“That’s better. Angie, I’ll let you pour the coffee, just watch you don’t spill it,” the chortling nurse instructed.
Chris and Angie glanced at each other and smiled, after which Angie poured out three cups of coffee. Throughout the process, nobody said a word, but the chatty nurse was unable to stay quiet for long. Louise was far too curious to wait until someone else broached the subject, so she just came right out and asked the burning question.
“OK, now you’ve had a chance to talk in private, have you decided what you’re going to do?”
Angie and Chris looked at each other once more, and both began speaking at the same instant. Chris promptly apologized and invited Angie to speak first.
“I’ve told Chris about what happened before the accident, and we’ve agreed that he should come back home, at least until he’s fully recovered. He’s going to find it hard to get around and I’m more than happy to help him. We’ll take it one day at a time, won’t we Chris?” she smiled.
“Yes, we’re gonna give it a try. This is all a bit strange for me. I’m still finding it hard to get my head around it all. Last I remember we were just a normal couple living a normal life. Next thing I know, I find myself in hospital with a busted up ankle and a busted up marriage. It’s all so bizarre and a bit scary, if I’m honest. I must admit I’ve always had a bit of a skeptical attitude about amnesia. I always thought it would be impossible to lose chunks of your life.” This was the first time Chris had come out and admitted how confused and scared he was feeling. The usually positive Chris was being bombarded with negative thoughts.
What if I go back home, everything is going great, and then I remember the bad things that went on between us? What if remembering the bad times ruins everything for us? Maybe it’s better if I never remember it all. But what if I never remember, yet begin to fall into the same bad patterns that caused the problems in the first place? It’s going to be impossible to know what I did wrong if I don’t remember, but if I do remember it could ruin things anyway, Chris thought nervously; wanting to ask all of these questions out loud but being afraid to do so.
“Do you think I’ll never remember everything, Louise?” he asked.
It was clear to both Louise and Angie that Chris’s thoughts were torturing him, and his eyes displayed the tell tale sign that tears weren’t far away. Spotting Chris’s emotional discomfort, Louise tried to lighten the mood.
“So long as you remember that you brought fresh flowers and chocolates for Angie every day. You did all of the cooking, all of the cleaning, and all of the laundry, and if you continue to do that as soon as you’re better, then I’m sure you two will get along just fine,” the jolly nurse joked while winking at Angie.
“Nice try, Louise. I may have forgotten some things but I know I’ve never used a vacuum cleaner in my life. I wouldn’t even know how to switch one on, never mind clean the floor with one,” a slightly embarrassed Chris replied.
“No, seriously, Christopher. No one can ever say for sure that your lost memories will or won’t return. Seeing as you remember everything else so clearly, you may never remember it all. But what’s the use in driving yourself crazy over it? Maybe the best way to move on is to forget the past, pardon the pun. You both obviously loved each other very much once upon a time, so why don’t you treat this as a second chance at happiness?”
Nurse Louise Brannagan’s caring nature had overridden her professional side. Maybe she should have given him a short non-committal answer, but it just wasn’t her style. She liked the couple a lot, and she’d seen far too much unhappiness in her job not to want to encourage a happy ending wherever possible. Sometimes her instincts told her that it wasn’t worth the effort; but she sensed that deep down Angie and Chris still cared a lot about each other.
Louise’s direct and straight to the point approach seemed to have done the trick. The atmosphere in the room warmed significantly, as the threesome chatted over their coffee and biscuits. By the time their drinks were finished it had been decided that it was time to prepare for Mr. and Mrs. Morris to go home. Louise disappeared and returned with the necessary discharge paperwork. As soon as everything had been checked over and forms had been signed, the couple could officially leave. While Chris signed the forms, Angie chatted to Louise.
“Louise, I wonder if you could call me a taxi?” Angie asked.
“Don’t bother, Louise, I’ll take care of this. Angie, you’re a taxi,” Chris interrupted.
“Oh Christopher, that joke must be older than you,” Louise sniggered.
“Well, it looks like you haven’t forgotten your favorite joke, more’s the pity,” Angie said tongue-in-cheek.
