Page 11 of Tell Me You Love Me Again

No response.

“Snook,” I repeated, this time a little firmer. This time, she stirred.

“Snook, baby. It’s me.” Her eyes slowly fluttered opened and when she was fully focused, a frown immediately covered her beautiful face, and she snatched her hand away from mine.

“Wh-who are you?” she asked, and I could hear the fear in her voice.

“Baby, it’s me. Gabe. Your husband,” I revealed.

“Husband? I’m sorry, sir, but you have to be mistaken. I think I would remember having a husband,” she snapped.

Defeated, I lowered my head. I couldn’t believe this was the result of a simple argument about me spending time with her. If this is the Universe’s way of making me pay more attention to my wife…It worked.

Gabe

Looking at my wife and having her not recognize me hurt me to my core. This was the woman that I vowed to love forever, and she didn’t know who I was. I turned to the doctor, who was still standing at the end of the bed.

“How long will she be like this?” I asked.

“It all depends. Some patients experience short-term memory loss that can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. While others experience longer phases that can last months. You can never really tell with these kinds of cases,” he replied. I didn’t ignore the sympathetic look on his face.

“Thanks, Doc.” he nodded.

“I need to take your wife down for a few tests. We shouldn’t be gone long. I promise.”

“Okay.” I turned my attention back to Chiara right as the nurse came in with a wheelchair. Upon seeing the chair, I got up and rounded the bed to help her out myself instead of allowing the nurse to do it. At first Chiara hesitated, but she eventuallygave in after I promised I wouldn’t hurt her. The pain I was experiencing was ten times worse than what she just endured in the accident, and she didn’t even know it. I watched as they rolled her away. While they were out, I was going to use this time to call her sister back. I’d let her relay the message to their parents.

I listened to the phone shrill in my ear a few times before Chiquita finally picked up.

“Yes, Gabe?” she answered, sleepily. She could have very much been sleeping. It was almost four in the morning.

“Hey, Quita. I didn’t mean to wake you and shit, but I was calling you to tell you I’m in Cannon Hills with Chiara. She was in an accident and the hospital called me,” I informed her.

“Wait. An accident? When I talked to her, she was fine,” she revealed.

“Oh, so you did know she was leaving town?” I had to chuckle to keep from spazzing out on this damn girl.

“Gabe, I was respecting my sister’s wishes.”

“Well, respecting your sister’s wishes could’ve gotten her killed. She was involved in a terrible accident and as a result of that accident, your sister, my wife, doesn’t remember a fuckin’ thing. Not even me. Her fuckin’ husband!” My voice roared through the empty hospital room. I was getting pissed off all over again because all this shit could have been avoided.

“Gabe, what do you mean she doesn’t remember anything? What hospital is she in?”

“Look, I’m not about to give you a play-by-play over the phone. She’s at Cannon General, on the fifth floor. She in testing right now, but if you’re coming…come on. She should be out by then.”

“Okay. I’m about to call my parents and be on the way.”

“Aight.”

“And Gabe. If it means anything, I did tell her not to go alone,” she mentioned.

“It doesn’t.” I hung up, not wanting to talk to her anymore. I needed to call my brother and let him know what was going on and that I needed to step back until I knew what was going on with my wife.

“Wassup, bro? You good?” he answered when our call connected.

“Man,” I drawled out. “I’m in Cannon Hills. Chi didn’t come home last night. I didn’t realize it until I woke up a little after midnight and she still wasn’t there. About an hour later, I got a call from the hospital, and they told me that Chi was involved in a car accident, and I needed to come down. I’m here now and I don’t know when I’m leaving.” I gave my brother the rundown on everything so he could handle things accordingly with the business.

“Don’t worry about it, bro. I’ll handle it. You stay there and make sure sis is straight,” he offered.

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