13. Chiara
Chiara
A week later
Today was the appointment I had with my primary doctor for my follow-up.
I was anxious to see if they could tell me a little more about my amnesia, since the doctor at the hospital only gave me the bare minimum.
I had a few memories come back to me, mostly things I was familiar with around the house, or certain things that Gabe said.
I still don’t remember much about the accident, but I’m starting to think it’s for the best.
Speaking of Gabe, he’s been the perfect husband.
At first I thought he was putting on an act, but his actions seemed so genuine that I quickly pushed that thought out of my head.
When he left the house, he made sure he told me he loved me.
If we were out, he was the perfect gentleman.
And once a week, he gave me a fresh bouquet of yellow roses.
I couldn’t be happier with this man than I was now.
If the memories that I suppressed are half as good as the ones that we were currently making, then I couldn’t wait to finish this lifetime with him and enter into the next.
I was finally done getting ready for my appointment, so I went downstairs to look for Gabe. When I reached the bottom step, we almost ran into each other.
“I was just coming to see if you were almost ready,” he said, wrapping his muscular arm around my waist. Since we had sex last week, we couldn’t keep his hands off of me and I didn’t mind, not one bit.
“I was coming to tell you I was ready. You look nice,” I complimented.
He had on a simple tan thermal with a pair of dark denim jeans with a pair of wheat Timbs on his feet.
His line up was sharp and crispy and the diamonds in his ears did nothing compared to the simple Cuban Link on his neck.
The crème de la crème was the gold grill that he wore on the bottom row of his teeth.
When I first saw it, it threw me by surprise because he didn’t have it in when he came to the hospital.
I mean, it fit into his persona. I just wasn’t expecting it.
“You keep looking at me like that and you gon’ be rescheduling.” He smirked.
“Don’t tempt me, but you’re right. I got some questions for the doctor, so let’s go.” I grabbed my purse off of the counter while Gabe waited for me by the door. Once he locked the house up, we were on our way.
We rode most of the ride in silence with our hands intertwined.
Moments like these were priceless, and I cherished them.
We had conversation here and there about the upcoming holidays.
I told him if I didn’t get my full memory back soon, I’d prefer to spend the holidays with just us.
He thought the opposite would be better, so we decided to just play it by ear.
Twenty minutes later, we were pulling up to the doctor’s office. Gabe let me out at the door so he could find a parking spot while I went inside to sign in. He walked in just as I was taking my seat, and he took the vacant one that was beside me.
“You good?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I simpered.
We sat in silence while we waited for my name to be called. Almost thirty minutes later, I was called to the back.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Hastings. I’m Nurse Tasha. I’ll check your vitals before the doctor gets in.” I nodded and sat at the end of the exam table while she took my blood pressure and temperature. As she wrote a few things down, Gabe was busy on his phone.
“Work?” I asked, breaking him from the trance that he was in.
“Uh…nah. Gary sent me some shit to look at for Shan. Noting major.” he said.
I watched as he stuffed his phone in his pocket as the nurse finished up. He didn’t give me any indication prior to that he was up to something, but he’s been off for the past couple of days. I shook the feeling off and sat and waited as the nurse left.
“You good, Snook?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” I gave him a small smile. Moments later, Dr. Mitchell walked into the room with a bright smile on her face.
“Well, good afternoon, Mrs. Hastings. It’s nice to see you up and vibrant,” she stated.
“Thank you.” She went through her clipboard, likely going over notes of my diagnosis.
“Ok, Chiara. I see you were in an accident a little over a month ago. How are you feeling?” she asked.
“I’m feeling okay. The headaches have lightened up, but I do have a question about the amnesia.”
“I’m sure that you do, and I’ll try to answer the questions as best as I can.” Gabe looked over at me and nodded, so I continued with my question.
“I’ve slowly been remembering a few details about my life before the accident, but I can’t seem to remember much regarding my husband or our marriage,” I revealed. I noticed the doctor looked from me to Gabe before she started speaking again.
“Well, it sounds like you have selective amnesia,” she stated.
“What do you mean by selective?” Gabe asked from his seat.
“That means that Chiara’s brain is blocking off memories that weren’t significant enough to remember or traumatic enough to not want to remember,” she informed.
“Wait, so you’re saying that my marriage to my husband wasn’t enough for me to remember?” I asked. I looked at Gabe and saw the hurt flash in his eyes.
“Not at all. What I am saying is that maybe the last encounter you two had before the accident is playing a part in the rest of your memory or details of your relationship.” I was at a loss for words.
I couldn’t understand what could be the reason I would be upset with Gabe.
He gave me no indications that he was cheating or even that we were unhappy, so I don’t understand.
“Doc, how long will this last?” Gabe asked. I could tell he was getting frustrated with all of this, and I appreciated him still sticking beside me through all of this.
“It varies from patient to patient. Chiara stated she was remembering a few things so her full memory could return at any time.” That was good news. I didn’t know how much longer I could be living like this, not knowing if I was truly happy or not.
“In the meantime, continue to do the things that help you jog your memory, and I want to see you back in four weeks. Do you have any other questions for me?” she asked as she wrote something down on her notepad.
“No. I don’t. I really appreciate you seeing me today.”
“It’s no problem, and hopefully by the time you come back, you’ve made a full recovery.”
