ago. We have no idea how it’s truly affecting her—”

“That’s right, she’s been alone for six years. Do you really believe keeping her locked away here, with no one she knows, is the right call?”

He frowned, pushing his glasses farther up his bent nose. “We can’t keep her here since she only volunteered to stay for three weeks. But I believe you should advise her any way you can to take this more seriously and to stay a bit longer. You can go in.”

I was torn. On the one hand I wanted her to come back with me. But on the other, I didn’t want to hinder her from getting the help she needed.

Pushing open the door, I stepped into the room. She didn’t look at me, though. She just kept her eyes glued on the ocean outside her window. Moving to the bed, I sat down beside her.

“Felicity?”

She turned to me, her whole face brightening, and she reached out and cupped the side of my face. “Please tell me you’re really here?”

Placing my hand over top of hers, I nodded. “I’m really here. Miss me?”

She leaped into my arms, hugging me tighter than I thought possible.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Oh, please tell me you’re getting me out of here today.”

She looked so happy all of a sudden. “I was hoping to.” The moment I said those four words, the smile on her face died.

“Was is past tense,” She replied, brushing her hair behind her ears. “Meaning you no longer want to?”

Squeezing her hand, I held it tightly. “I want to, Felicity. I really do, but your doctor doesn’t think you’re ready.”

“He’ll never think I’m ready.” She groaned, annoyed. “Theo, I can’t stay here any longer. I can’t. I feel like I’m dying and no one can hear me. I’ve taken my medicine. Mark and Cleo are gone! I’m not crazy, and this place isn’t for me. Every part of me is telling me to leave. Please don’t make me stay. Please.”

I wanted to trust her. I wanted to believe she was ready. But I kept remembering how broken she’d been in my arms, sobbing in front of her storage closet.

“Felicity—”

“I’m leaving today. Should I get a taxi?”

I shook my head. “Pack up. We’ll leave when you’re ready.”

She grinned, getting off the bed and pointing to the bag beside her. “I have everything I need already. I’ve been waiting for you.”

God, I hoped we were making the right choice.





Felicity


11:25 a.m.

Dr. Butler was not pleased in the slightest with us leaving after I got my medication and prescription. He kept trying to talk me out of it up to the moment I signed my release. It felt like déjà vu.

“Mark, I swear, move over!” Cleo hissed.

“There is nowhere to move to!” he hollered as they both tried to squeeze into the front seat, Cleo on his lap.

I did my best not to respond. Part of me hoped they would just go away. But the more I ignored them, the dumber they seemed to become, like they were trying anything at this point to get me to notice them.

“Felicity. Felicity?”

“Huh? Yes?” I faced Theo, who was watching me carefully. “Sorry, I’m just happy to be free now. What were you saying?”

“I asked where would you like to go. Back to your condo—”

“No,” I replied. Going there would make me remember everything all at once, how I used to talk to myself, thinking it was to them. Drinking wine and laughing by myself in front of the television. It was too depressing. I had somewhere else in mind. “Do you mind if we stop at the beach?”

“Nolan,” he said, and the car turned left toward the waterfront. Winding down the window, I stuck my hand out. “I missed the ocean so much, and the funniest thing is I didn’t even go that often.”