“I can carry it.”
“I know.”
She carried it anyway.
Rose’s physical therapy room smelled faintly of disinfectant and peppermint tea. She asked me to walk, squat, stand on one leg, and describe exactly when the pain began. I answered accurately. Dani stood near the wall with her arms folded. Every time I minimized a detail, Dani’s arms tightened. Rose noticed.
“Dani, leave.”
“What?”
“You’re making her perform honesty.”
“I’m making sure she tells you.”
“She is capable.”
“Historical data.”
“Out.”
Dani hesitated at the door.
“I’ll be outside.”
She left. Rose closed the door.
“You understand she’s frightened,” she said.
“I have mild knee discomfort.”
“She watched her own knee injury become serious because she kept running.”
The information softened something in me.
“I know about the second marathon.”
“Not all of it.”
There it was. Rose pulled a stool closer and sat.
“Your symptoms are consistent with an early load-related irritation along the outside of the knee. I’m not seeing swelling, instability, or signs of a serious injury today.”
Relief moved through me.
“So I can run.”
“No.”
The relief vanished so quickly Rose noticed. She rolled her stool closer to the treatment table. “For how long?”
“Four days without running. You need forty-eight pain-free hours on normal walking and stairs before we test two short run-walk sessions. We reduce mileage, add hip and knee strength work, and reassess the morning after each run.”
“The challenge event?”
“What is it?”
“A relationship quiz.”
