YOU WANT ANOTHER CHAPTER? HERE YA GO! BY THE WAY...HAS ANYONE BEEN MISSING A CRUCIAL CHARACTER? ;)
YOU'RE WELCOME. (in the words of sadie saxton)
PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC!
~
The hospital was quiet the next morning, the only sounds that could be heard were the machines quietly beeping and shuffling of feet through the hall. Logan had gone back to sleep not long after his visit with Scarlett the night before and all Mia had done since then was sit beside his bed and watch him sleep. Although her head knew he was fine, her heart couldn’t help but worry. She felt like she had to keep her eyes on him in order for him to be okay, as if her looking at him would somehow keep him from leaving again. A low cough from the doorway causes Mia to lift her head from the uncomfortable hospital chair. She turns to find one of her oldest friends leaned up against the doorway and an enormous smile enhances every bit of her facial features. She jumps up quickly and throws her blanket back on the chair, rushing forward and practically leaping into the man’s arms. She chuckles softly as he lifts her from the ground, grasping tightly to her waist. “I can’t believe you’re here!” She exclaims, her heart nearly bursting in joy.
He laughs a deep sort of laugh, his large muscles making it very easy for him to hold the small woman in midair for nearly a minute. “I missed you too, Mia.”
He finally sets her feet back down on the concrete floors and smiles down at her with his large, pearly white teeth that could be seen from a mile away. “What are you doing here?” She stares at him a moment, taking in every bit of his black tee shirt, dog tag and combat boots. “How are you here?” She asks, her heart hurting for him and yet so proud at the same time.
“We’re being deployed to the Middle East at the end of the week but I got a call yesterday from the hospital.” He glances over at Logan who is seemingly fast asleep, his stomach moving up and down in a constant rhythm. “Is he really awake?”
She turns back to Logan and smiles. “Well, not at the moment but yes, he is out of his coma.” She shakes her head, her heart so obviously bursting in joy. “I can’t even explain how unbelievably happy I am.”
The man places his hands on Mia’s shoulders. She reaches up to lay her hand on his and turns back to face him, her eyes now filling with tears. “I don’t know how we can ever repay you for what you’ve done.”
He shakes his head and places both hands on either side of her face, wiping her tears with his thumbs. “Don’t.” She stands on her tiptoes and wraps her arms tightly around his neck once more, a few years escaping as she continues thanking him.
“Your letters were thanks enough.” He says quietly while his arms wrap around her waist. “Writing to you and waiting for your letters was the one thing I had to look forward to.”
Mia pulls away with a smile and wipes a few tears from her eyes. “I heard you had at least one other pen pal besides me.”
He nods with a smirk and chuckles. “Have you seen her lately?”
She nods and crosses her arms. “She’s in town.” Mia shakes her head and gives him a wide eyed look. “She’s publishing a book.”
He scratches the back of his head and snickers nervously. “Yeah, I heard. It was in the last letter she wrote.”
Silence fills the air for just a second before Mia utters the one question they were both mulling over. “You’re not…worried, are you?”
The male purses his lips and shakes his head but slowly the shaking ceases. “Well, maybe…I mean, shouldn’t we all be?”
“Jake?”
Both Mia and the male turn to the hospital bed to find Logan sitting up, fully aware and slightly confused. “Logan,” Jake smiles and steps towards him, immediately placing a hand on his shoulder, “how are you feeling, man?”
“Pretty stupid, actually.” Logan mutters, causing both Mia and Jake to exchange looks of confusion.
“Why’s that?” Jake asks with a small laugh.
“You’re the one that’s married to Mia, aren’t you?” His voice was firm and showing signs of irritation as the conversation went on.
“What?” Jake laughs a deep kind of laugh, his eyes moving from Logan to Mia in complete confusion. “What’s going on?”
Mia lowers her head and softens her voice to answer Jake. “He has some memory loss from the coma.”
“If you’re not married to Jake then,” his voice drifts off for a moment as he stares at the both of him, his anger rising from all the questions he had, “who the hell are you married to, Mia?”
