Chapter 8
Jack walked outside and walked around the front of the hospital to get some fresh air. He saw Val and ducked behind a post just in time. He had to laugh at the timing of Val being back in town. He didn't want to talk to Val about why he was at the hospital. Once she got in her car and drove away, he went back inside. It seemed safer in Lisa's room even though it often felt like a minefield as he dealt with Lisa's memory loss and tried not to treat Lisa as his wife or expect her to treat him like a husband. Going back into Lisa's room, he saw she was asleep, so he decided to lie down on the sofa and take a nap as well. The stress from the last few days was getting to him.
The couple slept for a few hours, only waking up when Lisa's nurse came in to check on her. Both were kind of groggy and just laid there trying to wake up fully. Jack sat up and looked at his wife. He didn't know how to be her husband in this situation. He figured out that he had to be patient with her and not come on too strong. He didn't want to push her away.
Lisa laid there lost in thought as well. She wondered why no one besides Jack's family had tried to visit her in the hospital, but at the same time, she was grateful for it. People in the racing world could be snobby and stuck up and wouldn't hesitate to backstab anyone they perceived as weak. Losing 17 years' worth of memories would definitely be a weakness to them. Lisa felt Jack staring at her and looked at him. She wasn't prepared for how intense his stare was and looked away.
"I'm sorry for staring. I didn't mean to. I think I was lost in thought." Jack wanted to help them get over this awkward stage. In the beginning, she had so many questions about things, and he just wanted to help her remember things. He assumed that her memory would come back sooner, but she was being discharged from the hospital the next day, and she still had no memory of their life together.
"It's fine. We've all accidentally been caught staring at someone when we didn't mean to." Lisa wasn't sure she believed it herself, but she knew she was going home with him in the morning and didn't want it to be more awkward than it already was.
Someone brought in Lisa's dinner. It wasn't good, but she was hungry enough to get some of it down. "This food is terrible. I can't wait to not have to eat hospital food."
Jack chuckled. "I know how you feel. The times I've been in the hospital, the food has always been one of the worst parts."
"What are you going to eat?" Lisa realized that Jack hadn't eaten since lunch.
"I'm fine. I'm not really that hungry. There are probably leftovers in the fridge at home that I can heat up." He really was hungry, but he wanted to stay with Lisa as long as possible. He wanted her to know that he was there for no matter what.
"Do you know what time you'll be discharged tomorrow?" Jack inquired.
Lisa shook her head. "No, I wish I did. It would be easier to plan. Oh, I was going to ask you about bringing me clothes to wear home. I don't seem to have anything with me here."
"I think Lou already has that figured out. She was talking about finding clothes in your wardrobe that would fit over a cast. I'll talk to her when I get home, though. Don't worry, you won't have to leave here in a hospital gown." Jack made a mental note to make sure he got her clothes. He'd kind of forgotten about that.
"Okay. I'm kind of curious what my style is like these days. Is it much different from how I dressed in 2007?" asked Lisa.
Jack thought for a minute. "I don't know much about clothes, but you always look beautiful no matter what you wear. You look beautiful now in a hospital gown."
Lisa looked at Jack like he was crazy. "Please, I'm a mess. You may need to get your eyes examined."
"I know what I like," Jack said, shrugging his shoulders. "You do like to go shopping periodically so that the horse racing people don't look down on you. It's all a little silly to me, but then again, I pretty much wear the same thing every day."
"I still maintain that you need your eyes examined," Lisa said, laughing.
"Maybe, but it's not a bad thing that your husband thinks you're beautiful, is it? It would be kind of sad if I thought you were ugly," Jack countered.
"Are you flirting with me right now?" Lisa couldn't believe they were having this conversation.
"I might be." Jack countered. He realized what he was doing and knew he should back off. I'm sorry. It's just a habit at this point. I shouldn't say things like that, though. You don't need pressure put on you to be someone you're not."
Lisa wanted to change the subject. "It's fine. We just have different points of view currently. It would be nice to have my memory back, but I don't, and I can't force myself to be someone I don't feel like I am. Let's talk about something else. Anything else."
Jack just sat there, not knowing what to talk about. He can't help but notice the stark contrast to when they first met when they talked about anything and everything. He didn't know how to do that now. "I don't know what to talk about."
Lisa pulled out the family tree Amy had drawn for her. "Tell me about your first wife. What was she like?"
