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I wanted time to see what came next for us, as a couple. Would we finally get around to expanding our family? Taking that exotic honeymoon we never got take? Would Megan get into the wedding cake business with all of our friends coupling up and starting their own happily ever afters?
I didn’t know, but I sure as shit wanted to find out.
“Casey, there you are.” Sam’s deep voice boomed in the empty room, the low timbre pulling me out of my terrifying thoughts. “I should have known this was where you’d be.”
“Sam. Tell me something. Anything.”
“Your wife is a tough cookie, Casey.”
“The brain doesn’t give a shit about tough, Sam. You taught me that.”
He nodded and clapped me on the back. “That much is true, but she’s also young, and her recovery is pretty much textbook. Her memories, both old and new, are returning. Some are coming in flashes of memory, but some are just appearing like they should. Things that she knew once, she knows again without any prompting. That’s all good. Promising, even.”
I heard his words, but they wouldn’t sink in, wouldn’t take hold in my mind so I could think about Megan’s injuries clearly. Logically. With a fucking modicum of distance.
“Want my advice?”
I looked up and found Sam smiling down at me. “Always.”
“Look into other reasons your Megan might have fainted.”
Fainted? “You think she just fainted? Not that she passed out from some unknown, unseen brain injury?” That thought gave me hope.
“I think it’s highly possible. There were no unknown or unseen brain abnormalities on the last scans. She hasn’t been suffering from headaches or blurred vision, which leads me to believe this incident could be something more pedestrian, as in not related to the brain in any way.”
My lips pulled into a crooked brain. “Really? I seem to remember a certain mentor of mine telling me that pretty much everything is connected to the brain in some way.”
Sam’s chuckle brought a smile to my face. “Hmph, sounds like you need to get a new mentor.”
“Yeah, probably.”
“I saw your parents in the waiting room. Go update them and I’ll let you know when there’s something to know.”
“Yeah, all right. Remind me to never do this again.” Sam’s gentle rumble of laughter followed me out of the exam room and down the hall, where I stopped as I caught a glimpse of my mom’s red rimmed eyes. “Mom.”
“Oh, honey. What happened?” She pulled me in her arms and hugged me the way she used to do when I was a little boy. If not for how much bigger than her I was, she probably would have put me on her lap and rocked me until my own tears stopped. “Megan will be fine. I promise.”
I leaned into her embrace and let myself believe her words. I needed to believe that Megan would be okay.
She had to be. We still had so much life to live together. So much love to share.
Megan
Beep. Beep. Hiss. Beep. How in the hell was a girl supposed to get any sleep where there was a symphony of electronics making it impossible?
“Casey, turn down those damn video games, please.”
No answer.
Beep. Beep. Hiss. Beep. Whirr. Beep. Wait a minute, I knew those sounds. I’d heard them enough times, not just the last time I woke up in the hospital, but also when dropping off treats to the burn unit, the maternity ward and even the oncology department. I was in the fucking hospital. Again.
Why?
“No way. This can’t be happening. Please tell me that this is a dream? Or that getting hit in the head was some kind of fever dream. Anything but this.” The room was quiet except for all the non-human noises and I growled my frustration and opened my eyes, left and then right.
Yep, definitely a hospital room.
I had no answers and I couldn’t remember how I ended up here again. Shit. I couldn’t remember. Not again.
I found the call button and pressed it before I fell back against the bed with a groan. Eyes closed, I searched my mind for all the things that I could remember. My husband, Casey. My job at the bakery. Jen and Bob, my in-laws. My mother was dead and buried, my father a deadbeat jerk. I had friends in Jackson’s Ridge, where Casey and I lived in a cute little house with the bright red door.
My shoulders relaxed as I recalled memories easily, which only made me more confused about why I was here. I wasn’t just here, I was hooked up to machines like they needed to monitor me. For what?
As soon as the door opened, I opened my eyes. “Cal. Dr. Cal Rutledge.”
His lips twisted into an amused grin. “That’s me, Megan Jackson. How are you feeling?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, Cal. Why am I in the hospital again?”
