Thanks for being so patient with me. Enjoy.
***
"You ask."
"No." Eazy softly shook his head before stuffing another cheeto in his mouth. "I asked last time."
"No you didn't. I did." She corrected her brother before snatching the bag of chips from him. "I won't tell on you if you ask this time.
"Tell on me for what?"
"Eating chips for breakfast!"
"I'll ask when he gets here." He huffed while wiping his stained hand on his pant legs.
"Noooo. You have to ask auntie Jade while he's gone." Eden was the mastermind behind all of their schemes, despite Eazy being the oldest.
The movement behind them stopped Eazy before he could open his mouth. He and his sister sat on the edge of the bed watching TV while Jade slept. Diego left them in charge with strict instructions. Don't leave the room, don't talk, and don't touch anything.
Jade blinked her eyes open, only to snap them shut again. Light didn't bother her anymore, but she was exhausted. One of her prescribed pills weren't her best friend. They left her nauseas and knocked her out twenty minutes after taking them.
"Turn off the TV Eden! She can't see." He urgently nudged his sister as she scrambled to look for the remote. Unbeknownst to Jade, they were well aware of her situation. And once they heard of her accident they took it harder than Diego. They were happy to take care of her while Diego ran errands.
"Are you still sick?" Eazy had carefully crawled to the top of the bed before she opened her eyes completely. He pressed his cheesy hand on her forehead like his mom Zhuri would do to him.
"Take your nasty hands off her head! And get off the bed before you break her again."
"Don't talk to me like that!" Eazy reluctantly got off the bed and joined his sister. She stood at the side of the bed with a perfect view of Jade.
"Uncle Diego said as soon as you wake up you have to take your pills." Jade watched as the little girl grabbed the pill bottle and handed it to her. "You have to take one and drink some water."
Jade groaned as she tried to sit up on her own. Her ribs were extremely tender. "Thank you." She responded.
They watched with wide eyes as Jade tried to get her self situated. Her discomfort worried them. "Look what you did E!"
"Did I hurt you?"
She needed liquid down her throat before she spoke. After placing the pill on her tongue, she twisted the water bottle's cap off, and chugged it. The eager little faces waiting for a response caused a smirk to appear on her face. Jade shook her head and allowed the words to leave her mouth. "No, you didn't hurt me. I hurt myself."
They weren't completely buying it because she constantly grimaced. "Don't the pills make it better?"
"Why are you still hurting?" Eden asked. She was Zhuri's twin. Eli gave her nothing in the looks department.
"It takes time for the pill to work. And my body has to heal on it's on too."
"So he didn't hurt you?"
"No baby, he didn't hurt me." Jade smiled.
"Uncle Diego went to get breakfast. He said we had to be your doctors and take care of you while he was gone."
"You're doing a good job. I'll make sure I tell him."
"And what about me?" Eazy asked. He was always jealous when Jade complimented someone else in his presence.
"You too...." She paused because she didn't know what to call him. "You did a good job too." She offered. Not knowing his name made her chest ache.
Jade watched on as his little face lit up. There was no doubt about who his father was. He was a spitting image of Eli. He had Chanel's big eyes, but everything thing else was all Eli. Jade knew Zhuri hated that.
In the midst of her daydream Diego must have returned, because when she finally tore her eyes off her little cousin he stood in the door way. He was dressed in a red hoodie and grey sweats. The little drops of water on his shoulders let her know that it was raining outside. She could only imagine what type of nap was in store for her.
"Go wash your hands and get your table ready while I help your auntie Jade."
Eden scrambled out of the room easily leaving E behind. "But we want to help too." He said with his signature pout.
"You can help me next time. If I do it by myself I can get it done quicker." E's feet started to move, but he had no intentions of leaving the room. He looked at Jade as if he was scared to leave her alone.
"Eazy..." Diego called out. By now they had switched places, E hung back in the doorway while Diego kneeled by Jade's side of the bed. They shared one last look before Eazy's little feet could be heard running down the stairs.
"Stop Running!" He stood as he held out a hand for Jade to latch onto. She grabbed his hands and he gently pulled her from the bed until she stood on her feet. Out of habit, he clung to her waist to guide her to their shared bathroom, but she nudged him away.
"I don't need help, I can do it by myself." She said before taking a deep breath. It didn't hurt her to walk, it was bending and crouching that caused the most discomfort. Jade limped over to the bathroom until she was fully inside, leaving Diego's eyes on her back.
