Page 35 of Sparking Sara

“You’ve been dealing with this shit for over a year, Lieutenant,” Justin says. “Definitely time to cut bait.”

“Amanda is notbait, you asshole. She’s my wife. And there’s no way I’d risk losing Leo.”

“I hate to be the one to break it to you, man, but she doesn’twantLeo,” Justin says. “She ignores him. Hell, she ignoresyou.”

“It’s post-partum depression. That’s all,” Brett says.

Justin laughs. “Seriously? Is that what she tells you? And five years from now, when she’s still feeding you that bullshit, will you believe it then?”

Captain Dickerson puts down his coffee and chimes in. “Kelly had post-partum depression,” he says. “But no way could she have worked. I’m not saying it’s the same for everyone, Cash. But with Kelly, all she did was lie in bed. She didn’t want to hold James. But she didn’t want to do anything else, either. It’s like shecouldn’tdo anything else. Took a few weeks for her to get over it. But I’ve been told we were lucky, a lot of women have it for months.”

Justin points his fork at J.D. “See? Months,” he says to Brett. “Months, not years. Amanda is playing you.”

Brett gets up off the couch and then curses when he walks using his sore toe.

“You think she’s got something on the side?” he says defensively. “What are you trying to say, Justin? That she’s stepping out on me?”

Justin holds up his hands in surrender. “I’m not saying that at all,” he says. “I just wonder how long you’re going to continue to be a doormat. You do everything for Leo. You handle the finances. You pay the nanny. You schedule his wellness visits. What is Amanda even contributing to your lives, other than her paychecks?”

The alarm goes off, but it’s only for EMS. It has effectively ended the conversation, however. Brett stares at Justin like maybe something he said has gotten to him.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out to see Joelle’s name and quickly get up, making my way to the bunk room for privacy.

“Joelle, what’s up?”

“She’s awake,” she says.

“Sara’s awake?” I ask in disbelief. “As in, she’s talking?”

“Well, she’s not talking, but she’s communicating with head nods and hand signals. She’s exhausted, but she seems aware.”

“How do you know she’s aware?”

“Because we’ve been asking her questions about her life.”

“She’s cognizant?”

“Yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“Are you coming by today? I’ll explain everything when you get here.”

I look at the clock. “My shift is over in twenty minutes. I’ll be there shortly afterward.”

After we hang up, I stare at the clock.

Twenty minutes have never gone by so slowly.

~ ~ ~

Joelle is outside Sara’s hospital room talking with the doctor when I arrive.

“What did you mean by she’s cognizant but she’s not?” I ask, walking up and interrupting their conversation.

“Hi, Denver,” Joelle says. “We think Sara has experienced some memory loss.”

“If she’s not talking, how can you know that?”

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