“You’re joking, right? Smoke, you’re the one who insisted I come to America. Now you’re just dumping me off with a nurse from the UK who probably isn’t licensed here for the kind of care she’s been giving me?”
“I thought you’d want privacy.”
My mouth was hanging open, and I couldn’t find the words to tell him what I thought other than what an absolute fecking eejit he was.
“I can stay,” he muttered.
“Up and down like a fiddler’s elbow,” I mumbled.
“What’s that?”
“Your moods. One minute you’re leaving, the next you’re staying. What’s it going to be, Smoke?”
“I just said I’ll stay.”
“You said you can stay.”
“I’ll stay, all right?”
I stormed back in the direction of the doctor’s office with Smoke trailing me. Part of me wanted to tell him to feck off. Another part hurt like hell at thinking he could be so cavalier about my medical condition. And finally, the last part wanted to hang onto him for dear life and beg him never to leave me.
11
Smoke
I listened as the doctor rattled off a slew of acronyms for the tests Siren would have to have. MRI, CAT, PET—I didn’t really understand why she needed so many different ones, but what the fuck did I know about medical treatment? I couldn’t help but think that someone like Decker should be able to come up with one machine that could do all three things.
Giv
en the uncertainty of how long each would take, the doctor asked if it would be possible for us to stay in the area for at least a couple of days so he’d also have time to review the results.
“Until I know more, I’m going to suggest we hold off on any kind of physical or occupational therapy,” he added.
“We’re supposed to meet with them next,” Siren said to the man.
“They’ll need orders from me anyway, so go ahead and meet them. We’ll just wait to get your appointments scheduled.”
“Will the tests give any indication as to what is causing the amnesia?” I asked.
“That’s certainly our hope.”
“Will my memory come back?”
“From what you’ve said, it seems you’re suffering from retrograde amnesia as opposed to anterograde—the inability to form new memories.”
“That’s right.”
“Whether your memory comes back and how quickly it might, is dependent upon a large number of factors. I anticipate the damage was mainly in the hippocampus part of your brain, in which case, what we find in the scans should give us a better idea of what to expect.”
I watched as Siren processed what the doctor had said. If someone had just told me I may never regain my memory, I don’t know if I would be taking it as well as she was. I reached over and took her hand in mine.
“I have a note that you’ll be meeting with Dr. Mansfield this afternoon as well.”
“Yes,” she murmured in response.
He nodded. “Good. Anything else?”
Siren turned to the nurse who was seated in the chair behind us. “Would you excuse us, please?”