"She was a singer. In some ways, the two of you have a lot in common. She had the whole independent woman who was with me because she wanted to be, not because she needed to be taken care of." Jack thought about Lyndy and all the good times they had together. He never fully got over losing her, but he was able to move through it enough to move on. The memories didn't hurt as much anymore. "She sang in a band on the rodeo circuit when we met. I went to every show, hoping that she'd notice me until I finally got the nerve to ask her out."
Looking over the family tree, Lisa remembered that Amy had lost her husband, Ty. "What happened to Amy's husband?"
Jack sighed deeply. Losing Ty was still hard. He had been like a son to him, and Jack still had a hard time with it. "He and Amy were shot. It's a long story to explain why, but let's just say that they weren't the target. The guy was shooting at something else and didn't see them. They both survived the shooting and got out of the hospital, but then Ty had a blood clot. He collapsed in the round pen at Heartland. I was there, but so was Amy and their daughter, Lyndy."
Lisa put her hand over her mouth. "That's awful. I'm so sorry. It seems like you've had more than your share of loss."
Jack nodded. "It was awful. Heck, it's still awful. Ty was like the son I never had. We were very close. When he came to Heartland as a ranch hand as part of his probation, I warned him to stay away from my granddaughters, but he ended up growing up into a fine young man. He became a veterinarian. He worked with Scott Cardinal as a vet assistant while he was still working at Heartland. He fell in love with the job. Scott had a similar start. He was also a troubled youth who worked as our ranch hand and lived in our barn loft."
"It sounds like you gave some young kids a chance when not many would have. I have to admit, I'm impressed." Lisa was starting to see a new side to Jack.
"Thanks." Jack didn't know what else to say. He looked around and then noticed the time. Visiting hours were almost over. "I should probably think about heading home now. I'm glad your surgery went well. One more night in the hospital, and then there will be no more people waking you up to take your blood pressure in the middle of the night."
"I'm so happy to be getting out of here, but I'm nervous about going to Heartland," Lisa admitted.
Jack was moving toward the door when he said, "I know it's easier said than done, but you don't have to be nervous. We all love and care about you and want you to be happy. Okay, I'm going to head out. I'll see you in the morning."
"See you in the morning," Lisa replied. She watched Jack walk out of her room and sighed. Tomorrow was a big question mark for her, and she was extremely nervous about it. After the latest visit from her nurse and the pain meds she took, Lisa fell asleep.
Jack was grateful to be home for the night, but he wished that his wife was with him. He missed sleeping next to her, and he was heartbroken that he wouldn't be able to for the foreseeable future. He hated that idea. When Jack entered the house, his family was sitting in the living room talking.
Tim got up to approach Jack. "Hey, how's Lisa doing? I heard she's coming home tomorrow. That's gotta be nerve-wracking, huh? Where are the two of you gonna sleep? It's not like she's gonna want to share a bed with you."
Jack scowled at Tim. "I hope you got that out of your system, or do you have more dumb questions to ask me?"
Tim threw his hands up. "I was just curious."
Jack put his hands on his hips and firmly said, "I'm sure you were, but please keep your asinine questions to yourself when Lisa gets home. I'm used to it, and she used to be, but she's not now. Even when she was used to it, she was ready to drown you in the pond more than once. Okay, I'm going to have some dinner and go to bed. Do we have any leftovers, or did you already eat them all?"
Tim shrugged. "I haven't touched the fridge today. I was dealing with rodeo school stuff all day. Ask Lou about the leftovers."
"I will." Jack went into the living room to speak with Lou. "Hey, Lou? Do we have any leftovers in the fridge? I'm exhausted and just want to eat and go to bed."
Lou got up from the couch and went into the kitchen. She grabbed a tupperware container out of the fridge and handed it to Jack. "Here, this is some leftover roast and mashed potatoes. There was only one serving left of both, so I combined them into one container."
Jack took the container from Lou. "Thanks. That sounds great." He got to work plating up his food and put it into the microwave to reheat it.
Tim had gone back into the living room, so Lou stuck around in the kitchen. "Are you ready for tomorrow?" she quietly asked.
"I don't know if I'm ready or not, but it's happening regardless." Jack took his food out of the microwave and sat down at the kitchen table to eat his dinner. "Oh, Lou. Lisa wanted to make sure she had clothes for tomorrow. I don't want to pick out something that looks stupid or doesn't match."
Lou laughed and sat down at the table. "Don't worry, Grandpa. It's already all in a bag and ready to go in your room. I had a feeling you wouldn't know what to do and just went ahead and put it together when I did laundry."
