Chapter 9

They both slept well that night. Even in his sleep, Justin was smiling to various degrees.

He woke up, a spring in his step, as if the accident had never happened. She isn’t my fiancée again yet, but we’ll get there. I know we will. 

He showered, put on a black polo shirt, dark wash jeans, and black sneakers. He had to remind himself not to eat ahead of time, but he did have an idea. On the way to the hospital, he stopped to grab something to take in with him. His phone buzzed. Ordered breakfast, see you soon. 

He parked at the hospital, grabbed some cereal, milk, and fruit in the cafeteria, and headed up to Nicki’s room. He knocked on the door. 

“Come in,” Nicki said hopefully. In a hospital, you never know if it’s staff or a visitor at the door.  She smiled when she saw Justin walk in. 

“I brought you coffee. Caramel macchiato. Hope you like it,” he said, putting it on her tray. He squeezed his food on the little table, Jenn looking at what she ordered compared to what he set down. 

“You want some of my food? Breakfast is actually pretty good.”

“It’s hard to mess up pancakes and eggs,” he laughed. “Eat what you want. If anything is left and I’m hungry, I’ll eat. You need it to get your strength back.”

“I feel fine. There isn’t some magic food that’s gonna make me remember. Some things are less fuzzy, but it’s hard to know what I lost. If I remember something, it’s hard to know if I already knew it, or if it’s a lost memory coming back.”

“Like what?” Justin asked, hopeful. 

“I started to know staff’s names, people I work with, not the rotation of doctors and nurses I have. I’m learning their names too, but they don’t seem as familiar as my team does. Like I didn’t know them before being a patient.”

“That’s a step in the right direction,” Justin said. 

Nicki took a sip of the macchiato. “Oh my gosh, this is amazing!”

“Yup, definitely the same Nicki in there. That’s your favorite coffee drink.”

“I can see why. You know so much about me, we’re really that close?”

“Yeah. I’ve gotten to know you pretty well these last couple years.”

“What’s your favorite memory of us?” she asked. 

“The night we met. You wore a simple outfit, but it looked amazing. Black top, dark jeans, long necklace. We laughed, talked, it was a good time. Then there was the night of the accident, our date.” He had a smile across his whole face, his eyes seemed to sparkle as he replayed those moments in his head. 

“I wish I could remember, I’m sure they were great nights,” Nicki sighed. 

“You’re getting some things back, maybe the rest of it will too. Hopefully you’re out in two weeks,” he said. “I’m having a birthday party, I’d love for you and Heather to come.”

“I look forward to it,” Nicki said. 

“Have the doctors said anything on when you can come home?” Justin asked. 

As soon as Justin asked, there was a knock on the door. Dr. Hanover came in. 

“Good morning Nicki. Your scans look good as far as function and everything. We’ll have physical therapy come in and assess your movement, that you’re well enough to go home as early as tomorrow.”

“That’s great, thank you,” Nicki said. 

“The sooner you get back to your normal schedule, hopefully your full memory will come back. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.”  Dr. Hanover was looking more at Justin as he said that last part. 

Justin nodded. I know he means well, doesn’t want me getting hopes up, but I’ve been on two “dates” with Nicki in the last 24 hours. Things are looking up, he thought to himself. 

Dr. Hanover left, they were alone again. “Great news that you can go home soon,” Justin said, breaking the silence. 

“Yeah. I just have to figure out what happens next. See if I can volunteer on my floor, see my patients, how much comes back to me. I’d hate to have to start all over and take all the classes again if I can remember and jump back in.”

“Before you leave, talk with whoever you need to so it’s sorted now,” Justin suggested. 

“Yeah, Heather said that too,” Jenn said. 

“Well, what else do you wanna ask me? I should probably head out soon so you don’t get sick of me hanging around,” Justin laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Hmmm.  Favorite place in the world?” she asked. 

“Ooof, that is tough. I’ve done a lot of traveling with my job. They’re all great in their own way. I guess Italy, England. Back home in Memphis, that music scene, family and friends. A mix of roots and wings.”

“Favorite smell?”

“That earthy smell after it rains…” he sighed, as if he could smell it. 

“Petrichor,” Nicki interjected. 

“What?”

“That’s what it’s called, petrichor. I have no idea where that came from. That is a good smell,” Nicki agreed. 

“That or my favorite meal.  Or just the smell of a holiday meal, makes you feel like a kid all over again.”

“Favorite meal?”

“I’m a sucker for pasta. I love most foods, so it depends where I am, what I’m eating.”

“Ask me something now,” she said. 

He took his time thinking. “What was your first impression of me, meeting me, again, a couple nights ago?”

Nicki was quiet for a bit. “Well, I thought you were cute, I felt happy. There was something comforting, familiar. You seemed nervous, so that you were maybe a bit shy. You’d been there when everything happened, so scared to really interact with me. I’m glad you came over yesterday, that I’ve gotten to know you better. I’d love a real date next weekend, if that’s ok.”

“That’s perfect. I’ve got lots of ideas already.”

“Yeah, like what?” she asked. 

“Not telling, but if you’re up for it, could be most of the day,” he said. 

“I think I can handle that, yeah.”

There was another knock at the door. It was the physical and occupational therapists, coming to assess Nicki. 

“I’ll go ahead and go, but text or call me if you want.  Bye Nicki, thanks for a great morning.”

“Thank you,” she said, sad to see him go. 

“Was that your boyfriend?” the therapists asked. 

