Brain Damage

by Freida McFadden

“Oh, congratulations then,” Mr. Leroy says, his face falling noticeably. “How did the two of you meet?”

“Mr. Leroy…” I begin. He holds up his hand. “No, it’s okay, really.” He shrugs. “The truth is, I don’t think I’d want to spend any time with someone like you anyway.”

Rude

I take a deep breath and start to walk into the restaurant to join my fiancé. But before I do, I glance out the door to the diner, and I notice that Mr. Leroy is still standing in front of the restaurant. Staring at me. I look away and hurry off to my table.

Odd fella

“You could say that,” Clark says, winking at me. You could definitely say that. In less than an hour, Clark and I will be married. Married!

Huhhhhhh too fast

My mother is our witness. I had hoped that Clark’s parents would come too, but apparently, they live in Michigan and he doesn’t get along with them.

“You can sew up someone’s face but you can’t tie a tie?” “They’re completely different skills.” Clark rolls his eyes then unties his knot so he can redo it one more time.

“Don’t you want to get better?” she says. She adds, “For your son?” He lifts his eyes to look at Natalie. “I’m never going to get better,” he mumbles. His fingers scrape absently at the staples on his skull. “This is stupid and pointless.”

Maybe Jamie and Charlotte will get together ????

They put him next to me in the hallway because they forgot that we are supposed to be separated.

“They think it was probably a burglar, but they haven’t been able to find him.” Except why would a burglar tell me I deserved to be shot?

Girl tel her pls

And then I hear a husky voice speaking to me, right in my ear: “You deserve this.” And then I wake up. Drenched in sweat that isn’t from my fever.

I would ever be married to such a handsome man. Who’s also a lawyer, for God’s sake. Jesus, I can’t believe this guy is my husband. What the hell?

Is he even a lawyer fr

“I’m sorry, there’s been some mistake. The reservation is only for two weeks.” “It’s okay, Charlotte,” Clark says, laying his hand on my shoulder. For not the first time, it strikes me as odd that he still calls me Charlotte, even though all of my friends and family call me Charly.

“Oh yeah,” Clark says. He glances over at Pierre, who is still standing there, overhearing every word of our exchange. “I quit my job.” “You what?”

“Well, you weren’t my wife when I quit,” he points out.

“What did I just tell you, Charlotte?” Clark’s voice has taken on an impatient edge. Like I’m stupid for even asking.

“You would have?” I shoot back. “You really would’ve quit if you didn’t have my income and savings to support us? What money would you have used to rent the office?”

And I happen to have noticed that Clark loves my spacious Central Park-adjacent apartment and definitely appreciates the finer things in life.

Bro

Also, even though he’s secretive about his finances, I get the feeling he doesn’t have much in the way of savings.

Clark may have a lot of good qualities, but now that we’re living together and married, I’m definitely becoming aware of some of his bad qualities.

Clark shut off the television and turned to me. “Look,” he said. “The thing is, I’m short on funds right now. So I don’t know if I’m going to be able to afford any office space. But, you know, I’ll make it work.”

I know this is going to sound weird, but I feel like lately, I’ve been seeing Stan Leroy everywhere.

“Kenneth Landers,” he says. “I used to work with Clark at Gregory and Patterson. You guys recently got married, didn’t you? I heard about it on Facebook.”

Landers laughs. “Well, that’s okay. I don’t think they’d ever let Clark back in there after what he did when they let him go.

“You mean Clark never told you about his epic last day at G & P? Oh man.”

“I’m afraid I missed that story,” I say weakly. “But… you said it’s been a year since he’s worked there?” Landers frowns thoughtfully. “No, I’d say probably a little more than a year.”

explode. When Clark and I met, he told me he was working for G & P. That was the job he apparently quit right before we got married. Except now it seems like he hasn’t worked there in over a year. And oh yeah, he got fired.

She meows loudly to let me know she’s starving. Apparently, Clark never bothered to feed her while I was at work. Even after all this time, Kitty has never entirely warmed up to Clark, and vice versa.

I should have listened to Kitty in the first place. Even my cat has better sense about men than I do.

Yup agreed

“That’s Jamie. He has a massive crush on Charly. It’s adorable.” I feel my cheeks grow warm. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Maybe it was your husband,” Dr. Vincent suggests.

Agreed or Leroy

“A dream that you are dying is a sign of inner changes or transformation,” Dr. Vincent says thoughtfully. “Of course, the Freudian interpretation goes out the window if you were recently shot in the head.”

“Hey, Charly,” says Annie, my neighbor from two flights up. I nod and smile back at her.

But I can’t see them. I can only hear the voice echoing in my head: “You deserve this.” And then I wake up.

Don’t tell my mother, but I think I do. I want a child.

Watch it become Sam, Jamie's son

Clark stressed out is not pleasant, as I found out.

“Thirty-six is young,” Clark says. “You’re only in your mid thirties.” “No,” I say. “I’m in my late thirties.” Now I really do sound like Bridget.

Lolll exactly like Bridget

I scan the writing and realize it’s a divorce decree.

“Kyle Barry and Regina Barry,” he reads. He shrugs. “I have no idea who they are.”

Uh oh

I’ve never seen one before in real life, so it takes me a minute to recognize what he’s holding as a gun.

“Why did you buy a gun, for Christ’s sake?” I’m still almost screaming. “Well, you seemed so worried about that threatening letter you got the other day,” Clark says. “I thought this would reassure you. To have some protection in the house.”

The detective nods. “Charlotte,” he says. “Does the name Kyle Barry mean anything to you?”

We thought it was a long shot, but we showed his picture to your neighbors, and one of them identified him as someone they had seen in the building. Also, he used to work as a locksmith, which explains how he got through Charlotte’s locks.”

lights I flicked on when I entered. He smiles at me. Hi, Dr. McKenna, he hisses. Remember me? And then I see the gun pointed at my face.

“It was him,” I manage, placing my hand on the picture of the bald, burly man in the photo. “He’s the one who shot me.” “That’s Kyle Barry,” the detective confirms. They’ve got him. After all this time, they’ve got the bastard that shot me. And with that realization, I throw up all over the detective’s photo album.

And you put back on all the weight you lost. And then some.”

The fuck

“What are you doing here?” I ask him. Clark seems surprised. “I’m here for the family meeting.” He winks at me. “I’m your family, am I not?”

Nigga u haven't came to see her in how long

All three of them keep casting curious looks at Clark, I guess because they haven’t seen him before. Amy seems to be shooting him the stink eye.

My name is Clark Douglas, and I’m Charlotte’s husband. I haven’t been around much because my work has kept me busy, but from now on, I’m going to be around a lot more.”

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

I expect that Jamie will fly into a rage at the mention of Karen like he did before. But he doesn’t. He seems to completely take it in stride that Sam was visiting with his mother this morning.