“YOU, you idiot.” Jake finally blurts out, causing Mia to chuckle softly and she really wasn’t sure why.
“Me?” Logan questions while Mia walks over to the opposite side of the bed and sits down in the chair beside him. She opens the drawer beside his bed and pulls out a small box that held a man’s wedding ring. She lifts the ring from the box and places it on his left ring finger with a smile.
“Who else would I be married to, idiot?”
He looks back over at her after staring at the ring a moment and the side of his mouth begins to curve up in a small smile. “I think I knew.”
She runs her hand through his hair and nods assuredly. “I think you knew too.”
He turns back to look at Jake, confusion returning to his face. “Are we friends?”
“I don’t know, man, you tell me.” He smirks as Logan turns back to Mia for confirmation.
“Logan, Jake has paid for over half of your medical bills the last three years.” Her hand remains on top of Logan’s head as she glances up at Jake a moment, her eyes filled with gratitude. “I mean, everyone helped. Taylor sent what she could along with Scarlett, Nick and Joe but Jake has been giving up money from his military checks the last three years.” She looks back at Logan as tears begin falling once more in the midst of the emotional conversation. “Without his help, I wouldn’t have been able to keep you on life support for this long. It’s not even recommended by doctors and the odds of you waking up were miniscule but…here you are.” She kisses the top of his hand as his eyes wander back to Jake.
“I don’t know what to say,” his words drift off at the honest truth of his statement. The last memory he had of Jake was when he loathed the guy but how can he hate the person who has kept him alive for the last three years? “Thank you.” Logan finally says, holding his hand out for Jake.
~
“Hey, Zac.” Nick makes his way over to the couch and begins shaking Zac’s foot, attempting to wake him from his deep sleep although it was one in the afternoon. “Wake up, man. Have you seen Scar?”
Zac grumbles something in his sleep before slowly turning onto his back, his face red and imprinted from the creases in the couch. “I told you, I don’t wake up before noon.”
“Great and if it was two hours ago, that statement may actually apply here.” He rolls his eyes. “Did you hear Scarlett leave this morning?”
Zac stares back at him incredulously. “Dude, I barely heard you screaming in my ear. Do you really think I would have heard a door open this morning?” Just as he finishes his smart remark, the front door opens and Scarlett steps in. She looked well rested for the first time in months and her makeup was applied perfectly to enhance her facial features. Nick can’t help but start to smile at the sight as she moves closer into the living room.
“Where have you been?” Nick questions when she stops in front of him, something glowing in her eyes that he couldn’t quite decipher.
“I’ve just been walking around the neighborhood for a while. I needed some space to think.” Her eyes and head seemed clear and it was something he hadn’t seen in a while. He wasn’t sure what had happened but he assumed it had something to do with her visit with Logan yesterday. “I’ve made a decision.”
His stomach does a few flips at the sound of that because for the past three years the only words that came after that sentence broke his heart. “About what?”
“Do you mind watching Audrey for an hour or two? I made an appointment with Dr. Linda.”
His face lights up at the sound and he had this hope that maybe everything would be okay again and maybe now Scarlett could see just how happy they could be. “Yes, yes, of course.” His smile was wide and full of hope. “Do you want me to go with you? I’m sure Zac wouldn’t mind watching Audrey for a while.”
“Not at all. I can finally teach that kid the art of following the bird that searches the weeds.”
Both Scarlett and Nick turn to Zac, their expressions comical and dumbfounded all at the same time. “On second thought…maybe we should see what Taylor’s doing today.” Nick suggests before shaking his head and turning back to Scarlett.
“Actually, I think I should do this on my own.” She admits honestly, her hands stuffed into her back pockets as she rolls back on the heels of her feet.
“Right…yeah, of course.” Nick forces a smile although he was a little saddened that she hadn’t come to see that he just wanted to help.
~
Two loud knocks rang through the small apartment, waking Taylor from her light sleep. She lifts her head from the arm rest of the sofa and notices Joe at the other end, his head resting on the opposite sofa arm. She shakes his legs and begins saying his name to try and wake him. “Joe.” It takes another full minute of shaking before Joe is completely conscious. “Joe, there’s someone at your door.”
