Chapter 32
As Amy drove them to the doctor's office, Jack was thinking about how they had made it to Lisa's SUV that Amy was driving. It had been a struggle for Jack to get dressed quickly. He was in a lot of pain and he couldn't do it quickly. He'd required Lisa's help to put on his pants, socks, and shoes. He'd felt embarrassed, but Lisa didn't show that it bothered her in any way. She just jumped in to get it done. In a way, it made him love Lisa more. He was feeling weak and old, but she didn't treat him that way. She was just very matter of fact about the situation. He was hurt and needed help, and she was going to do it. While he was brushing his teeth, Lisa had worked it out for Amy to drive her SUV so that Jack didn't have to climb into a taller vehicle.
As grumpy as Jack was about going to the doctor, Lisa had been determined that she wouldn't take it personally. She knew that it was for the best and that Jack would get over it eventually. While they sat in the waiting room, Lisa reached for Jack's hand. She realized at the same time that he was reaching for hers. It was for different reasons, but they were both getting comfort from one another. Lisa leaned over to Jack and whispered, "Do we tell the doctor about my accident and what happened?"
Jack thought for a moment and said, "If it comes up, we can tell her."
"Do you want me to come in with you? I don't know if I should, but I also don't want to run into anyone I'm supposed to know in the waiting room while I'm by myself." As much as Lisa was nervous about meeting the doctor and having any sort of discussion about her memory, she was more worried about being alone in the waiting room.
Jack really didn't want Lisa to come with him. He wanted to tell her that he was a grown man and could handle it on his own. Hearing that she was afraid of running into people on her own made him reconsider. "You can come in with me. That's fine."
"You don't really want me to, though. Do you?" Lisa didn't feel like Jack was all that thrilled about her coming with him.
"I'll admit that it's not my first choice, but if you are uncomfortable waiting out here alone, then by all means, come with me. I love you and want you to feel safe." Jack pulled Lisa's hand up and kissed it.
"Thanks, Jack. I appreciate it." Lisa was so ready for her memory to come back or for her to be able to live a normal life with it gone.
"Jack Bartlett?" A nurse was standing in the doorway to where the exam rooms were located.
Lisa got up quickly and then saw Jack getting up very slowly. "Hold my hand for leverage if you need it."
The nurse came over to where they were and began to help Jack get up as well.
"I'm fine. I can get up on my own," Jack groused.
"Jack, she's just trying to help. There is no need to be grumpy with her." Lisa felt like she was dealing with a child that she had to remind to use their manners.
The nurse looked over at Lisa sympathetically and then addressed Jack. "Well, let's get you back to an exam room. Follow me."
On the way to the exam room, they had Jack step on a scale, and then once he was in the room, the nurse began taking vitals. After she was done with that, she left Jack and Lisa alone in the exam room.
It didn't take long before Dr. Virani entered the room. "Hi Jack. Oh, hello, Lisa. I'd heard around town about your accident. How are you doing? How much longer do you have to wear the cast?"
"I'm okay. I'm much better than I was right after the accident. I wasn't moving too differently from how Jack is now. My cast is coming off a week from tomorrow. I can't wait." Lisa was nervous about the conversation but was glad that they just seemed to be talking about her arm.
"I bet. Casts are never fun," the doctor agreed.
"No, they aren't. I think I'm most excited about taking a shower. I never really feel fully clean like this." Lisa had mostly gotten used to cleaning up the way she did, but she couldn't wait to take a shower.
"I'm sure." Dr. Virani turned to change her focus to the reason why they were there. "So Jack, Lou tells me that you hurt your back yesterday, and you're having some pretty bad back spasms."
"It's fine. I don't know why I'm here." Jack figured his back would get better on its own, but the women in his life seemed to have different thoughts on the matter.
Dr. Virani rolled her eyes. "I see you're your usual chipper self. I've been a doctor in Alberta for over 10 years. I know how you ranchers are. You only come if your wives make you or you're dying, and even then, sometimes you still won't come in. Let me examine you, and then I can determine if this was a waste of time or not."
Lisa was taking in the doctor as she sat there. This was not who she really expected, but at the same time, she was really starting to like her. She was grateful that the doctor didn't take Jack's bad attitude personally and even threw it right back at him. "He was going to go out and do his morning chores today. I woke up to him struggling to move around and made him go back to bed. He tried to fight me, but I wouldn't have it."
"Jack, you have a good wife. She saved you from being injured worse. You shouldn't try to fight it when she's just trying to help you. I would think after all this time that you would know that by now."
"Thank you." Lisa looked at Jack triumphantly.
