Nothing But Trouble by Erin Kern

have Lindsey's medicine
here, with her, on a Sunday morning?
    Instantly, thoughts of all Rebecca's
questions and catching Danielle taking medicine and claiming
migraines, came back to him. Rebecca hadn't given him shit to go on
with all her I-can't-talk-about-its and odd questions. But he knew
something with his office manager wasn't right. Just as Rebecca had
said.
    R.J. picked the bottle up and scanned the
label. 30mg of Adderall XR for a ten year old girl? Lindsey had
ADD?
    "What the hell are you doing?"
    Danielle's sudden exclamation yanked him out
of his questioning thoughts. He barely had time to glance at her
when she snatched the bottle out of his hand and shoved it in the
desk drawer. If her daughter had ADD, wouldn't she need the
medication at home and not at her mother's office? And especially
not in a drawer, where Danielle could forget to bring it home?
    "I could ask you the same question,
Danielle," he retorted instead of answering her demand.
    Her bloodshot, blue eyes narrowed at him.
"What were you doing with that bottle?"
    He stared back at her for a moment, noticing
the lack of makeup, the hollow cheeks and lines of stress
bracketing her full mouth. "What were you doing with it?"
When she stood from the chair, he wrapped a hand around her elbow,
preventing her from dismissing him. "Do you have a problem you need
to tell me about?"
    "That," she emphasized with jerk of her arm.
"Is none of your business."
    "What goes on in my office is my business,
Danielle. So I'll ask you again: Do you have a problem?"
    Her lips tightened and for a moment he wasn't
sure she was going to answer the question. "Taking an Adderall
every once in a while to get me through the day isn't a problem.
Lots of people do it, so get off my back. Okay?"
    Except he wasn't sure it was just once in a
while. And why would the prescription be made out to Lindsey if
Danielle was the one who needed the Adderall?
    She must have taken his silence as not
accepting her explanation, because she added, "It's all under
control."
    "Is it?" he countered. "Because you don't
seem like yourself."
    "If I tell you it is, then it is. I don't
have a problem and I'm not an addict." She gathered her stuff off
the desk, dropping her car keys twice before swiping them off the
floor with trembling hands. Hands, he just noticed where thinner
than he remembered, with bony fingers clasping the keys and shoving
them in her purse. The office door slammed behind her, echoing in
the quiet interior and making the metal mini blinds clang against
the window frame.
    R.J. stood in the wake of her departure and
tried to make sense of what had just happened. The woman in the
office this morning was not the woman he'd hired two years ago.
Danielle had always been vibrant, with bouncing shiny hair and a
light in her eyes that was unique to her. In fact, that was one of
the things that had always drawn him to her. Not only was she
gorgeous and held her own in an environment of men, but there'd
always been a fire in her. She was a go-getter who'd earned the
respect of his other employees.
    Her behavior the last few days threw him for
a loop. She didn't look like herself. With the weight she'd dropped
and the dull, uncombed hair, it was like a different woman had
taken over her body.
    But beyond that, he was concerned for her.
And not just the business. He cared about Danielle, and if she was
doing something that could potentially harm her, she needed help.
He didn't know much about ADD and even less about Adderall, but
taking any drug that wasn't prescribed couldn't be good.
    He turned to walk out of the office, but his
eyes landed on the list of parts for Charlie's cars. Immediately,
he knew the list was incomplete. No way could the couple dozen
parts listed be everything they needed to restore the two classic
cars.
    A small shiver of panic coursed through him
as he sat down at the desk and rifled through the papers. Danielle
had a very efficient storage system. Every file had a code