Making Me Sane (Sanity Book 2) by Lindsay Paige Read Free Book Online Page B

the couch, where we eat our dinner. It’s kind of odd, but reassuring, that she doesn’t seem to have an issue eating.
    We’re watching some crime drama once we finish eating. For a moment, I wonder if Brittany is going to go ahead and leave, but she doesn’t. She stands, holds out her hand to me, and then pulls me over to the recliner without uttering a word. A surprising rush of relief hits me to be lying in my recliner with her again.
    “I’ve missed this,” she whispers a few minutes later.
    “Me too, Britt.” I rub her back, just like old times.
    A minute passes and she adds, “I’ll head home after the episode ends.”
    “Okay.” Do I want her to stay? Of course, but I’m not going to ask. She needs to make that decision. I need to figure out when to fight for her and when to leave her to her own battles.
    However, by the time the episode ends forty-five minutes later, Brittany is sound asleep in my arms. I try to do the right thing by attempting to wake her, but she’s dead to the world. I push the footrest down, adjust her in my arms, and carry her to my room. Lily immediately settles at her feet while I change, take my pills, and get ready for bed myself.
    God, I’ve missed sharing a bed with her. I pull her against me and quickly fall asleep.
    I don’t know when she has to report to work, but six in the morning seems like a good time to wake her up and make sure she has plenty of time. “Britt. Wake up.” I shake her shoulder. She grumbles and I smile. “You need to head home and get ready for work. Plus, take your pills since you missed them last night.”
    She looks at me sleepily, but shrugs. “It’s no big deal.” Brittany stretches and I start to feel uneasy. “It doesn’t make a damn difference if I miss here or there,” she mumbles as she gets out of bed.
    “Are you saying you skip doses?”
    “It happens. Where’s my phone?” She starts toward the living room, not once looking back or waiting for me to answer.
    I quickly follow her. “Brittany, are you intentionally skipping doses?”
    “Of course not,” she retorts. She looks tense, though, and she’s snatching her phone and keys from the end table.
    “Don’t lie to me. This is a big deal if you are.”
    She whirls around. “I don’t need you to save me, Trace!” she shouts, suddenly pissed. “It’s none of your damn business anymore! I’m doing the best I can; get off my back.”
    A humorless laugh leaves me. “The best you can? Bullshit. You aren’t going to therapy or seeing Dr. Gunner or taking your fucking pills like you ought to! You’re not helping yourself at all!” I lower my voice and stare at her. It’s like I have fresh eyes when I look at her. She’s broken and she doesn’t seem to care. She’s self-destructive right now. “Where’s your fight, Britt?”
    She scoffs. “I don’t know. When you find it, send it my way.” Before I can say anything else, she’s walking out of my door.
    I plop down onto the couch and pet Lily as she jumps up next to me. Did I do this to Brittany? Did I take her fight away and serve as a catalyst for what she’s become and the worsening of her mental health? Somehow, I have to get through work today and the weekend before I can talk to Mrs. Kirk. Maybe I did fuck her up. After all, I wasn’t there for her when she needed me the most.
    Guilt is tempting to swallow me whole. How did she go from a faithful medication taker, psychiatrist and therapist seer, and a person willing to fight for her sanity to the person she is today in only a year? This has to be my fault. Should I even be trying to win her back when my mistakes can obviously have disastrous effects on her? Maybe we can’t work and aren’t good for one another.
    Similar thoughts plague me all weekend. I’m an anxious mess when I walk into Mrs. Kirk’s office. She doesn’t even have to prompt me before I’m launching into all the details of what’s happened since I last saw her.
    “I don’t know