She limped over to the sink and surveyed her bruised face. The gash between her eyebrows and scratches along her cheeks looked as fresh as they did the day she entered the hospital. She ignored her daily tears and turned on the faucet to begin her morning routine.
Once she opened the door she saw Diego slouched with his head in his hands. They stared at each other.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Huh?"
"What did I do wrong?"
"Nothing." Jade moved towards the door and made her way to the stairs. He quickly followed behind her, but gave her enough room to walk alone. "I just want to do certain things alone. I can't depend on you for everything?"
"And why not? That's why i'm here."
"Just let me do things on my own."
"Aight, but tell me what I did. I know I did something wrong."
"What are you talking about?" Jade stopped to face him.
"You want to be independent, cool I got that. But what's up with you sneaking out the room in the middle of the night? And you don't kiss me back. I'm not trying to sound like a bitch or nothing, but tell me what I did wrong to make you so uncomfortable?"
"I'm hungry, we should go downstairs." She raked her hands through the mess on top of her head and went down the remaining steps as fast as her body would allow. Jade didn't want to answer him because she feared her answers would hurt him even more. She noticed the faces he made when she didn't return his kisses. And it was almost painful to look in his eyes when he caught her sneaking out of their bedroom at 3am this morning. They would talk about it some other time, just not right now.
He ran his hands down his face as his exhaustion started to catch up to him. He was so caught up in Jade that he forgot he needed to take care of himself too.
****
"A few people want to see you before..."
"People? Who?"
"Your family, my family. They want to see you before we go back home."
"We're not staying here?"
"I told you we live in Texas. And your doctor said it would be good if you stayed in a familiar setting. It'll be good for your memory."
"We don't want you to go back to Texas." Eden cut in as she struggled to cut through her pancakes.
"I don't want to go back to Texas either baby." Jade said as she scooped up Eden's plate and sliced her pancakes into mini squares. Diego eyed her. It was true. Moving back to Texas wasn't something she wanted to do right away. She didn't want to be away from her parents and she didn't want to be left alone with Diego in her current state.
"We have to go back eventually Jade. You have school and I have a job." He said in defeat.
"I can't remember anything past my freshmen year of undergrad and you expect me to go to somebody's dental school?" Jade stated as she passed the plate back to Eden. The kids were unaware of their mini argument, they were more concerned with the food i front of them.
"I expect you to try. You worked hard to get in there and I-"
"I don't want to go back to school."
"Jade-"
"I said I don't want to go back to school and i'm done talking about it." She informed him as she put down her fork and took another sip from her glass.
"Okay..." He trailed off, unsure of what else to say at the moment. If that's what she wanted he'd just have to go along with it.
As they ate, he glanced at her occasionally. They didn't speak to each other, but she talked to the kids. They tried their best to get her to remember certain moments. Jade learned that despite, Diego calling the little girl Princess, that her actual name was Eden. She was excited to tell Jade that Uncle Diego named her.
She learned that Eazy's real name was Easton, but no one really called him that. He was having a hard time making her remember the time they baked a cake. Once she saw how sad he got about her not remembering, she had to pretend as if she did.
She didn't know how to feel or what to say when they brought up the baby. Eden asked if the baby was in heaven and Eazy asked when was she going to get another one. She didn't necessarily feel sad about them mentioning her unborn child she just didn't know what to say. She didn't get to bond with the baby like those around her. And to be honest she was grateful that she wasn't pregnant. She didn't want kids at the moment.
But that feeling most went away once Diego excused himself from the table. She felt guilty for mentally thanking God that she wasn't pregnant, all while the man in front of her was still struggling to cope. Part of the reason she didn't like to sleep with him was because during the night he would rub her belly. She was sure he did that while she was carrying. And she didn't miss how he would openly stare at her stomach. That made the situation even more uncomfortable.
A few hours had passed and Diego hadn't shown his face since breakfast. Jade was wrapped in a blanket seated on the couch while Eden and Eazy sat at her feet. They convinced her watch Shrek and now they were watching it for the third time in a row.
The sound of the doorbell snapped Jade out of her trance. Earlier she told Diego that she was okay with their family coming to visit. It would be nice to see other faces besides his. She heard him jogging down the stairs dressed differently from earlier. She heard a few familiar voices as they all rounded the corner.
Her mom was the first person she saw. "My baby." She said as she gently hugged her.
"Hey Ma." Jade smiled and looked past her mom to see her dad. They hadn't changed that much in appearance. Aside from aging, her dad put on a few more pounds.
"How you doing baby?" He planted a kiss on her forehead before sitting down on the couch beside her mom.
