Samson
I wake up this morning excited for my appointment with Robin. I have so much to tell her. I get up quickly and get ready for the day. On my way out, I stop and grab a granola bar to tide me over until I get out of therapy today.
Twenty-minutes later, I pull up to her office and walk inside. When I get to her office door, I realize I'm whistling. I smile and shake my head opening the door. "Hi Samson. How are you today?"
"I'm doing great. How are you Robin?" I ask. We take our places sitting across from each other and getting comfortable. "I'm doing great myself. Wow! You are like a different person from last week. What happened?" She asks. I tell her about my week and she looks impressed.
"What about this woman?" She asks zooming right in on Carmen. "Something about her draws me to her. But I keep telling myself that she's only been gone for six months, I can't feel that way about someone else so soon." I answer.
"What about her that draws you?"
"It was something in her eyes. They told me that she understood and that everything will be alright." I shift around nervously. "I can't date anyone right now."
"Let me guess. You're feeling guilty that you're alive and having feelings and she's not here." She guesses correctly. I look down, playing with my fingers. "I wish every day that it was me who died and not her. I couldn't fathom looking forward to living life again and here I am, looking forward to every day. I'm planning my days now. I'm excited for what's to come. She will never feel that again and my son will never had the chance to do it. Of course I feel guilty."
"Samson, we talked about this already. There's a reason this has happened. There's a reason for everything. Just because you don't know what it is doesn't mean that it isn't there. What it comes down to is that you're here and they aren't unfortunately and you can't give up on life because of that. You have to move on, and if your wife was here, she would tell you the same. Think about what she would want. She would want you to live a happy life and move on." She states.
I nod slowly, "Thanks Robin. It just gets to me sometimes." We spend the rest of the time talking about things that I need to do like finalizing things with the lawyer and going through her things. Robin suggests that I could donate her things to someone in need and I agree. I'm just not quite ready to go through her things and give them away just yet.
After I leave my appointment, I meet Brock and his wife for brunch at a place where we used to always meet when Chloe was alive. I walk in the door and it brings some bittersweet memories. They are waiting for me when I walk inside. Melanie, Brock's wife walks straight over to me and gives me a hug. "How are you?"
"I'm doing fine. It's kind of hard to be here and she's not here to enjoy it with me." I tell her. "I understand. We'll just make more memories, okay?" She asks rubbing my back. I nod and Brock walks over and shakes my hand. "Just come from an appointment?"
"Yep. It's kind of hard right now because I just got finished talking about how she's not here anymore and now we are in one of her favorite restaurants about to have lunch." I sigh heavily.
"We'll talk about the good times when we used to go out and do things. That should make you feel better." Melanie says. "Okay. I would like that." I tell her as the hostess comes by to show us to our seats.
After we're seated, Melanie asks, "So Brock tells me that you saw someone who peaked your interest." I look over at Brock and he nods at me. "We met someone at the bar we went to the other night. I felt a connection to her and it was weird. I told Brock that it's too early for me to be interested in someone else. She's only been gone for six months." I tell her.
"Think about it Samson," Melanie looks straight into my eyes, "You spent the first month and a half in bed. The only time you ate was when one of the girls or I would come by and bring you food. Then the captain called Robin who managed to coax you out of bed, and then little by little get you out into the real world again. Now it's almost seven months later and you're starting to come out of the deep mourning that you were doing to a more healthy type and you are starting to live your life again. That is a great thing, it's what Chloe would have wanted. I can guarantee that."
"That's what Robin said." I tell her. She smiles really big at me, "See I know what I'm talking about. Even if you don't think so, six months is a long time, Samson. It's time to really start living your life again. Don't be afraid to be the happy, smiling man you were before Chloe died. It's going to be a little different, but don't be afraid to live. Anyone of us is here if you need to talk, okay? We miss her also."
I nod and we spend the next hour and a half of lunch talking, laughing and remembering Chloe. We talk about some of the crazier things that we did when we were younger and how Chloe always had a smile on her face. I walked out of the restaurant feeling lighter yet again. I can see a brighter future for myself.
Carmen
As soon as I wake up this morning, I feed muffin and get dressed to get to the hospital as soon as possible so I can check on Mrs. Mayfield. I look at my phone and I have a text from her son telling me that he will be arriving at three and will come to the hospital directly from the airport.
I drive to the hospital and walk inside directly to Mrs. Mayfield's room. When I walk inside, she is playing cards with one of the orderlies. She looks up and says, "Hi dear. How are you today?"
"I'm doing fine. How are you today?" I respond. "I'm feeling great! I asked the doctor if I could go home today and he told me that they are keeping me here for a week. Can you believe that? He told me because of my age, they want to keep an eye on me. Do I look like I need to be here?" She fusses. "You don't look like it, but I'm glad they are keeping you to make sure that there will be no complications. I'm sure you're fine and we can go to the zoo or something when you get out, okay?"
She considers what I say for a second and answers me. "Okay, but I'm going to look up places and when I find one, I'll let you know. We are going to go all out when I leave out of this place." She looks over at the orderly like she's just realizing that he's still there. "Carmen, this is Donnie. He's an anesthesiologist." Donnie looks up at me, "Hi."
