Chapter 2

I opened Facebook Marketplace and listed the watch I'd bought as Ethan's wedding gift.

I'd paid twenty-five thousand dollars for it. I listed it for one.

Within ten minutes, a buyer messaged me.

[$1? Is this for real? What's wrong with it?]

I looked at the card I'd handwritten and tucked into the watch box.

I want to watch every sunrise with you.

I tore the card in half and dropped it in the trash.

I typed back:

[Wedding's off. No point keeping garbage around.]

The doctors wanted me to stay for observation.

But my passport was back at the apartment.

Ethan's promised "I'll come by this afternoon" never materialized, not even after dark.

I signed the AMA discharge forms and went home.

As luck would have it, the building was doing electrical work, and the whole place had lost power.

I unlocked the door and a wall of stale heat hit me in the face. The apartment was an oven somebody had sealed shut.

With the power out, the water was out too.

I found my backup pill case in the dark. Empty.

The week before, CVS had sent me three texts reminding me to pick up my prescription.

I'd forwarded them to Ethan. He was picking out a sleeping bag for Olivia at the time and casually said he'd pick up my prescription.

The prescription was never picked up.

That night, I developed a high fever.

I sat on the floor wrapped in a blanket. The ear thermometer read 104°F.

Every breath hurt.

I made my way to the door with one hand against the wall for support. Then my legs gave out, and I slid to the floor.

In my phone's Medical ID, Ethan was still my first emergency contact.

I called.

"Ethan, I need you to get me medicine..."

Olivia answered.

"Crying wolf again, Natalie? Seriously?"

Deafening music from the party blared in the background.

"Last night you faked a seizure. Tonight you're faking a fever. You really can't stand Ethan spending time with me, can you?"

I dragged in a breath. "Put him on."

A few seconds later Ethan took the phone, impatient.

"Natalie, what now?"

"I'm running a high fever, and I'm out of backup meds. My fever medicine is locked in the package locker downstairs, and I can't open it with the power out. Please buy some at the pharmacy and bring it home…"

He laughed, short and cold.

"You know exactly where the pills are and where you want me to go. You don't sound like you're dying."

"I don't have the strength to get downstairs..."

"Then have it delivered. You need me to come all the way home for this?"

"The keypad downstairs is dead. Delivery can't get in. The elevator's out too."

I was gulping air, black spots swimming across my vision. "I really... can't walk."

Ethan went silent for two seconds.

"Fine. I'll ask the building superintendent if he can pick it up for you. Don't move around. I'll be there in a—"

Crash.

A glass shattered on his end, followed by Olivia's yelp.

"Ethan, I'm so dizzy..."

The rest of "I'll be there in a while" died in his throat.

"Olivia might have a fever. I have to get her to the ER. Just drink some water."

"The water's shut off, Ethan."

"Do you have to argue with me about everything?"

His patience snapped, his voice turning cold. "If it's that serious, call 911. Stop expecting me to leave her and come running every time you feel a little sick. I'm sick of it."

"Ethan."

I spent the last of my strength on his name.

"So no matter what happens, you'll always choose Olivia first. Is that it?"

Silence on the line.

Then Olivia's wounded little voice slipped in.

"Ethan, is Natalie mad? You should go. I can get myself to the hospital..."

"Forget her. She'll be fine in a bit."

Then, to me:

"Natalie, I'll come back when you're done making a scene."

The line went dead.

I stared at the dark screen, and every feeling inside me just... dissolved.

My hand shook as I pulled up the keypad and typed 911.

My finger never reached the call button. The world went black.