"I been doing good. I walked down the stair for the first time by myself." Jade stated proudly as she watched more familiar faces pile into the living space.
"Boy you let her walk down the stairs alone?" Juliet scolded him.
"She don't listen to nothing I say. Talk to her, not me." He shrugged.
"Jade you been giving my baby a hard time?" Juliet said jokingly as she reached in for a hug. Thankfully Jade remembered her. The two times they met she remembered her being nice and treating her like she was already apart of the family.
One by one everyone greeted her. She was reintroduced to Malachi (Diego's grandfather) and Isiah (Diego's father). Her only memory of them stemmed from the thanksgiving they shared. She wasn't sure if they built a relationship since then. Eli showed up with flowers and Zhuri. She also wasn't sure if they were friends or not. Zhuri had been the only one not to hug her, but she did wave.
Jade also didn't know where Eli and Zhuri stood in their relationship. Obviously Chanel had, had her baby so Zhuri knew of his cheating ways. Her ring was missing, but they held hands.
She didn't see Chanel. Jade figured she didn't want to be in the same space and her baby daddy and his wife. But drama never stopped Chanel from appearing. Maybe her and Chanel were at odds, she would have to ask Diego about it later.
They talked for hours. Juliet brought over a photo album to share memories with Jade. Instead of trying to force her to remember, she just told stories about each picture she passed. She showed Jade pictures from her graduation. Everyone was huddled around her with smiles on their faces. The next picture was her, Diego, and Eazy. They stood shoulder to shoulder while she held Eazy. She joked and asked Juliet was he really her son since they seemed to have him all the time. Juliet only smiled and patted Jade's hand. It was weird.
Her mom shared a few stories too. She told her about how much her brother had grown. She talked about how his voice was deeper, how he was taller, and how he'd grown a sudden interest in girls. She told her about work and how she got promoted a few months ago. Her dad informed her that he was now a judge instead of a lawyer. She wondered how the Mathieu family felt about that or if they knew already.
Every now and then the others joined in on the conversation. She learned a lot, but still felt like she knew nothing. Diego had ordered pizza and every one seemed to have drifted off in sections. Her mom, Juliet, and Diane were making plans for their next book club. She liked the fact that they had grown close. Years ago remembered Zhuri saying Juliet didn't particularly like Diego's mom.
Zhuri sat in a secluded corner with a friend she had invited. Jade hated the sympathy behind the girl's eyes. Eden sat in her lap, ignoring the conversation behind her.
The older men sat at the dining table with their eyes glued to the TV. They bonded over their shared love of crime shows. Nothing could be heard from them except the occasional "I knew he was guilty".
Diego had fallen asleep next to her. Her feet dangled on the ground while his head was pressed against the side of her knee. She smiled while looking down at his face because she remembered he could fall asleep in any position and in anyplace.
The only person to keep her company was Eli. He made sure to make her laugh by bringing up some of her most embarrassing moments. He was the same person she remembered.
"Your boy came by to see you yet?" Eli grinned as he reached for another slice of pizza.
"My boy?" Jade asked. She looked at Diego for help, but remembered that he was sleep.
"Yeah, Miles. I'm surprised he ain't beat us here." The room filled with soft laughs after Eli's statement. They knew something she didn't—obviously.
"Why would he come here?"
"Word? His lil feelings gonna be hurt when I tell him you don't remember him." Eli joked. "That's your homie though."
"Since when?"
"Ima let you ask him." Eli smirked. He was enjoying this more than he should.
They eventually left. Eazy and Eden put up a fight because they weren't ready to leave. Diego promised that they could stay over during the weekend. When she heard the door close, she turned to face Diego who was gathering the empty pizza boxes.
"I moved some of your stuff to the bedroom down here, so you don't have to use the stairs. I'll sleep upstairs." He said while stuffing the boxes into the garbage bags.
Jade gathered her blanket and retreated down the hallway. She hadn't explored the house, so she wasn't sure what door to enter. As she reached for the door knob, Diego stopped her. "Not that one." He said, trying to keep his voice even.
Jade looked up to him with confused eyes. Once he didn't explain himself she entered the door before shutting it closed.
******
I really wanted to update & decided to post this.
I'm not done with the other nine chapters (check the book description if you don't know what i'm talking about) but I think i'll update one more time before the end of December.
So I've been writing past and present chapters. And my thing is idk if i want to make the the flashbacks separate chapters, or if i should include them as add-ons. The flashback segments are the same length as my regular chapters. Help?
Suggestions? Predictions? Things you want to see?
Until next time. ❤️