"Karen! What on earth are you doing here?" Jack gasped.
"I just came to visit. Isn't that all right?" Karen asked innocently.
"Why didn't you call first?"
Karen shrugged. "Couldn't get to a phone."
Jack sighed, unlocked the door, and entered the house, leaving the door open behind him. Karen flounced into the house as if she still lived there and plopped down on the sofa. "Just water for me," she told Jack. "I don't drink anymore."
"I'm very glad to hear that," said Jack, returning from the kitchen with a glass of ice water for her.
"Thank you," said Karen, lifting the glass to her lips. "Aren't you going to have something to drink too?"
"No, I don't feel like it," Jack muttered. "What are you here for, Karen?"
"I thought that, now that I've quit drinking, we could give our marriage another chance," said Karen.
Jack's mouth dropped open in shock. "But Karen, I'm married to Abigail now."
"The coma girl. Yeah, I know." Karen swirled the ice cubes in her glass. "Well, couldn't you just divorce her?"
Jack, unable to believe his ears, gasped. "Karen, I love Abigail. There's no way in the world I'm going to divorce her."
"But Jack, what if she slips back into a coma and never comes out of it this time? You don't want to be married to a vegetable for the rest of your life, do you?"
"I married Abigail for better or worse, in sickness or in health," Jack said firmly.
"Just like you married me," Karen reminded him.
"Karen, I gave you every chance in the world, and you threw every single one of them away. What was I supposed to do, let you pull me down with you?"
"But I'm better now, Jack. I've quit drinking."
"And I'm very happy for you that you have, but that doesn't mean that we can just pick right back up where we left off. I've moved on with my life, Karen. I have a wife and family now, and I'm not going to give them up so that I can give you another chance. I'm sorry."
"Well, couldn't we just sleep together one more time? Just for old times' sake."
"Absolutely not." Jack's face was set with anger. "Please leave now, Karen."
"Very well, then." Karen flounced angrily toward the door. "But I feel sorry for you. You don't know what you're throwing away."
Jack didn't respond. After Karen had left, he turned out the light and went to bed.
Abigail finally fell asleep and had to be awakened by the nurse who had come to check her vitals. After the nurse left, Abigail went back to sleep. An attendant brought her breakfast in to her, and when Jack arrived, Abigail had fallen asleep once more, leaving her breakfast untouched.
"Hey, sport." Jack nudged her cheek gently. "You're not going to let all this good food go to waste, are you?"
Abigail blinked and opened her eyes. "Jack? What time is it?"
"A little after nine." Jack sat in the chair beside her bed, opened the small plastic container of orange juice on the tray, put a straw into it, and held it to Abigail's lips. "You must be thirsty."
After Abigail had taken a few swallows of the orange juice, Jack held a forkful of food to her lips, and she took it into her mouth.
"How do you feel?" asked Jack.
"All right, I guess. Didn't get much sleep last night."
"Were you in pain?"
"Oh, no. I was just lying there, thinking."
"Worrying, you mean." Jack smiled and caressed her cheek.
"Well...yeah," Abigail admitted.
"You'd better stop that right now." Jack grinned. "You're not allowed to worry anymore. The only thing you're allowed to do is to get better and go back home. You leave all the worrying to me. Understand?" he asked in mock severity.
"Oh, Jack." Abigail giggled. Jack laughed along with her, hugged her, and kissed her cheek.
"I love you, you know," he said.