Jules had admittedly stayed up too late. The Internet was way too tempting. Too many things that were new and innovative. Most of them, she had already posted on her blog. She had read through her blog all night and into the morning. Unfortunately, the late night morning was long past and full on daybreak was pouring through the living room window.
Jules groaned loudly. She could hear Westley messing around with something in the kitchen.
"Good. You're up," he said. "We're going to need space on the couch."
"Why?" Jules asked groggily. She rubbed her eyes and sat up slowly.
"Matthew's coming over," Westley stated.
"Again?" Jules complained. "Didn't he just take me out yesterday?"
"Sis, that was three days ago. Yesterday, you went to physical therapy. He just wants you to come back as soon as possible. Can you blame him?" Westley said.
"I guess not..." It was a strange experience for Jules. Both Matthew and Westley, the way they talked about her, made it seem like she wasn't real. Like the real her never came out of that coma, which frustrated her to no end. "Well, since you seem to know everything, what does he want?"
"I don't know. He probably wants to spend more time with you."
Jules groaned as she got up. She pulled out one of her suitcases out from under the couch. She thought more carefully about what she was going to wear. It was very likely that Matthew wanted to take her out again. She grabbed some clothes and made off towards the bathroom.
She liked to think her body was mostly back to normal. Her movement was a lot freer at least. The only problems were the anxious feelings she'd get in her limbs and the pit of her stomach. She told her doctor, but he seemed to think it was mostly psychological.
She came out of the bathroom, and Matthew was already there, talking to Westley. Her husband's face lit up when she emerged. "Jules, there you are! I missed you!"
"Yeah, ditto," she said indifferently. She balled up the blanket she had used on the couch and threw it to a nearby chair. "So, where are you taking me today?"
"You want to go somewhere?" He acted pleasantly surprised. "Sure. Where would you like to go?"
Jules brows furrowed. She plopped back on to the couch. "I thought you were the mastermind here. Weren't you trying to recreate our dates to trigger my memory or something?"
"Yeah, but I can't decide what to do next," Matthew sat down next to her. "So, I thought I'd let you decide."
Jules thought for a moment, though she really couldn't understand why the memory impaired one had to pick out a date. "The coffee shop was our fourth date, right?"
Matthew nodded. "Along with many others."
"And since you won't tell me about our first three... What did we do on our last date?" she asked.
The question seemed to throw Matthew off for a little bit. "Uh...I think I made you dinner."
Jules nodded. It was perfectly boring just as a last date should be. "Alrighty then."
"Alrighty what?" Matthew asked.
"Recreate that," Jules answered with a yawn. "Take me on our last date."
"A-are you sure? I mean, I only made you dinner at home..." Matthew stuttered.
"Okay. Take me there," Jules replied. "I've been kind of curious for a while..."
Matthew interrupted her with a tight hug. He buried his face in her hair. Jules sat there motionless.
"Oh, I'm so happy! I was afraid you never wanted to come home."
"Now, don't take this the wrong way. I'm not going to stay there. I just want to know what it looks like," Jules defended.
"That's fine. That's fine. I'll just take you home, make you dinner, and bring you back tonight if you want," Matthew said excitedly.
"Sounds good to me. I was planning to have plans tonight anyway," Westley said.
Jules grew a little more irritated that Westley had already agreed to her date. Sure, she brought up, but it wasn't for him to agree. She ran her fingers through her hair in a nervous habit.
"Don't worry," Matthew said as he released her from his hold. He seemed to know she was feeling uneasy. "As soon as you want to go, I'll bring you back."
She breathed. She found that she liked the way that Matthew's hand was soft and comforting like a nest of pillows. "Let's go."
Jules had dozed off on the way over. Her neck was bent kind of funny as she rested her head on the seatbelt.
"Mmmm, sorry," Jules said as she forced herself awake.
"It's okay," he laughed. "As long as you still wake up..."
Jules looked out to the window to see trees. Small houses were nestled between the breaks in the trees.
"How long have we been driving?" she asked.
"About forty minutes," Matthew answered. "We're almost there."
"It's a bit longer than I expected..." Jules commented.
The trees ran out into a small clearing. At the end of the street stood a little brick house. As they got closer, Jules could hear dogs barking. It took a moment for it to click in her mind.
She whipped her head to look at Matthew. "Dogs?" she asked excitedly. "We have dogs?"
Matthew was grinning at their point from watching Jules' reaction. "Yep, two of them. They've missed you."
"What are their names?" Jules could hardly sit still.
"Sergeant and Lieutenant. We adopted them from an animal shelter when we first moved in together..."
Jules wasn't exactly listening to Matthew at this point. As soon as Matthew put the car in park, she ripped out the door. Two very excited dogs came running up to her. One appeared mostly to be golden retriever with something else mixed in. The other looked pure bred german shepherd. They bounced frantically on their front paws.
"Sit," Jules commanded. The dogs immediately fell back to their rear ends though their tails still whipped around furiously. "Stay..." Their movements stopped altogether. She crouched down and pet their heads. "Good doggies!" she cooed.
