Page 78 of Brain Damage

“It won’t be as bad as you think, Charly,” Amy says. “You’re still going to get physical therapy there. It would just be an hour or two instead of three hours a day. It really won’t be that much different.”

How could she say that? I’m going to be in a nursing home. And I’ll probably be there for the rest of my life, because what exactly is going to change in the near future? I’ve been doing my best, and I’m just not getting better. Valerie said it all.

“Oh, Charly,” my mother says, grabbing my hand in hers. “Please don’t cry. I swear, I’ll come visit you every day.”

Dr. Williams magically produces a tissue from inside his pocket. He hands it to me, and I wipe my eyes. Or at least, I wipe my right eye. I think maybe I get at my left eye too. Who knows?

“It really is for the best,” he says.

And then, when it seems like I couldn’t feel any worse, Clark speaks up, “I’ll take her home with me.”

The room goes completely silent. Everybody is staring at Clark. I stop wiping my right eye so I can stare at him too.

Dr. Williams is the first to break the silence. “Excuse me?”

“I said I’ll take her home,” Clark says. He smiles good naturedly. “She is my wife, after all. I don’t know why you’re all acting so surprised.”

Amy glares at him. “You’re never here. You’ve never seen her in therapy. You have no idea what you’re offering.”

“She’s my wife,” Clark says again. “And I intend to take care of her while she’s sick.” He cocks his head to the side. “I think it was in our marriage vows or something.”

Everyone in the room keeps staring at Clark. I can’t believe this. Clark is going to take care of me. He’s going to save me.

55

“How did the meeting go yesterday?” Angela asks me during our Walking Group.

Jamie is taking his turn walking right now. He’s doing way better now than he was before, when we both started in this group together. He can walk pretty well with the cane right now. He has to lean heavily on it, and sometimes he loses his balance so that Natalie has to catch him, but right now, he manages to make it all the way across the gym without a problem.

I’m jealous.

“It went well,” I say. “Actually, my husband was there. I’m going to go home with him when I leave here.”

Angela raises her eyebrows. “Your husband? Are you still with him?”

“Of course I’m still with him.”

Angela gives me a pointed look. “He hasn’t been by here once the whole time I’ve known you.”

I clear my throat. “We’ve had some problems. But I think we fixed them. Anyway, I want to go home with him.”

Jamie falls back into his wheelchair just in time to hear the end of our conversation. I see a couple of beads of sweat on his forehead because it’s still an effort for him to walk across the gym and back. He frowns at me. “Home with who?”

“My husband,” I say when Angela is silent.

Jamie’s eyes widen. “Your husband? But I thought that…” His voice trails off. “I mean, I didn’t even think you were with him anymore.”

Humph.

“I don’t know why everyone keeps saying that,” I say. “I never said I wasn’t with him.”

“Then why doesn’t he visit you?” The volume of Jamie’s voice is now several notches higher. “He hasn’t been here once, has he?”

“He does visit me,” I say, even though it’s not really true. “You just haven’t seen him.”

Jamie frowns, but he doesn’t say anything else. I don’t know why he cares anyway. Jamie and Angela are both going to walk out of here. I won’t. They really shouldn’t be judging me.

“Is this Walking Group?” a voice from behind me asks. “I’m looking for Charlotte.”