Page 162 of Nash Falls

“Yes, sir?”

He found Rhett in the sitting room, where he was kneeling next to Judith, who was sprawled on the couch, half-clothed. Her hair was unkempt, and Nash saw that his once fitness-obsessed wife looked bloated, her skin pasty and blotched.

“Is she all right?” he asked, trying to keep his voice level and calm.

“She’s breathing okay but her pulse seems weak. And I can’t get her to wake up.”

Nash looked around and saw the bottle of prescription pills. He picked it up.

“Ativan,” he said as Rhett looked up at him. “She might have taken too many.” He knelt down and helped Rhett to lift Judith to her feet.

“Let’s walk her around some to see if she’ll rouse,” Nash suggested.

They did so, taking turns calling out her name. After five minutes of this, Judith finally stirred. She looked first at Rhett and then at Nash, who would not meet her eye.

This was the ultimate test, he knew. If anyone could see past his transformation, it would be Judith. But then again, she seemed so out of it that any sort of recognition on her part would probably be impossible.

“I’ll go down and make some coffee,” said Rhett. “You stay with her and try and keep her awake.”

He left. Nash put his arm around Judith’s waist and used his strength to hold her up, which was easy despite the weight she had put on. He was amazed at how fleshy she had become, and he wondered if it was simply bad food and no exercise, or whether something else was going on.

Was she retaining fluids? Did she have a kidney issue?

He spied the empty wine and liquor bottles that were piled in one corner of the room and thought that too much alcohol was a big part of the problem his wife was facing.

“Ju— Mrs. Nash? Stay with me. Stay awake, okay? Let’s go. You can do this.” He was modulating his voice dramatically to keep it as far away from his actual tone as possible.

When she seemed to be slipping back into a deep sleep, he pickedher up in his arms and shook her. This caused Judith to rally, and she clutched tightly to his shoulders.

“Who the hell are you?”

He glanced down to see that she was staring up at him.

“I… I work for Rhett Temple. He’s downstairs making some coffee. I think you took too many pills, ma’am.”

“There’s no such thing as too many pills. There’s only toofewpills, that’s a thing.” She belched heavily and pushed against him. “Put me down. I feel sick.”

He did so but when she started to heave, he snatched her up and carried her to the bathroom. He supported her over the toilet as she threw up twice. He figured that might be a good thing, to get some of the medication out of her system.

When she was done he grabbed a washcloth and wet it. He ran it over her forehead and face, and across the back of her neck.

“Are you feeling better now?” he asked.

She nodded and, with his help, slowly stood.

He led her back into the sitting room, where he helped her down onto the couch. She leaned back, and tucked her bare feet beneath her.

“Who are you again?”

“He works for me, Judith,” said Rhett as he came in with a large mug of steaming coffee. “Here, drink this, you’ll feel better. And here are some peanut butter crackers.”

“I threw up, Rhett.”

“I’m sure. Here, drink it and eat some crackers.”

She took several sips and managed to eat two of the crackers.

Rhett and Nash stood back and watched her as she ran a hand through her dirty hair and then looked up at them guiltily. “I didn’t have a very good day, Rhett,” she said in an almost schoolgirl voice that made the hair on Nash’s arms tingle.