"Thanks, Lou. I thought I remembered you saying something about it, but I couldn't remember, and I've been a little preoccupied lately."
Lou beamed at his thanks. "You're welcome. You know I'm happy to help. Do you know what time you'll be getting home tomorrow?"
Jack shrugged his shoulders. "No, just whenever they discharge us, we can go."
"How's Lisa doing with all of this?" Lou asked.
"She's nervous. She admitted that much, but I think it's probably more than she's willing to admit at the moment." Jack frowned and just stared at his plate before digging in.
Lou got up from the table and joined the family in the living room again.
Jack finished his dinner and washed his plate. He brushed his teeth, said goodnight to the family in the living room, and went to bed. He could hear them trying to be quiet as he lay in bed. It was his last time sleeping in his bed for a while, and he wanted to take advantage of it by going to bed early. He also just didn't want to deal with any more questions. He didn't know how to answer them, or he just didn't want to. He was glad Lisa was coming home, but he was nervous. He just hoped that they could get through this time without Lisa hating him. One of his biggest fears was that Lisa not only wouldn't get her memory back but would also decide that she didn't want to be married to him.
After a fitful night of sleep, Jack eventually gave up at 5 A.M. and made some coffee. After a cup of coffee, he went out to the barn, tacked up his horse, and rode out to check on the cattle. He enjoyed being out on his horse. He was able to clear his head and stop some of the catastrophizing that was going on in his head. Jack came up on the cattle. He noticed one of the fences was down, and some of the cattle had gone into the neighbor's field. He rounded them up and got them all back onto his land, and moved them away from the broken fence. Jack then set about fixing the fence enough until someone could come out with tools and fix it for real. Everything took longer than he realized, and by the time he made it back to the house, it was after 9 A.M. and he had planned to be at the hospital way before then. Jack untacked his horse, gave him a quick brush, and went to the house to get a shower before he went to the hospital.
Lou was in the kitchen when he walked in. "I'm surprised you're still here. I thought you'd be at the hospital by now."
Jack sighed. "I planned to be, but when I rode out to check on the cattle, they had gotten through a broken fence and I had to get the ones who had gone through back over onto our land and do a quick repair job on the fence. Someone is going to have to go out and fix it more permanently with tools. I just did what I could and tried to round the cows up and push them away from the fence. I need to get a shower and get to the hospital. Can you tell your dad he needs to go out there and fix the fence?"
"Definitely." Lou looked at the clock. "Now go get a shower and go get Lisa."
Jack grabbed some clean clothes and took a quick shower. He had wanted to shave before he brought Lisa home, but he decided it would have to wait. Once he was dressed and his hair was combed, he grabbed the bag of clothes Lou had put together and his keys and headed for the door.
Lou stopped Jack and handed him a granola bar. "Here, you need to eat something. You have a big day today."
Jack took the granola bar. "Thanks, Lou. I'll see you later." He left for the hospital.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Lisa was surprised at how late it was, and Jack still wasn't there. Especially since she was supposed to be discharged at some point that day. She thought about calling Jack but decided to wait until he was concerningly late.
At about 10:30, Jack rushed into Lisa's room. "I'm sorry that I'm so late. You haven't been waiting for me to be discharged, have you?"
Lisa looked up from her phone in surprise. "It's okay. I figured something came up. They haven't even said anything yet about me being discharged yet."
Jack sighed in relief. "I got up early and rode out to check on the cattle. If everything had been fine, it would have been quick, but one of the fences broke, and some of the cattle were on the neighbor's land."
"Oh, no. That sounds stressful, and you were by yourself, weren't you?" Lisa asked.
"Yes," Jack replied. "I just wanted a little ride this morning, but instead, it ended up with me rounding up cattle and trying to patch up the fence until someone can go out there with tools to really fix it."
"Well, it's a good thing you went out there this morning. It seems like you caught it early enough before all the cattle were on the neighbor's land." Lisa thought it sounded even more complicated than Jack seemed to think it was.
Jack was thankful for Lisa, seeing the bright side to the situation, and smiled at her. "True. It could have been way worse."
Lisa noticed the bag in Jack's hand. "Is that bag for me? Are those my clothes?"
Jack looked down at the bag and handed it to her. "Oh yeah. Here you go. Lou put all this together when she did laundry. I hope it is okay."
"I'm sure it will be. Anything is better than a hospital gown." Lisa quickly looked through and took note that it was comfortable clothes. Most of it seemed like things she could put on herself without much help. "Lou did well. I'll have to thank her."