“No, but I’d like him to be…” she sighed. 

…

Justin drove home, feeling optimistic.  Nicki would be coming home, starting to get back to normal. He knew exactly what he wanted to do for their first real date. His heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute, but he was excited about what was to come. 

He called JC and gave him an update on everything. 

“That’s great man,” JC said. “You gonna take her out as soon as she gets out?”

“No, waiting til Sunday, I have it all planned out.”

“Bro, that’s a whole week away… you wanna wait that long?”

“Like I said, I have a plan. I’m sure I’ll come over to her place before that, talk on the phone.”

“Hoping it all works out for you. What’s your plan?”

“Help her rediscover her favorite things. Dude, there was a point last night, she held my hand, we looked into each other’s eyes. I wanted to kiss her SO bad, then someone knocks on the door and ruins the moment.”

“Sorry man. Hopefully you’ll get another chance on your date.”

“Me too.”

…

Nicki did well in her therapy evaluations. She could follow all their directions. 

“Well, we don’t see that you’d need any kind of physical therapy, you seem to have full range of motion, all of that,” one therapist said. 

“We’ll give our notes to your medical team to help get you home,” said the other. 

“Thank you,” Nicki said. 

The therapists left, and a few minutes later there was another knock at the door. Nicki hoped it was Dr. Hanover, but it was another doctor. 

“Parker, hi,” greeted Nicki. 

“Hi, Nicki. How are you today?”

“Good, they said I can hopefully go home tomorrow.”

“That’s great,” he said. Parker was 5’11”, with dark hair, brown eyes, and a natural tan complexion. A close representation of tall, dark, and handsome. “So, have you heard anything about coming back to work?”

“Not yet. I need to talk to them later today. If I can’t come back officially for a bit, I’d love to at least volunteer, get to know my patients again, hopefully I remember their names without having to look at their charts…”

“They’ll understand, I’m sure.  It would be great to see you around more, that’s for sure.  It hasn’t been the same the last few days.”

“I hope I’ll know more today.”

“Mind if I grab lunch and come back, we can hang out?”

“Not at all,” she said.

…

Justin’s phone buzzed, it was Heather. 

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I wanted to know what happened with you and Nicki,” she said. 

Justin told her about their impromptu dinner date, then breakfast that morning. 

“That’s great, Justin, I hope it works out ok.”

“Hey, did Nicki ever say anything about a guy named Parker from the hospital?”

“Ugh. He’s a womanizer, he’d hit on Nicki from time to time, making his way through the nurses. I went with her to a Christmas party one year and he totally hit on me. The guy’s a pig.”

“He was in her room while I grabbed dinner last night,” Justin said, irritated. 

“Shit. He’s probably gonna try and take advantage of Nicki’s memory loss and hit on her.”

“Heather, you gotta help me out…”

“I kinda told Nicki I don’t really meddle in who she dates, but if she asks I’ll be honest with her.”

“Tell her he hit on you, you think he’s a creep, the truth,” Justin’s voice was almost pleading. 

“Justin, you have a date with her coming up?”

“Yeah.”

“Stay in her life. Call or text her, just once a day unless she reaches out more. The more she thinks about you, the less she’ll think about him.”

“I hope so,” he sighed. “Now I’m scared I’ll lose her again.”

“I’ll see if I can manage a midweek movie night for you and JC to come over or something. We’re both pulling for you guys.  So, what’s your plan for the date?”

“You’re the third person to ask, Nicki being first, and JC earlier.”

“I’m her best friend. I can help tell you if she’ll love it.”

“I’m pretty sure she will…”

“Humor me, Justin.”

He sighed. “Fine.”  He then told her his general plan for the date, and the reasons behind each part. 

“Well I’ll be damned, Justin. You really are a romantic.”

“You’re surprised? What did you think my dates were like?”

“Not that I’d given that much thought to it, but it seemed Nicki did the walk of shame quite a bit…” she laughed. 

“I mean, I won’t deny that, but after 2 years together what would you expect, us to wait til we’re married?”

“I guess not. I’ve never been in a relationship that long where we didn’t talk about living together.”

“With my schedule, it was just better to keep you two as roommates and have her spend the night. I was on tour for a whole year, more or less, that’s a lot of time alone in that house. I was lucky I got her to take a week vacation time to be with me on tour to see her.”

“Ok, makes sense. Had you at least talked about it before coming to that decision?”

“Yes. I also told her I was hesitant after having lived with Britney. Being away left a lot of time to, well , you know.”

“But Nicki wouldn’t do that, you know that…”

“She was really understanding though. She has keys, so if she needed anything at my place or use my little gym, whatever, she had access while I was away.  I kept telling her moving in would make her sick of me in a week, as a joke of course.”

“I’d say that’s a red flag of not wanting to commit, but we know that’s not true.”

“She knew I loved her, trusted her,” he sighed. “I gotta go if all you have are backhanded compliments.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t get to know you all that well compared to Josh,  so sometimes I still have it in my head you’re this playboy that the media made you out to be.”

“Maybe I was, but that was before Nicki, people can change,” he said. 

“I know. Again, I’m sorry.”

“I gotta go.”

“Justin…”

He hung up in a huff. Is that really what she’s thought of me all these years? I know we were never all that close, but still, it hurts.

His phone buzzed with a text. 

I’ll have Nicki invite you over later this week. Sorry. Heather

I’m glad she’s on board with this, he thought. This could make or break everything. This could make or break ME…