Jack groaned and said, "I did listen to her. Mostly because she threatened to hogtie me if I didn't."
Dr. Virani just shook her head in exasperation. "She shouldn't have had to threaten you with that."
Once Dr. Varani was done examining Jack she sat down to talk to him. "So Jack, you seem to have strained some muscles in your back. There's lots of inflammation and a bit of swelling. I want you to continue to take ibuprofen, and I'm going to prescribe some muscle relaxers. You are not allowed to drive or ride a horse while you are on these, but they should help with the spasms. You didn't drive here, did you? I imagine LIsa isn't driving with that cast."
"No, Amy drove us into town. She's visiting Lou at Maggie's while we're here," Jack replied.
"Okay, good. I'll get your prescription sent to the pharmacy, and you can go pick it up. You should start to feel better soon. It was good to see you again. Both of you. Although I wish it had just been a regular check-up and not an injury. Lisa, I hope your arm is healing well. Don't be surprised if it looks a little different when you get your cast off. Physical therapy will help get it back to normal, but it isn't much fun." Dr. Varani left the couple sitting in the exam room.
Jack turned to look at Lisa. "Your memory didn't come up. That's probably for the best for now. Let's go."
Lisa texted Amy to have her meet them at the SUV. Jack wanted to walk down to Maggies, but Lisa refused to entertain that idea. Once Amy met them outside the doctor's office, they went to the pharmacy and then made their way home to Heartland. Lisa had Jack take a muscle relaxer immediately so that by the time he got home from the doctor, he would be a little more relaxed.
Jack was practically asleep by the time they got home, and they struggled to rouse him so that he could get out of the car. Lisa kind of regretted making him take his medicine so soon. She and Amy pulled him out of the car and got him to his bed. Amy helped Lisa pull his boots off, and they covered him with a blanket and let him sleep.
Once they were out in the living room, Lisa said, "Thank you for your help today, Amy. I really appreciate it. I'm kind of amazed that we got him to go to the doctor today, but I'm glad that we did. He's finally sleeping and certainly doesn't seem to be feeling any pain at the moment."
Amy laughed. "No, he doesn't. You know I'm always glad to help.
"Speaking of help, I was wondering if I could ask one more favor from you. Could you help me wash my hair?" Lisa asked.
"Of course. I know we had to leave very quickly to get Grandpa to the doctor's office today."
After getting cleaned up, Lisa checked on Jack and then decided to lie down next to him. She was exhausted after waking up so early. She looked over at Jack. He was snoring rather loudly, but she was so tired that she didn't care. In a few minutes, she was sound asleep as well.
Jack woke up from his nap and was surprised to see that it was dark outside. He felt extremely groggy as he tried to remember what had happened. He remembered being at the doctor's office and being in Lisa's SUV on the way home, but not much else. He needed to eat something and go to the bathroom. As he got up, he slowly tested his muscles and was relieved not to have any spasms. He was still sore, but he could deal with it.
He heard people talking in the living room and got up to see what was going on. When he opened the door, he saw Lisa, Lou, and Amy sitting in the living room chatting.
Lisa turned when the door opened and got up to come over to him. "Jack, how are you doing? I tried waking you up earlier, but you were out, so I just let you sleep. I know how exhausting it is to be in pain."
"I'm okay. What time is it?" Jack looked around like he was trying to figure out where he was.
Lisa pulled out her phone to check. "It's about 9. Do you want something to eat? You must be starving."
"I'm pretty hungry. I'm just going to go to the bathroom and then I can think about what to eat." Jack started to walk to the bathroom.
Lou jumped up. "We made a plate for you, Grandpa. I'll just go heat it up, and then you can eat." Lou began scurrying around getting his plate ready while Lisa worked on getting him a glass of water.
Lisa sat down with Jack at the table. She was concerned about him and how long he had slept. "How is your back feeling?"
"It's better. I'm still sore, but nothing I can't handle." Jack went back to eating his food.
Feeling relieved that the meds helped, Lisa said, "Oh, good. I was so worried about you earlier. I know you don't like a big fuss, but it was hard feeling helpless seeing you in so much pain."
Jack felt some shame for how he had been acting. Now that he wasn't in constant pain, he could think a little more clearly, and he knew exactly what she was talking about. He had felt the same way about her after the accident. "I get it. I really do. I'll admit that I wasn't really thinking clearly earlier. I'm sorry that I was so grumpy."
"It's okay. I know what it's like to be in a lot of pain and not really be thinking straight." Lisa reached out and squeezed Jack's arm and looked at him sympathetically.
Jack looked at Lisa and suddenly wished they were alone. "Do you want to go sit on the porch and have a cup of tea?"