"Hi. How did you end up in here?" I inquire. I could understand if it was an orderly, but an anesthesiologist is a whole other thing. "The surgery that I had scheduled was cancelled. I was walking by when I heard Mrs. Mayfield call out to me. I came inside and started talking to her. I remembered that I have a deck of cards so we started playing. She's hilarious." He answers. I nod agreeing with him.
I tell her, "Your son will land at three and he's going to come straight to the hospital from the airport." She nods, "Okay."
We sit and talk to Donnie until his next appointment and then the nurse comes in and checks her stats and gives her something to make her sleep. While she sleeps I find a comedy to watch and settle in, getting comfortable in the recliner where I'm sitting.
I'm startled awake when I hear the door open and a man with dark hair walks in the door and a young woman who favors him walks in behind him. "Hi." I whisper standing up, "You must be Mrs. Mayfield's son."
He steps towards me holding out his hand, "Hello, I'm Tyson, and this is my daughter Akemi." We shake hands and he whispers, "How is she doing?" I open my mouth to answer, when she says, "Speak up! I'm an old lady, I can't hear you."
I laugh. "I thought you were still sleeping. We were just introducing ourselves to each other."
"Hi mom. How are you feeling today?" Tyson asks walking over to give her a hug. "I'm doing fine. Is that my granddaughter I see over there?" She asks.
"Hi Grandma." Akemi asks walking over to her and giving her a hug. "When dad told me what happened, I had to come with him to see how you're doing. "I'm happy to see you sweetie. How is school?"
"It's going great! I'm carrying a B-plus average and I only have three more semesters until I graduate! I'm counting down the months!" She answers. "Why aren't you in school now?" Mrs. Mayfield asks. "It's spring break this week. Instead of going to Florida, I decided to come home and actually relax." Akemi responds.
"I'm very happy to see you." Mrs. Mayfield squeezes her hand smiling. "I'll leave you all to visit. I'll be back later." I start getting my things together. "Stay, please." Tyson asks. "You've been so helpful to her, you're like one of the family."
I put my things down and sit back down, thanking them. I watch television and listen to them talk in the background. We all stay until the nurse comes in and kicks us out for the evening. We all hug Mrs. Mayfield and say goodnight. I tell her that I'll be back tomorrow before work to see her.
We walk out in the hall and I ask them, "Where are you all staying?"
"We haven't thought about that yet. I guess we'll get a hotel." Tyson says. "Mrs. Mayfield has an extra room in her apartment and I have an extra room in mine. One of you can stay at her house and the other one can stay with me." I offer. They both look at each other and then look at me, "That sounds good. Thanks."
"No problem. You can follow me to our place." I tell them. "Have you eaten yet?" Tyson asks. I shake my head. "Let's go get something to eat first and then we can go back to your place." He says. "Okay. Where do you want to eat?" I ask. "I'm ready for a steak. Do you know of any good steakhouses around here?" Tyson asks.
"I definitely do. Follow me." I respond heading towards the front door. They follow me out and we go to our cars after I find out where they are parked. They follow me to the steakhouse and we go inside and order our food. While we're waiting for our food to arrive, Tyson tells me, "I really wanted to talk to you. When I've talked to mom on the phone for the past couple of months, I've been trying to convince her to come and live with me. She won't because she doesn't want to leave you. She says that if she moves, that you won't have any friends."
I look at him and smile, "She is so sweet. She's always trying to get me to go meet people. I tell her that I'm fine and I talk to people all of the time at work. I love her and enjoy spending time with her, but I don't want her to stay here because of me."
"Will you be okay if she moves in with me?" He asks. "I'll be just fine. I'll feel better because there'll be someone to watch over her and spend more time than I can. I can only check on her in the mornings before I go to work and in the evening after I get off from work." I tell him. "I'll eventually be leaving also and I was worried about what would happen to her when I'm gone."
"You're leaving? When?" Akemi asks. "I don't know yet. There are a lot of variables involved and I'm not at liberty to talk about it." I tell them. They both look at me suspiciously, but don't ask anymore questions. I add, "I'll help you talk her into moving. Just let me know and I'll be there." Then I say, "I promise you, I'm not into anything illegal." They look like they still doubt me some, but don't say anything.
After we finish eating, they follow me back to our apartments and I get Tyson settled in his mother's apartment and Akemi comes to stay with me. I take a shower and feed muffin, giving her a cuddle while watching a little television before going to bed. Akemi comes in and sits down beside me. "I just have to ask, you said that you will be leaving, but you don't know when. What's that about?"
"The gist of it is, I have amnesia. My psychiatrist tells me that I will get my memory back because whenever something from my past is put in front of me, I get a headache. She says when my brain is ready, it will come back to me. There are other factors involved that I can't talk about, but when I get my memory back, I will have to leave." I tell her.
She considers what I say and then tells me, "Your secrets safe with me. Thanks for telling me. See you in the morning." She goes back into the bedroom and I turn off the television and muffin and I turn in for the night.