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“I’m fine, see?” I say. I wave him off with the injured arm, gritting my teeth through the pain. “Have a nice day.”
Without waiting for his reply, I go around the corner of the house, impatient to place the nuthatch nest into its new spot. Once that’s taken care of, I plan on going inside to pop an ibuprofen, then get back to cleaning out the gutters.
Like I said, they aren’t going to clean themselves.
I lastabout a week like that: grimacing through the pain, dodging Jack’s neighborly follow-up questions, and telling my son, Dean, that I’m fine when he calls. It’s not worth making a big fuss over. The arm will get better. It just needs time.
Finally, though, after a full week has gone by, Dean’s prodding leads me to confess that I’m having a hard time lifting the arm any higher than shoulder-level.
“Dad,” he says during our phone call, the concern thick in his voice. “That’s really not good. You need to go get it checked out, okay? I’ve gotta go, but promise me you’ll get it looked at?”
“Fine,” I grumble. “I will.”
The last thing I want is my kid worried about me.
I expect the doctor to just prescribe an ice pack and bedrest and send me home. Instead, I find myself on the receiving end of a serious talk about aging and the natural limitations of one’s own body—fuck, now I really feel old—and, at the end of the appointment, a written referral to see a physical therapist.
A goddamnphysical therapist.
As I’m walking away from the doctor’s office, I nearly crumple up the referral. But just as I’m reaching into my pocket to do so, my arm twinges harder than it has before, and I have to lean against my car, breathing heavy for a few minutes just to work through it.
Fine. I’ll make an appointment with the physical therapist.
I’ll go in once, anyway.
I’m not committing to anything more than that.
Chapter Two
Victoria
“Ithink it’s safe to say you’re making amazing progress, Carla,” I say warmly to my two o’clock appointment as we’re wrapping up. After spending most of our appointment hard at work in the exercise room, we’ve just stopped by my office so I can input my notes about our session and Carla can pick up her purse. I pull up Carla’s chart at my standing desk and type in a few notes that I’ll flesh out more when I have time later. “Flexibility is up to 85 percent on your rotator cuff. I’m so proud of you.”
Carla glows from the praise.
“I’ve been working hard,” she says. “Every day, just like you said.”
“It really shows. Your shoulder will be back to how it was before in no time.”
“And here I was thinking that car accident would be the cause of me finally giving up,” says Carla. Her face glows with happiness. “I was so close to accepting the fact that I was simply going to be a hunched over sixty-five-year-old grandmother.”
I laugh, then check the clock. It’s nearly three.
“Oh, sorry, hon,” Carla says, grinning as she gathers her stuff. “I’m sure you have another appointment waiting for you. I hope I didn’t get you too sweaty, dear, asking you to model those exercises for me.”
I shake my head. “That’s what I’m here for, Carla.”
“Don’t worry,” she assures me with a wink. “I’ll walk out of here doing lunges so he’ll know how excellent you are at your job.”
I laugh again. But after Carla leaves, I do take a quick minute to freshen up as best I can. Then I grab the clipboard I’ve prepped with the intake paperwork and head out to fetch my new patient from the waiting room. From looking over his appointment information, I know his name is Ethan, and that he’s fifty years old.
I’m surprised at the tall, muscular, fit-looking man who stands when I call his name out in the waiting room.
When he approaches me, I read out his full name, just to verify I’ve got the right patient. He gives me a sour look and nods.
“All right, Ethan,” I say, hoping my surprise isn’t too obvious. “Come on back to my office.”
In my office, I gesture to an armchair, and he sits down. I’ve never thought of the armchair as being particularly small, but it looks tiny when he sits in it. It’s his height, but also his build—I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy as fit as him.