Although not long back Angie had tired of hearing the same old jokes over and over again, now she took them in the same lighthearted manner as they were delivered. Chris wasn’t trying to be clever; he was simply trying to make people smile, and Angie in particular. From now on Chris could tell as many of his corny jokes and one liners as he liked. After all, that’s what made him who he was. She loved him, corny jokes and all. It would take some time for the bones to heal and even longer to heal their marriage, but it was possible and that’s all that mattered. Soon after the paperwork was completed, Louise gave Chris his aftercare instructions, and after a fond goodbye to the very kind and supremely helpful nurse, the couple were leaving the hospital and going home.
Chapter Fourteen
Chris and Angie traveled home in relative silence, with only the sound of the taxi radio and occasional car horn spoiling the tranquility. Their minds were overloaded with thoughts, and each of them was thinking differently about what lay ahead. For Chris, it was picking up where he left off before they split up. For Angie, it was about trying to forget every angry argument they’d had in recent times. It may not be easy, and though they were both anxious to succeed, they were also both very nervous about doing or saying the wrong thing. The sooner they got back home the sooner they could get on with things. When their apartment came into view it was a welcome sight for both of them.
While Angie unfolded the wheelchair, the taxi driver helped get Chris out of the car. As the taxi driver steadied Chris while he climbed into the wheelchair, Angie secretly rejoiced that they lived in a ground floor apartment. Had it not been for the cracked rib, Chris would have been discharged with a couple of crutches. He could have hobbled around to his heart’s content. For now, although Chris had been given a couple of crutches to help him, most traveling around would have to be done with him sitting comfortably in a wheelchair. With Chris settled into his chariot, Angie rested his sports bag onto his lap and balanced the lightweight silver crutches over the arms of the wheelchair. All that was left for Angie to do was to pay off the taxi driver and steer Chris towards their front door, then they’d be home.
Cautiously maneuvering the heavy-laden wheelchair over the front door step, Angie swallowed nervously. This would be the first test of Chris’s memory loss. Would he remember everything about the apartment, or would he remember nothing? They had been living in the apartment well over six years now, and Chris had helped choose virtually everything in it. It would be difficult to know how far back his memory loss stretched until he got inside the apartment. Pointing out things that were either familiar or unfamiliar to him could help to pinpoint how much memory time he’d lost.
Once the couple was inside their apartment, Angie pushed Chris and his load speedily along the hallway and into the living room. For a second or two no one said a word, and then Chris took a deep breath in through his nose. If Angie had thought she’d have to wait a while to find out what Chris remembered, she was wrong.
“It sure smells like home, with the apple air freshener, but it just doesn’t look like home. When did you change the color on the walls? What happened to the pale blue? And where did that come from?” Chris asked as he pointed to the contemporary artwork on the wall.
At the same time as Angie opened her mouth to answer Chris, he interrupted her, and in a
childishly sulky tone continued on with his questions.
“Where’s the old coffee table gone? Awww, where’s my footstool? I love that footstool. Tell me it’s in the bedroom or something. Please don’t tell me you got rid of it?”
“If you’d let me get a word in I’ll tell you,” Angie laughed and continued, “We got rid of the blue walls almost five years ago. We just wanted a change. You chose the picture to go with the new aqua walls, but we got fed up with the aqua walls after about two months, and finally settled for keeping the walls cream. I didn’t get rid of your footstool, you did. Well, actually you tripped over it one day and the leg broke off. You tried to fix it, first with glue and then with screws. The glue didn’t hold and the screws just split the old wood. In the end you admitted defeat and gave your beloved stool a decent burial, in the trash.”
“Oh well, at least I still have my comfy sofa to lie on. Please tell me that’s here to stay?” Chris implored as he feigned melancholia.
“Of course it’s here to stay. There’s no way I’d part with it. Not because it took us forever to save for it, but because I don’t think we’ll ever find another one so comfortable. Despite the fact that it’s so comfortable you fell asleep on it almost every night after work, I’ll always love it.”
“Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that, work. Where do I work? Do I still work at the store? Is Kenny still my boss?”
“Yes, you still work at the store, and yes Kenny Blackett is still your boss. Before you ask, no, he hasn’t had a personality transplant, he’s still a grouch. Just wait till he hears you’re going to be off work for a while. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wants you back at work in your wheelchair. He’ll probably suggest that I come with you, so I can push you around while you talk to the customers.”
Sitting uncomfortably in his wheelchair and looking like a lost little boy, reality was hitting Chris hard. “Angie, I’ve just realized I must have lost around five years or more. I mean if I only remember the blue walls,” Chris exclaimed sadly.
