Chapter 12
Tattletale
Instead of going to the hospital Friday morning, Martin made plans to have lunch with his sister, Addison. Randi was working and he wasn’t ready to face Celia or her family alone.
Addison came to the table, leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and sat down. “You don’t look happy. I hope there’s nothing going wrong with you and Randi.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to bring it up first thing. I was going to ask you ‘is the honeymoon over yet?’ then slowly move into my problems.”
“That’s sweet and I can see Randi is having an influence on you. Normally, you just jump right into all of your problems first.”
“I do not.”
“You do, too, and thanks for asking. Everything is well.”
Martin took a sip of water and leaned on the table. “How about that old, rich guy you were babysitting? What’s going on with him?”
“He’s making progress with his wife. They’re going to therapy and working on their problems. The biggest change is he’s going to church and I think it’s spilling over into the rest of his life.”
“Hint, hint? I got it. I should go to church. Life would be all ‘milk and honey’.”
Addison laughed. “It’s not that at all. But, it would be better if you would go to church and pray on a regular basis.”
“If I’m not going to live the life, I’m not going to be two-faced about it.”
“It’s not two-faced to go to someone when you’re in need. And from what you said when I sat down, I can assume that you’re in need of something.”
“Yes. Celia has what the doctor’s are calling ‘temporary’ amnesia, but I don’t believe it. I know her and I think she’s faking. She’s figured out a way in her devious mind to make having ‘temporary’ amnesia benefit her and she’s going to use it. So, in order to try to figure out what’s real and what’s not, I have to spend more time at the hospital than I really want to.”
“Yikes, that’s terrible. Can’t you tell if she’s faking?”
“I’d say we could but right now she’s in a lot of pain. To be honest, she’s in bad shape. I don’t want to push it. I feel bad enough as it is. I’m not going to kick her while she’s down.
“What’s this doing to Randi? Has she left?”
“No, not even close. She’s right there through it all. She’s working today and that’s a good thing. Though I like having her around, I don’t think she needs to be at the hospital.”
“No, she doesn’t. But I can understand why she’d want to be. She’s afraid that she’s going to lose you and she doesn’t want to just sit by and watch you slip through her fingers.”
Martin leaned on the table and looked at his sister. “How do I convince her that I’m not going anywhere? What can I do? I mean, short of just running off and leaving Celia hanging?”
“Just keep assuring her that you and she are ‘an item’. Send her flowers, buy her something and spend quality time with her… You don’t have to spend every waking minute with Celia.”
“I know and I’m not going to. Celia doesn’t need that much company now. She’s in and out - sleeping a lot. I’m not even sure at this point if she would remember I was there.”
“Use that to your advantage,” Addison said, and they stopped their conversation as the waitress took their order. Once she was gone, Addison went on with her thought. “Send Celia some flowers and include a card that says, ‘From Martin. Get better soon’. When she wakes up she’ll see them. Maybe she won’t remember, or care enough to ask, if you were there or not.”
“I could do that. I can get them delivered.”
“Yes, and send some to Randi while you’re at it. Don’t tell her that you sent Celia flowers but don’t lie if she asks.”
“I can do that, too.”
Addison took a drink of water and then looked at Martin. “What does the press know? Have they picked up on this yet?”
“No, and I’m hoping they don’t. That’s another reason I don’t want to be going in and out of the hospital.”
“Yes, that wouldn’t be good. What do you think about all of this? Do you think she’s faking?”
“I don’t know. I think she has something up her sleeve but I don’t know what. Unless she’s lost her mind, she knows this will only slow things down. It’s over between us. She might not like it, but I don’t think she has hopes of us getting back together.”
“Then it could be possible that she doesn’t remember. I’ve heard of things like this.”
“Yes. It happens more than you might think. I’ve searched online. Most of the time the person gets their memory back in a matter of days but sometimes it can take weeks.”
“I’ll pray it won’t take weeks.”
“Thanks.” Martin reached for his glass of ice water and was about to take a drink when Addison spoke.
“Did you tell Mom and Dad about the memory loss? You don’t want them to hear it on the evening news.”
Martin sat the glass down. “I didn’t see the rush in telling them but you could be right. I’m not as famous as some, but you don’t have to be for some of those so-called TV entertainment shows.”
“They don’t watch those things, do they?” Addison asked, shaking her head. “I can’t see Mom paying any attention to that.”
“I don’t think she watches shows like that but if she was channel surfing and heard, ‘Actor, Martin Taylor, is embroiled in a two-timing scandal. His former live-in love, Celia Carson, was in a horrific car accident and is in the hospital. She is suffering from memory loss but that hasn’t stopped Martin from being seen about town with his new ‘nameless love’. It might get her attention.”
“Yes, it would be hard to turn away from something like that. I’m going to guess you’d love me forever if I called and told her for you?”
“How did you guess?” Martin asked, finally taking a drink of water and giving his sister a grateful look.
“I kind of had an idea that it might make your day. You never did like to tattle on yourself but you never had a problem tattling on me,” Addison said jokingly, leaning back in her chair.
“Tattling on you was always fun. Admit it. That’s why you don’t mind telling Mom this now. It’s fun seeing your old brother squirm.”
Addison pursed her lips trying not to smile. “I’d hate to say you’re right.”
Martin laughed. “You might hate to say it but I am right and I know it.”