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Finally, I answer him, “No.”

“Why not? Don’t you think it’s important? I’d want to know if the man falling in love with me was supposed to get engaged in the next few months.”

His next string of words gets lost in the fog of my mind when Delilah walks out of the bathroom, reapplying her lip gloss. The preoccupied look on her face melts away when she looks at me.

When she reaches us, she looks away from me to Silas. “Is Adonis allowed to come back when I get my results?”

Silas’ eyes soften, all teasing and meddling taking a backseat as he interacts with his patient. “Would you like him there?”

Delilah cuts me a glance that’s shorter than a blink and nods at him.

“Yes.”

Dr. Greeneand Silas are huddled in a corner of the room while Delilah sits beside me, knee bouncing. My jacket is back around her shoulders, but I know the temperature has little to do with the steady shiver working through her.

Dr. Greene speaks first, pushing his glasses on top of his bald head.

Delilah sits up straighter.

“You had one during the examination.”

“Oh.”

“That’s a good thing. We were pretty confident before but now we know for sure.”

The man in his early fifties crosses his arms, regarding her with a neutral look. “A lot of times, these things are scarier for the person witnessing them than the person experiencing them. For you, it’s barely noticeable, but for people around you, it can be jarring. Especially if you’re in the middle of an activity and just stop.”

“The medication will stop them?” The hopeful inflection in her question breaks a piece of my heart.

Silas gives her an encouraging smile.

“The overwhelming majority of patients who take their meds consistently, are able to get relief.”

Delilah falls quiet so I voice my burning question. “What’s the possibility of this form of epilepsy progressing into another type of seizure? With convulsions?”

“It’s not zero percent but it’s rare.” He looks pensive. “Then again, we typically see absence seizures in children who grow out of them before adulthood.” His gaze returns to Delilah. “In some cases, people with petit mal seizures can eventually experience grand mal seizures, or tonic clonic seizures. But we can’t know if that’s going to happen until it does. That’s why it’s important for the people around you to keep an eye on you.”

“Okay…” She clasps her hands in her lap and exhales shakily. “Thanks.” Her gaze flits between them. “Both of you.”

“Happy to help you anytime, Ms. Delilah.” Sympathyshines in Silas’ eyes. “For now, I want you to make sure you get plenty of sleep at night, eat well and refrain from driving until you’ve gone a few months without one.”

“Oh, that’s easy. I don’t have a driver’s license,” she announces to the room.

“Not yet.”

She turns to me with a cocked brow but says nothing before looking away.

Our drive to the pharmacy is silent. Delilah spends the time staring out the window with her teeth abusing her bottom lip.

“You’re gonna start bleeding if you bite any harder, menace.”

“Huh?” Her dazed eyes clash with mine before she jolts out of whatever she was thinking about. “Sorry.”

“What’s on your mind, menace?”

Her fingertips comb through the hair around her temples.

“And don’t lie to me,” I add.