Jack sat down on the sofa. "I'm exhausted. What a crazy morning."
"I bet. That sounds stressful," said Lisa.
"It wasn't exactly a fun time, but it's my job, and I really do love it. The timing was really the worst part of it. Hopefully, Tim is taking care of it. I don't need to worry about that right now." Jack's phone beeped. He pulled it out to see what it was. "Oh, good. Tim fixed the fence. That's a relief. I really didn't want to deal with Nathan Pryce finding out our cattle had gotten onto his land."
Lisa's nurse entered the room. "You're getting sprung from here today. I have some discharge papers for you to sign. Also, here are some prescriptions that need to be filled. You can do that here at the hospital or at your local pharmacy."
Lisa signed what needed to be signed. "Would it be possible to help me get dressed?" Lisa asked her nurse. "I'm going to need help with some things."
"Of course." Pointing at the bag next to her bed, "Is this the clothes?"
"Yes." Lisa turned to look at Jack. "Can you give me some privacy while I'm getting dressed?"
Jack nodded. "I'll just take a lap around the unit while you're getting dressed."
After Jack left the room, Lisa and her nurse worked together to get dressed. Lisa was unsure how she was going to deal with getting dressed with one hand. Some things were pretty easy, but things like bras and socks were going to be way more difficult if not impossible.
The nurse noticed Lisa struggling with a couple of things and gave her a few tips on how to maneuver and work around her broken arm.
Lisa had everything but her shoes and socks on when the nurse had a patient she needed to attend to. "That's fine. I'm sure I can figure it out, and Jack will help me if I can't."
Jack had been standing in the hallway after walking around a bit. He waited for Lisa's nurse to exit before going in. "Are you dressed?"
"Yes. Except for my shoes and socks." Lisa started to work on her socks as Jack came into the room. She was having a hard time getting her sock on her foot. The opening kept getting caught on her toes.
Jack saw Lisa struggling and knelt down in front of her to help her. "Let me help. It's hard to do this with one hand." Jack took the sock out of Lisa's hand and put it on her foot and then did the other one. He then picked up Lisa's shoes and put them on her feet, and tied the laces. He placed a hand on her knee and looked up at her. "All set."
Lisa felt her face get hot as Jack gazed up at her. She felt uncomfortable and confused by her reaction, so she grabbed her prescriptions next to her. "We need to pick these up on our way to Heartland."
Jack realized what he was doing and stood up. "Of course. We'll do that."
A transport person came in just then with a wheelchair to take Lisa out of the hospital. Lisa and Jack gathered her things and put them into the bag Lou had put her clothes in. Lisa noticed her jacket was in the bag and pulled it out. She couldn't put it on, but she also couldn't put it around her shoulders. Jack grabbed the jacket and put it around Lisa's shoulder for her. Lisa sat down in the wheelchair. "Okay, I think we have everything. Let's go."
Lisa sat in the wheelchair out in front of the hospital while she waited for Jack to bring the car around. It was a little chilly outside, but she was enjoying being outside. It was one step closer to freedom for her.
After Jack pulled up, he got Lisa settled in the passenger seat of her Porsche and then climbed in on the driver's side. He looked at his wife, reached over and patted her knee, and said, "Let's go home."
Lisa turned to Jack. "We need to get my prescriptions first."
"Oh yeah. Let's go to the pharmacy." Jack put the car in gear and pulled out of the hospital parking lot.
Jack brought in the prescriptions and dropped them off. They weren't going to be ready for a little bit. He got an idea for something they could do while they waited. He got back in the car and backed out of the parking space.
"Where are we going?" asked Lisa. "We don't have my meds yet."
"They won't be ready for a little bit. I have an idea. Just trust me." Jack drove to Lisa's favorite bakery. "I'll be right back." He bought coffees and a few pastries and came back out to the Porsche. He put their coffees in the cup holders and placed the bag of pastries in Lisa's lap. "This is your favorite bakery. It didn't exist back in 2007. I thought you might like a treat while we wait for your prescriptions to be ready."
"Wow, thank you. It smells amazing." Lisa opened the bag and pulled out a yummy looking pains au chocolat and took a bite. "Oh my god! This is amazing!
Jack drove them back to the pharmacy. They sat out front and ate their pastries and drank their coffee. After they were done, they went into the pharmacy and picked up her prescriptions. Lisa was exhausted from that little bit of walking.
Jack and Lisa finally left town and headed toward Heartland. When they arrived, Jack stopped in front of the entrance to the ranch.
To be continued