Lieutenant and Sergeant perked up again when they heard Matthew's door close. They ran around to the other side of the car.
"Good afternoon, Liutenant," Matthew addressed the retriever mix that had pawed his way up to Matthew's abdomen. "Sergeant..." He patted the other dog's head.
Jules thought she could almost cry she was so happy. She hadn't had a dog since her childhood. She always promised herself that once she got her life stabilized, she would go to the nearest shelter and pick out a dog that needed her the most. Now, she had two. She couldn't help but think that the stabilization must have come from Matthew.
"Hey." Matthew smiled when he got Jules attention. "Want to go inside?"
Jules nodded. She grabbed Matthew's hand as he walked past her, the dogs leading the way.
"Welcome home," Matthew said as he opened the door. Lieutenant and Sergeant went ahead, but Matthew stayed with Jules at the door. It was everything and yet nothing like Jules expected. Familiar yet foreign.
For a small house, the room was very open. There was a table and chair right near the front door that faced the window. The sofa faced the fireplace. The mantle held several pictures Jules couldn't remember.
"Wow..." Jules said as she walked inside. "It's nice!" she assured her husband.
"Good," he sighed. "I've tried to keep it nice while you were away. So..." He let go of her hand and clapped. "Do you want lunch or the tour first?"
"Lunch?" Jules was impressed. "You're going to make me dinner and lunch?"
"Well, I was thinking sandwiches for lunch. I promise dinner will be more involved than that," Matthew said.
"Sandwiches are fine, but I think I'll take the tour first. For all I know, we don't even have a kitchen."
Matthew smiled. "Okay, well, this is the living room." He indicated to the main room they were in. "That little table is where you do the majority of your work blogging. That's our sofa."
"Oh? I couldn't tell," Jules teased. Matthew lead her further into the house. Off to the left was a little hallway.
Matthew opened one of the doors. "This is a closet." He closed that door and opened the one across from it. "This is a bathroom. A bit confusing if you're not used to it."
Jules giggled as they moved further along.
"That's another closet," Matthew pointed out. The other door at the end of the hall was already open. "And that's our bedroom."
Jules eyed the room cautiously. The walls were a calming blue, and the covers on the bed were a much deeper shade. Jules couldn't help but think that she actually slept there. With him.
It wasn't until Matthew entered the room that he noticed Jules reluctance to join him. "There's a master bathroom back here too..."
"I think I'll pass," Jules stated.
"Back this way then..." Matthew cleared his throat as he scooted past her. They made their way back to the living room. "Over there is the kitchen, pantry, laundry room..."
"What the hell is that?" Jules had stopped in front of the sliding glass door that led to the backyard. There was a large yellow box sitting out there in plain sight.
Matthew stood next to her to see what she was looking that. "Ah, that's a chicken coop."
"Chicken coop?" Jules could hardly believe it. "Why do we have a chicken coop?"
"For the chickens, of course. I gave them to you as a housewarming gift when they were babies. Man, you loved those chicks."
Jules continued to stare open-mouthed outside. Even though she heard the story, she still couldn't believe it.
"You can collect the eggs while I get lunch together if you want," Matthew encouraged her.
"Right. Chickens lay eggs..." Jules said in a daze. Near the door was a basket that read "Eggs!" in big bold letters. She grabbed it and slid open the door to get outside.
Jules was nervous as she approached the chicken coop. She considered herself a city girl. She grew up in the suburbs. Never this close to real chickens.
She crouched inside the chicken coop. She counted seven nests for seven chickens. There were name tags under each respective nest: Gilbirda, Chika, Kendra, Robin, Gale, Birdette, and Chi Chi. All turned to Jules when she entered and ceased their clucking. The clucking started up again and several left their nests. Jules took a deep breath, inhaling the chicken musk. She took the eggs from the nests, though not every nest had them. Only one chicken remained inside the coop. Gilbirda.
Jules tentatively reached for the nest, unsure if she should actually reach under the bird to see if she had laid any eggs. Unable to do so and seeing how Gilbirda wasn't intimidated by the hand at all, Jules petted the chicken. She found that the feathers were soft, smooth, and warm. Gilbirda even seemed to lean in lovingly towards Jules' touch.
"Hey, girl," Jules laughed. Giving the chicken another pat, Jules thought it best to leave her be for the moment.
Jules left the coop and found six chickens and two dogs ready to ambush her. They swarmed around her feet, begging for her attention. Jules sat down in the grass in order to love all of her animals as much as they deserved.
Jules heard the sliding door open. "You have the sweetest chickens in the entire world," Jules told her husband.
"WE have the sweetest chickens in the world," Matthew corrected. "What's mine is yours."
Jules pushed herself off the ground. The chickens clucked in protest.
"What would you like to drink?" Matthew smiled. "Water or beer."
"Oh, beer, of course!" Jules affirmed. She joined her husband inside their house for lunch.