Melissa: A Hathaway House Heartwarming Romance by Dale Mayer (good book club books txt) 📕

“Probably a good thing,” she said. “That doesn’t always work for everybody. It’s a little too masterful.”

“There’s a time to be masterful, and there’s a time not to be,” he said. “When somebody’s being stubborn, it’s time to take charge.”

“Gee,” she said. “Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, ignoring her grouchiness. “Now, are you ready to get out, or will I just pick you up and put you in the wheelchair?”

“Well, if you put it that way,” she said, as she reached out a hand, and he gave her an arm for support, while she slid to her feet and stood. She took a deep breath and straightened.

“So tell me something,” he said. “Do you consider yourself standing right now?”

She looked at him and said, “Of course.”

He just nodded and said, “Into the wheelchair with you.”

She took a few steps to the wheelchair and then sat down carefully to avoid a spike in pain. But, with every movement, she tried to ward off the sudden anguish.

“Interesting,” he muttered to himself.

“I don’t think interesting is quite the right word,” she muttered, feeling more than shaky. Not exactly a strong and in-control movement.

“Oh, it is,” he said. “Half of the battle is decoding what the problem is.”

“Well, you should have my file,” she said. “You’d see lots of problems.”

“And I’ll get to it,” he said. “I took a quick look already but need to delve deeper.”

“What? Another doctor who doesn’t look or do his homework?”

“I prefer to do my homework in person,” he said, ignoring her attitude. “And I’m not a doctor.”

She shrugged and said, “Do you think you know more than the doctors?”

At that, he burst out laughing. “Absolutely not. Our educations are extremely different. The doctors do what they do, and then I take over.”

“Interesting.” But, by then, he already had her rolled out in the hallway. She looked around with interest. “I hadn’t expected it to be so big.”

“It’s very big,” he said. “We’re up to several hundred beds by now.”

“So how come I have your attention if you’re the head of PT?”

“Well, we’re all assigned to teams for various patients. I had several patients go home, so some of my workload is reduced. Now I have new patients,” he said cheerfully. “Of which you are one.”

“And it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that I’m friends with Dani?”

He looked at her in surprise. “Are you?”

“Yes,” she said. “We went to school together.”

“Interesting,” he said. “Why didn’t you come here earlier then?”

She hesitated and then shrugged. “Maybe because I’m stubborn?”

“I hadn’t noticed,” he said.

She burst out laughing. “I guess I can be a bit of a grouch,” she said. “I’m sorry about that.”

“You’re not sorry about it. It’s a defense mechanism,” he said. “It’s normal from someone in your situation.”

She groaned. “Do you have an answer for everything?”

“Nope,” he said. “It’s up to you to find the answers, not me.” He watched the frown form on her face at that. He knew he took things a little bit differently than a lot of people, but he also needed to shake her up a bit. Just so much negativity was in her world that she had to let some of it go in order to find the progress that she desperately wanted. The question was, did she want it enough to do the work to get there?

Because that was a whole different story.

Chapter 2

As Shane pushed her forward, Melissa noted how many private rooms were here, how wide and open and spacious the center was. “It doesn’t look like a hospital,” she said cautiously.

“That’s because it isn’t a hospital.”

“Okay, but it doesn’t resemble a VA center either.”

“How long were you in one?”

“A few months,” she said with a shrug, then winced because that shrug hurt too. “Basically, I feel like somebody took my body and tossed me off a high wall. Just call me Humpty Dumpty.”

He chuckled at that. “We’ve seen a few of those here.”

And something about him not being shocked or worried made her relax even further. “Well, it’s nice to know that it’s not necessarily something you haven’t seen before,” she said slowly. “But I wouldn’t want you to think that, just because you may have seen something like me before, I’ll be the same as everybody else.”

He leaned over and said, “You’re not like anybody else. We’ll treat you as an individual. Give us a chance.”

And, with that, she had to be satisfied.

They approached a huge area, some common area for recreation with a pool table, card game tables, even huge TVs mounted on several walls.

“Well, this is a nice spot,” she said. “It’s empty though.”

“That’s because everybody’s heading for breakfast.”

She laughed. “Well, that in itself would be a good sign, if people cared to get to breakfast on time.”

“The food is wonderful here, and, if you especially want something, just tell us.”

“Well, I’m really big on eggs,” she said. “I love my veggies too.”

“You’ll get both here,” he promised.

“Neither are particularly hard to supply,” she said, “but doing them right? Now that’s a whole different story.”

“Do you cook?”

“I do,” she said, “or at least I used to.”

“It’s not something you have to stop doing, is it?”

“It’s not like I’ve had an opportunity to do any,” she said with half a smile. “I’m stuck with things in place. I mean, I haven’t had space where I can do a whole lot.”

“What other hobbies have you stopped doing?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Most anything that requires movement.” And then she gave a broken laugh. “I don’t mean to sound so whiny about everything,” she said. “That’s really not who I am. But, when you ask the questions, some of them are hard to answer.”

“Do you read?”

“Yep,” she said. “I love thrillers.”

“Do you do anything with your hands, such as knitting, crocheting, painting, woodwork? Anything like that?”

She shook her head. “No. I haven’t done anything like that for a long time. I used to garden.”

“Gardening is good,” he said. “It’s a gentle hobby that