AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He gr
inned. “Yeah. Stop by on your way out and have a drink with us.”
“God, if only I could. I’ve got three kids waiting for me at home, of which one is a fourteen-year-old who’s trying to kill me with her boy-crazy ways. I’ve gotta be at full capacity to deal with that, so alcohol is reserved for later in the night after I’ve survived her.”
He frowned. “Surely you’re not old enough to have a fourteen-year-old.”
“Trust me, I feel sixty some days.”
Winking, he said, “Well, sixty looks good on you.”
I turned to Skylar after he left. “He seems like he’d be a lot of fun.”
She shifted in her chair. “Yeah, I really like Devil. He’s not as serious or bossy as the other guys.”
I eyed the chair she sat in. “We need to get you a different chair and a stool.”
“Why?”
“That one is too low. And a stool will help with swelling.” I dumped my bag on the bed and dragged the spare chair in the room close to her. Sitting, I said, “Now, talk to me. Tell me what’s concerning you, and we’ll talk through it all so you know why stuff is happening and how you can move forward without so much worry.”
Her face crumpled and tears streamed down her cheeks. “I feel so stupid to worry about all this, but I’m stuck here while King won’t let me go home and I’m in pain and I don’t want to do anything to hurt my hip and I hate asking people for help and…” She shuddered as a loud sob escaped. “I just feel out of control with everything going on and I’m worried I’ll never get back to how I was before.”
My heart ached for her. I saw this kind of stress in many patients, especially those like Skylar who weren’t prepared for an operation and the recovery they’d have to go through. I reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Let’s take all that one at a time. I’m going to get you through this, Skylar, and you are going to make a full recovery. However, you’re going to have to make me a promise.”
She blinked through her tears. “What?”
“I need you to promise me that you’ll trust me completely and believe that I know my shit. If I tell you to do something, you’ll do it. You can ask me all the questions under the sun, but at the end of the day, you will do what I say, because you know that I know my shit. Okay?”
A small smile peeked out from under her tears. “God, you’re going to fit in around here.”
“Yeah? Why?”
“Because you’re just as bossy as my brother.”
“Well, let’s not go that far. I can be bossy, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got nothing on King.” I stood. “Now, repeat after me—‘you know your shit, Lily’.”
Her small smile morphed into a larger one. “You know your shit, Lily.”
I nodded. “Right, let’s go over what I want you to do each day, and then I’m gonna get you up and take you for a walk.”
We went over the list of activities I wanted her to do, and then I took her for a short walk around the clubhouse. She seemed scared of walking, so I focused on getting her more comfortable with her crutches. By the end of our session, her anxiety levels had dropped and she appeared more confident in her ability to get through her recovery.
“Thank you so much for saying yes to this,” she said as I picked up my bag to leave. “I know King was probably really pushy about it, and I’m sorry about that, but I’m so glad to have you helping me.”
“Yeah, he was pushy, but that’s what brothers are for, right?”
“True, but I do know how he can be, so sorry.”
“All good.” I headed for the door, glancing back at her before I exited. “You good for tonight?”
The smile that spread across her face was what I was looking for. “Yes.”
“Good. I’ll stop by after work again tomorrow.”
I headed down the hallway to leave, but I managed to take a wrong turn at some point and ended up in an area of the clubhouse I hadn’t seen yet. As soon as I realised I’d gone in the wrong direction, I turned to go back. And ran smack bang into a hard back as a voice boomed, “Mace, where the fuck are those headache pills?”
King.
