Chapter 3
When Jack finally did wake up from the hospital chair he couldn't believe how long he was asleep. He looked at his watch and it was 9:00. He was already an hour late for dinner. It would take him another hour to get home which would eliminate the time he was supposed to make it to the movie they wanted to see. While driving home in the rain traffic took forever. While sitting in traffic all Jack could think about was how upset Sarah was going to be and how she was going to freak out on him about how much he was working and neglecting her. He knew she was absolutely right to feel so. She was putting one hundred percent into the relationship and he was lucky if he was putting fifty percent into it. He was angry with his father for his irresponsibility and his excuses. Traffic was moving at a snails pace and all he wanted to do was go home and apologize to Sarah. To tell her he would make it up to her. To tell her he would be taking some vacation time when her students went on vacation break so they would have time to get their relationship back on track.
He finally made it home. He saw Sarah's car in the driveway. He got out his keys and went inside. All the lights were off in the house. The house was quiet. This disturbed Jack. Sarah usually had something going on in the house at this time. She would either be reading, cooking, doing the dishes, or on the phone with either her mother or sister talking about the latest gossip. When he didn't see her in the bedroom, kitchen, living room, or bathroom he got worried. He decided to look in her office thinking maybe she decided to do some late night grading of her students papers. When he didn't find her there he became paranoid. Where is she? Her car is in the drive so she has to be home. She wouldn't go for a walk out in this weather. He even decided to look for her in the attic and the basement. No sign of Sarah. Right when he was about to call her cell phone his cell phone rang startling him. It was his father. He was in no mood to talk to him but he answered anyway. His dad was telling him that he had to get to the hospital immediately. His patient Lenny was having trouble and he needed Jack's help. As this was happening he could hear a car pull up to the curb and a door slam shut. He was about to run to the door but his father's rambling's distracted him. He told his dad that he was home and that he was not returning to work for a while and he would have to take care of the problem himself. He needed a vacation. His father kept stressing that he needed to see this patient but Jack didn't care. He said he was taking a brief break and would discuss the case when he got back to work. This was his and Sarah's time now.
Sarah came into the house soaked and wet and very shocked to see Jack home. Jack had parked inside the garage instead of the driveway and Sarah was obviously not expecting him. "Surprised to see me?" Jack asked. "Well you didn't show up for dinner or the movie do I assumed it was another long night." "Who dropped you off?" Jack asked. "Um…" her eyes were not able to look at Jack's eyes. "My mother dropped me off". "We decided to see the movie we didn't see together." "Oh" Jack said. "Why didn't your mother stop in? We could have had some coffee and cake and caught up on some things." "She was not feeling well after the movie and wanted to go to bed." Sarah timidly responded. "You seem to forget I'm a doctor" Jack joked. But this was not funny to Sarah who was visibly upset. "How could I forget what you do for a living? Your married more to your job than you are to me!" Sarah cried. "I don't want to fight tonight Sarah. I'm sorry I was late. My father got drunk again last night and I had to take care of his patients, the storm caused a lot of problems on the road, and just recently I had a psych patient come in that I left with my father to come to see you. I just arranged some much needed vacation time. School is ending for you so I think we should take a vacation. I was thinking Thailand because a friend said Phuket is really beautiful." Sarah's eyes were still misty from crying. She was visibly biting her lip. She had something she wanted to say. He could tell that she was angry and upset but she also looked like she wanted to tell him something. She had a guilty look on her face. He wasn't going to press it on her though. They both looked like they had rough days and all he wanted to do were go to bed with her by his side. "I think we should go to Thailand" Sarah said with a forced smile. "I think all we need is some vacation time and some alone time with each other." Jack pulled her into his chest, hugged her and kissed her on her forehead. "I promise things will get better. Things will slow down. You know I care about you Sarah, don't you?" Sarah paused for a second. "I love you too and I know you care about me." They cleaned up then went to bed.