He groans at the thought of having to get up but he does it anyways and slowly slides his feet over to the door. He opens his apartment door to a small brown haired woman with a large smile and about a pound of makeup covering her face. “Hi, Joseph. I’m really sorry to bother you but the window in my apartment is jammed and it’s like a sauna in there because my air conditioner is broke. Would you mind taking a look and see if you can get it open?” The woman finally looks past Joe to find the tall blonde seated on his couch. Taylor smiles back at the woman and waves despite the awkward vibe of the entire situation. The woman was obviously flirting, Taylor could plainly see that but she also couldn’t help seeing that Joe had no clue. Which, wasn’t very surprising with his track record but she had to wonder how many woman in this apartment complex asked him to fix something for them on a daily basis. Joe was cute in high school, he wore a beanie and almost always had a skateboard taped to his feet but through the years he lost the beanie along with skateboard. He gained muscle and a seemingly cold heart in place of those other things but for some reason, Taylor couldn’t help seeing the sweet boy he was. She also wasn’t blind and his muscles weren’t hard to look at by any means. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you had company.” The woman gives Taylor a look and unfortunately, it was one she had become all too accustomed with. She shoots the woman back a similar look and almost immediately feels her eyes shoot open in shock. She glances down at her lap, feeling childish and confused all of a sudden. She just shot daggers at this woman she barely knew and because why? Because she still had feelings for Joe and this strange woman was starring at him like she wanted to do him right there, audience or not? No, that was impossible. She had moved on with her life and Joe was a part of her past, Andrew was a part of her future.
Joe scratches the back of his head and yawns, obviously not caring one bit that he had yet to brush his teeth or take a shower. “Oh, uh, it’s okay.” He glances back at Taylor a moment. “I’ll be right back.”
She nods with a small smile and watches as Joe exits the apartment. She immediately reaches for her purse and pulls out the diamond ring she had in one of the small pockets. She smiles at it a moment and places it back on her finger. It had been two days since she arrived back home and she still hadn’t told anyone except for Nick that she was engaged. Although, she honestly wasn’t even sure she was engaged because the last thing she told Andrew before she left was she had to think about it. He gave her the week and she told him when she came back she would have an answer. She had five days left and she wasn’t any closer to having an answer, the only thing she had were more questions. She jumps at the sound of the apartment door opening and immediately shoves the diamond ring back in its pocket. She looks up at the door to see Joe, now sweaty and with a fresh cut on his right hand. Taylor immediately stands up and follows him into the kitchen. “What happened?” She questions in concern and begins cleaning his wound.
Joe groans as the water touches his open cut. “There was a piece of glass sticking out of the window and when I went to pull the window open, it sliced my hand.”
“Maybe we should get you to the hospital.” She suggests in concern. “It may be infected.”
Joe places a hand over hers and takes over her job of wrapping his hand. “I’m fine. The last thing I want to do is go back to that hospital.” Taylor shuts off the facet and nods before following him back to the couch.
“We should at least put something on it. Do you have any Neosporin?”
He nods and motions to the back bedroom. “In the medicine cabinet above my sink.” He watches her as she exits the living room and feels a smile growing on his lips. He was realizing just how much he missed having her around. Taylor was always so nurturing and concerned, she always had been. He finds himself thinking back and notices just how much she’s changed. She went from being this lanky, insecure girl to this beautiful, confident woman who was still the most compassionate person he had ever met. She had changed so much yet, she was still the same somehow in all the best ways.
~
Scarlett sits in a silent room, her hands folded neatly in her lap while her stomach constantly flips making her feel nauseas and doubtful. She wasn’t sure why she was so scared. She had finally admitted to Nick, and to herself, that this is where she needed to be but it was still frightening to wonder what would have to happen in order for her to get her life together, once and for all. She glanced around the room, the picture frames filled with diplomas and certification papers making her feel small. She straightens up at the sound of the door opening and puts on a small smile, carelessly hoping that maybe if she played as if everything was fine the therapist would believe it too. The woman walks over to her with a large smile, her hair was blonde, short and spiked; much like a boys cut but it fit her face and made her simple, beautiful features all the more prominent. “Hi, Mrs. Westerly, it’s nice to meet you.” Scarlett stands up to shake the woman’s hand and returns her smile.
