Vronsky agreed immediately and promised to be discreet. He let Anna head back to the stable first, not taking his eyes off her until she and Mark Antony were just a tiny speck galloping off into the distance.

V

The combination of Percocet with a Soma muscle relaxer is known on the street as a Las Vegas cocktail. Alexander knew this because he was not a fan of taking any prescription medication (not including Adderall, of course) and wanted to do some online research about the numerous pills he was prescribed after his surgery. He discovered that the pharmaceutical cocktail recommended by his surgeon was quite popular. He hated to admit it, but he liked it. Maybe a little too much. It made him forget about the fact that he was falling behind in his studies, that he had a broken leg and may always have a slight limp, that his girlfriend had been moody and distant, and, most importantly right now, it kept him composed in the middle of his seventeenth game of Scrabble with Eleanor.

“G-I-V-E-T-H, triple word score on the H … so that’s…” Eleanor paused, counting her score on her fingers.

“That’s not a word, Eleanor.”

“Sure it is. The lord giveth, and the lord taketh away. Job 1:20. That’s twenty-one points for Eli-corn! Ooooh, I’m winning now.”

If Alexander wasn’t floating on a lazy river of opioids, he would have definitely challenged her, but instead he just said, “If you say so.” He rearranged his own letters, studying them. He noticed he could spell Anna if he wanted to, though of course proper nouns weren’t allowed, but if Eleanor was cheating, so could he, right? Alexander connected two Ns and the A to the last word he’d played, HOAX.

“Uch. Not funny.” Eleanor immediately started picking up his letters to hand back to him.

“Stop! If you can break the rules so can I,” he said in a whiny tone that sounded foreign to his ears.

“Whatever has gotten into you, I don’t like it,” Eleanor said in a voice that matched her mother’s intonation. But she put his letters back on the board.

“Is she coming back?” he asked.

“Who?”

“Anna.”

Eleanor sighed. “Don’t you find her weird lately? It’s like she’s a totally different person.”

“Please, not this again.”

“All I’m saying is that if I was your girlfriend, I would never, ever leave your side when you’re helpless like this,” Eleanor cooed.

“I wouldn’t say I’m helpless.”

“You know what I mean! This was her! She did this. Your poor leg, my face!”

“Your doctor said you won’t have any scars that anyone can see.”

“But I see them. I’ll always know where they are. She could have killed us both.”

“You’re exaggerating. Besides, Anna wasn’t driving the car. We hit a deer on a snowy night. It was an accident.”