Lisa's face lit up at the suggestion. "That sounds lovely."
They stood in the kitchen talking while they waited for the water to boil and their tea to brew. Lisa noticed Amy, Lou, and Katie watching them closely. She pretended not to notice, but she had a feeling that the day would come when they would have to address it.
Instead of sitting facing the barn, Jack led Lisa over to the side of the porch by the door off the living room next to their room. They had a little more privacy there, and he wanted to be a little affectionate with his wife without all the scrutiny from his granddaughters. It also occurred to him that Tim and Jessica wouldn't be able to see them on that side of the porch. Once they sat down, Jack put his arm around Lisa and kissed the side of her head. "I've been wanting to do that ever since I got up tonight."
Lisa looked up at Jack. "Yeah? Is that all you've been wanting to do?"
Jack shook his head. "No." He dipped his head down to kiss Lisa on the lips. He almost regretted the tea because he couldn't really kiss her the way he wanted to. Pulling back, he put his tea cup down on the porch and took Lisa's to put down next to his. "Okay, now I can really kiss you." Jack put a finger under Lisa's chin and kissed her again. This time, he pulled her closer so that he could feel her pressed against him.
The kiss took Lisa's breath away, and she pulled back a bit. "Wow. We're going to get caught if we keep this up."
"Would that be so bad?" asked Jack.
"I don't know. I'm still figuring this all out. I do like you and like kissing you. A lot. I'm just not ready to have any outside input on this yet. It's still so new for me." Lisa hoped that Jack would accept her answer.
"I can understand that, but we are going to have to deal with things eventually. We can't just wait for your memory to come back. It might not. I don't want to pressure you, but we are going to have to talk about this at some point," said Jack.
"I can appreciate that. I'm just scared, okay? This is a lot. It's not you. You've been great. It's the situation that is hard and confusing." Lisa knew that she was falling for Jack, but she wasn't sure it was anymore than liking him at that point.
"Do we need to back off on the kissing while you figure things out?" Jack didn't really want to do that, but he also didn't want to keep doing it and getting his hopes up and then have Lisa ultimately decide that she no longer wanted to be his wife.
"Maybe? I don't want to back off. I like kissing you. I would very much like to continue, but not if you don't think we should." Lisa was starting to feel bad that she'd mentioned anything, but at the same time, she knew it was her own selfish desires. She liked kissing Jack and didn't really want to stop.
Jack knew that they liked kissing each other. When they first started dating, it wasn't a problem because they were both figuring things out. Now, it was like that for her, but he knew what he wanted. He wanted her. This was going to continue to be an issue until she figured out what she wanted. In a way, he felt like discouraging Lisa from being affectionate until she knew exactly what she wanted wasn't completely fair either. She was just acting how anyone in a new relationship did. "I don't really want to stop kissing you either. I think that I just have to remember that we are more like a couple who are dating. Yes, legally, we're married, but mentally and emotionally, you are more at the stage of being my girlfriend."
"Yeah, but it is more complicated than that. I refer to you as my husband. That's how I introduce you to people, and it's how we are known to the people around us. Only our family, Edwin, and my doctors know anything is different. I wish this wasn't so complicated." Lisa leaned her head on Jack's shoulder. She really did find comfort in being close to him.
Jack pulled Lisa close. They sat out on the porch cuddling together and occasionally kissing until they started to get cold. Their tea had gotten cold, but to avoid any questions from the family, they dumped it out off the side of the porch.
Once they were back inside, Lisa noticed Lou looking at her strangely. "What?"
"Do you like Grandpa?" asked Lou.
Lisa looked over her shoulder at Jack, and he was looking back at her and Lou with an amused look on his face. Turning back to Lou, she replied, "I do. He's been a great friend to me through all of this."
"Friend? Sure." Lou said sarcastically.
"Well, it's true. I'm pretty tired after today. I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." Lisa walked off to get ready for bed.
Lou looked at her grandfather. "Come on, Grandpa. You two are more than friends at this point, aren't you? I see the way you look at each other."
"I don't really know what you're talking about. We are friends. I think you're reading too much into things. You know how I feel about Lisa, but she's not ready for that. Plus, she doesn't need any pressure from the family. This has all been very confusing and overwhelming. I'm going to go watch the news and see who won the hockey game tonight. I'm not all that tired after sleeping all day." Jack walked off, leaving Lou standing in the kitchen looking confused. He sat down on the couch and turned on the tv. He had a smirk on his face as he thought about how he and Lisa had kissed on the porch and Lou's perceptive but unwanted questions.
To Be Continued