“You too, Dr. Linda.”
Dr. Linda motions for Scarlett to sit back down on the full length couch as she makes her way over to the chair on the other side of the coffee table. “I understand you’ve had a few appointments with me before.” She smiles and sits down, her clipboard and pen already on hand. “Was it a difficult decision? Deciding to get help, I mean.”
Scarlett shrugs and clears her throat. “Sure, but who really wants to admit they have a problem, right? Especially, when the obvious answer is you have a screw or two loose.”
The doctor smiles and focuses down on her pad to scribble something out. “Do you think you have a screw or two loose?”
“I think that’s why I’m here, to figure out if I’m the problem that needs solving.”
She looks up from the clipboard and pulls out a few stapled papers, handing them over to Scarlett, along with a pen. “This is just a preliminary test that all of my patients are required to take. It’s just going to let me see where you stand and what I need to be focusing on.”
Scarlett stares down at the test and begins circling answers on the first page. Questions about how often she felt angry, sad or confused. What she thought other people thought of her and even one question that made her laugh, asking if she thought she was God. “I wonder how many people circle yes on that question.” Scarlett thinks out loud and Dr. Linda chuckles softly.
“You’d be surprised.” Silence fills the room for just a moment more as the doctor waits for Scarlett to get to the last page of questions. “So, Scarlett, tell me a little bit about your life.”
She lays the pen down for a moment and finds that words aren’t very hard to come by. “Well, I have a three year old daughter named Audrey who is my world.” Scarlett smiles as a proud mother should and continues letting this stranger know a little more despite her past objections. “We live with her father, Nicholas and we are just a normal suburban family.”
“But you and Nicholas aren’t married?”
Scarlett shakes her head. “No, we just haven’t felt the need to. Audrey has both of her parents and we’ve always just put off the big wedding thing and now...” Scarlett drifts off as the thought of the fight her and Nick had enters her mind.
“Now…what?”
“Now I’m not even sure if Nicholas is who I want to be with anymore.”
“Do you love him?”
“I will always love Nicholas.” Scarlett answers immediately, without a doubt. “We’ve been together since gade school and he is a good man.”
Dr. Linda’s eyes widen in delight. “Since grade school? Wow, sounds like it’s a lasting kind of love. What changed your mind?”
Scarlett glances down at the clipboard in her lap a moment before looking back at the doctor. “I guess that’s what I’m trying to figure out. For some reason, I’ve always pushed Nicholas away. He’s a great father and he’s always put us first but even when we were in high school I always seemed to slip away.”
“What do you mean, “slip away?””
“Either physically or mentally, I found myself moving away from him but that’s never what I wanted. It was like this part of me, this part I had no control over, always made me feel like I wasn’t worthy. This part of me always took things away because I didn’t deserve them.” Scarlett can feel herself losing control of her emotions and she quickly lets out a small laugh, just to keep herself in line. “Sounds crazy, right? Maybe everyone is right, maybe I am mental.”
“Who is everyone?” The doctor questions, brushing right over Scarlett’s comment.
“My brother and my friends.”
“Tell me about them.”
Scarlett takes a deep breath and smiles at the thought. “Are you sure? This could take up the whole hour.”
Dr. Linda shrugs. “There’s always another hour next week.”
~
OH, AND IN CASE YOU'RE WONDERING, THEY REALLY DO MAKE YOU TAKE ONE OF THOSE TESTS IF YOU EVER GO TO A PSYCHOLOGIST...AT LEAST, MY PSYCHOLOGIST DID. LOL. :p
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WHO HAD BEEN MISSING JAKE?!? MILITARY MAN?!? ...HMMM, I'M THINKING THERE'S A LITTLE MORE TO HIS STORY ;)