“I hope so,” Gabe and I said at the same time.
After gathering my belongings, we went to the front where I made my next appointment, and we were now headed out the door.
After I got my appointment, Gabe escorted me out of the office and helped me inside of the truck.
My mind was currently all over the place, and I just wanted to get things back to where they were, or at least how I envisioned them.
“You want to go for lunch at Stoney Brook?” he asked. My neck snapped in his direction when he mentioned that place. Outside of Nuni’s, that was my favorite place to eat.
“Sure,” I agreed. Giving him a coy smile, we continued our journey to the restaurant. I was more determined to get back to what I knew me, and my husband were before this stupid ass accident.
***
Lunch was great, and I realized Gabe was truly good for me. I vowed at lunch that I was going to do whatever it takes to get my memory back. Once we finished lunch, he got a call about work. I knew he had a business to run, so I wasn’t going to get in the way of that.
“I think I’m going to go see my parents today. It’s been a minute.” We were back home, and he was getting ready to leave.
“That could do you some good. I know your mom wants to see you,” he said.
“I’m pretty sure my dad does, too,” I countered.
“Yeah, I bet.” I just shook off what he said and allowed him to kiss me before he left the house. Before I left, I grabbed my phone to call Chiquita. It’s been a few days since I heard from her, too.
“Hey, trick,” she greeted when the call connected.
“Don’t ‘hey trick’ me. Where have you been?” I asked.
“Where I’m always at. At these people’s job. You know the holidays are coming up and I need all my extra monies,” she voiced.
“I guess. I was just calling to check up on you. I’m on the way to see Ma and Daddy. I haven’t them since the hospital and I want to check in.”
“They’ll love that. Call me when you get back in.
” We said our goodbyes and hung up while I collected my things and got back into my brand new ride and headed to my parent’s house.
Gabe had all my familiar places programmed into the GPS system so it wouldn’t be overwhelming trying to remember all these crazy streets that New Grove possessed.
It took all of twenty-five minutes to pull up to my parent’s single-level home. I sat in the driveway for a few minutes before I gathered myself and got out. I rang the doorbell and waited for someone to come and let me in. Moments later, I heard the locks turn and my mother appeared at the door.
“Chi, baby! Come in,” my mother rushed out when she saw me at the door. Ushering me inside, she shut the door behind us.
“Look at you, all out and about.” She beamed.
“I had a doctor’s appointment today. Gabe and I went to a late lunch afterwards. He had some business to handle, so I came to see you and Daddy while he was out.”
“Well, what did the doctor say?” she asked.
“Where’s Daddy? I don’t want to repeat the same thing twi-”
“Repeat what?” my daddy asked as he walked into the room.
“Hey, Daddy?” I greeted as he came and pulled me into a tight hug before he kissed my forehead.
“Hey, baby girl. How long have you been here?” He let me go…barely, and I reclaimed my seat by my mother.
“I haven’t been here long. I was just telling Ma that I had a doctor’s appointment today.”
“How did that go?”
“It was okay. I let her know I was remembering a few things, but it was still kind of fuzzy when it came to me and Gabe.” I saw my parents give each other a look, and that didn’t sit right with me.
“Why are y’all looking like that?” I quizzed.
“Honey,” my father started, but my mother cut him off.
“James, don’t start.” She warned.
“Don’t start what?” I asked, looking between the two of them.
“Nothi-”
“We talked to the investigator, and he told us that Gabe was calling when you had the accident,” my father said.
“Okay? He could’ve been calling to check on me,” I defended.
“I doubt that since you were leaving because he refused to treat you like a priority!” His voice boomed, startling me and my mother.
“Say what?”
“James!”
“No, Sharon. She needs to know why she can’t remember that piece of shit ass nigga.
He was never any good for her and all he did was leave her alone in that house while he was out doing whatever, claiming it was work.
I’m not about to tiptoe around the fact that if he put as much effort into his marriage as he does everything else, my daughter would have never had that dreadful accident trying to run from him!
” I couldn’t believe the words that my father was telling me right now.
Was I leaving Gabe? Was that the reason I couldn’t remember him?
This was too much, and my head was starting to hurt.
The back and forth they were doing wasn’t making it any better.
“I’m going to go.” I got up and snatched my purse up, too.
“Chiara, wait. Don’t go home and blow things out of proportion. Talk to your husband,” my mother insisted.
“She doesn’t need to go back over there. She can stay right here,” my father concluded.
“James,” my mother seethed. I could tell she was getting upset with him and I didn’t want to get in the middle of that.
“Look, Daddy. I’ll be fine. If there’s anything I need to talk to Gabe about… I will. I don’t know why you’re so hellbent on hating him when he’s been nothing but good for me throughout this entire process.”
“Well, that’s the least that he can do.” He turned to leave without saying another word. My mother walked up to me and placed her hands on my shoulders.
“Listen, Chiara. You need to go home and talk to your husband. That’s the only person who can give you insight on what’s going on. Go talk to Gabe and call me later.” She gave me a warm, motherly smile before she kissed my cheek.
Heading to the door, I left with my mind running a mile a minute.
I needed to talk to Gabe and see if he knew what father was talking about in regard to me leaving or us having an argument.
Maybe if I had more details of what led up to the accident, I could make better sense of it.
Hopefully that was sooner rather than later.