“Oh yeah, it must be around about five years. We painted the walls blue soon after we moved in here, and that was just over six years ago. Don’t sound so sad, Chris. At least now we have something to work on. You only remember the blue walls, which disappeared almost five years ago. That narrows it down a lot, and with the help of the computer we can narrow it down a whole lot more.”
“How do you work that out, Angie?”
“Well, all we need to do is check out what was happening in the world around 2006 and 2007, and see what you remember.”
“Oh yeah, don’t you just love the Internet,” Chris responded. As he continued to talk, Chris was beginning to sound a lot chirpier.
“You make it sound so easy Angie, and I know in one way it is, but it’s a weird feeling not being able to remember a chunk of your life. Just remember what you’re like when you can’t remember where you put something then multiply that by a million. I keep on thinking if I really try then I’ll remember, but I don’t.”
“We’ll work it out Chris, don’t worry. Let’s just treat it a bit like a history lesson, you know what I mean?”
“Not really,” Chris replied looking rather perplexed.
“Well, when we were kids we learned about things that went on in history dating back hundreds of years or more. You’re just going to be doing a condensed version of the same. You just need a history lesson covering the last five or six years,” Angie said lovingly.
“But I stunk at history, it was so boring,” Chris sulked.
“OK, we’ll stick to the history you’re interested in and ditch the rest. I guess you’ll want to start with who’s running the country,” Angie giggled.
“Nooo way. I’d rather know how many Mission Impossible movie’s I need to catch up on.”
“That’s more like it,” Angie smiled, “we can get through this, Chris. It will take time and patience, but we can do it. I know we can. Now, let’s get you onto your favorite sofa and I’ll make us a drink.”
It had been a very long day for the couple and it would certainly take a while before they could both feel confident about the future. However, it wasn’t an impossible task by any means. In time, Chris’s cracked bones would heal, and with a lot of effort from the two of them, the cracks in their relationship might also heal. Only time would tell.
Chapter Fifteen
It was now three months since the accident, and things in the Morris household were very different indeed. Chris’s injuries were almost fully healed, and although he would have to take it easy on his foot for some time to come, he was getting around much better. He no longer needed the wheelchair or the crutches, and although he still got the odd twinge of pain in his ankle, most of the time he was fine. The accident had forced both Chris and Angie to reassess their priorities and discover exactly what was most important to both of them. They unanimously agreed that nothing was more important than their relationship.
Chris’s first step was to make a commitment to avoid overtime whenever possible. He had also begun to make proper plans for the future. Signing up for a few carefully selected part time courses, once completed Chris would have the necessary knowledge to be able to start his own business. Even taking into account the time he spent studying, Chris still managed to spend more time with Angie than before, and it was quality time too. Doing regular hours meant that Chris no longer fell asleep every night on the sofa. Once Chris learned to say ‘no’ to Kenny Blackett, the grumpy boss had to find someone else to take the extra shifts.
Meanwhile, Angie increased her freelance work and took on a lot more writing assignments. They might never be millionaires, but they’d at least be able to enjoy life together. They were now putting their happiness together above everything else. With the help of their trusty computer, Angie helped Chris to brush up on world events that he’d forgotten. Although he would never make a top history student, Angie made sure that Chris could get by on what he’d learned. There were now fewer occasions where Chris was left puzzled as to what people were talking about, so he could comfortably hold a conversation without ending up embarrassed. Life was looking up for the couple, and although one should never really think of an accident as a good thing, the accident had changed everything. They had been stuck on a route that was leading them to the divorce courts. Had it not been for the accident, they would have most likely continued to bicker and argue. They would have continued to talk at each other, rather than to each other. They had just about given up on the marriage counseling, and just about given up on their marriage. Then came the accident.
Angie gave Chris a small present four weeks after he’d come back home again. It was a wall plaque she’d had specially made for him. To the left side of the plaque was a photograph of his grandmother. To the right side was a picture of them on their wedding day. In the center was a beautifully written inscription of Chris’s favorite quote.
‘A winner never quits and a quitter never wins’
No matter what the future had in store for them, neither Angie nor Chris intended to be a quitter, ever.
—ooOoo—
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Books By Krissie LaBaye
It Must Have Been Love Page 8
