Summary

Chapter 7 begins with Irene looking back on when it was becoming clear that Luce loved Wilky with a depth and commitment that Irene had never known Luce was capable of. Most surprising to Irene, though, is Luce's willingness to quit taking the pain pills and suffer through the misery of a cold-turkey withdrawal from the opioids. Wilky had not known the true extent of Luce's drug habit until she confides in him, and he is characteristically sympathetic and supportive based on his own experience after a paratrooper training injury led him to addiction and pill-shopping to support his secret habit. Irene convinces Luce to instead ween herself off the opioids by slowly reducing her intake and dependence, offering to quit alongside Luce with the target date of April 1st to complete their tapering down plan. One day just a couple of weeks...