He looked up at her and smiled. “Yeah, I am. I’ve just been so cold all the time,” he said. “Shane suggested I come out here for an hour and warm up.”
“Why the chills though? Have they given you any medical explanation?”
“The doctor says my body is still recovering from the latest bout of surgeries,” he said with a smile. “And my travel and arrival weren’t as easy as I had hoped.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Most of the time patients recover from the trip and adapt faster than this.”
He winced at that, causing her to immediately rush to explain. “Everybody has their own time frames for healing, and each person takes different steps,” she said. “Maybe your arrival here was just a little premature.”
“Maybe so,” he said, “but I wouldn’t have thought so.” Even as she watched, he lifted a shaky hand to brush his hair off his face and to wipe the sweat out of his eyes. “Do you want a hot coffee or something while you’re here?”
He chuckled. “Jessica, you can’t spend all your time looking after me.”
“I’m not.” She smiled. “Besides, I’ve got plenty of other patients whom I look after too.”
He sighed and relaxed deeper into the water. “I’m just trying to go with the flow, to not feel like a failure, and to not sabotage my own progress,” he said.
“I’ve heard you talk about that a few times now,” she murmured, sitting down on the side of the hot tub. “But, at this particular stage, I don’t understand what you could possibly be doing that would be considered sabotaging your own progress. I just don’t see it.”
“I don’t actually think I am,” he said, “but I think it’s the awareness that I could go down that pathway that’s keeping me from doing so.”
She sat back. “Ah, well, that makes sense.” She smiled down at him. “How are the metal plates doing?”
“Aching,” he said. “Shane wants to see more muscle built up around them to provide a little more protection around them.”
“That makes sense too,” she said. “He helped you a lot with your ankles. How are they doing now?”
He lifted one foot out of the water and slowly rotated it at the ankle.
“Oh, wow! It looks like you’re doing really well with that,” she said, smiling broadly.
“Yes, and no,” he said. “The hot water is helping a lot.”
“Some sun might help too,” she said. “If you’re always avoiding it, you’re never getting any vitamin D.”
“Maybe that’s part of the reason I’m out here,” he said. “It’s just kind of weird to be in a hot tub out in the sun.”
“But technically you’re not in the sun because you’re in the shade,” she pointed out.
“That’s because I’ll burn if I’m in the sun,” he said with a laugh. “It’s all about finding balance, I guess.”
“Agreed,” she said. “So, once again, can I get you something to drink?”
“No,” he said. “It’s all good.” He shook his head. “Honest, I’m fine.”
She nodded but said, “You’re sweating pretty well,” she said. “So don’t stay in there too long.”
He just smiled at her.
Feeling like she should stay and watch over him but not sure why, she headed back to her office, but it wasn’t very long before she found herself heading to the cafeteria and looking out over the railing to see if he was still in the hot tub. When she realized he was gone, she sighed in relief.
Shane came up behind her, a cup of coffee in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other. She looked at the ice cream cone in outrage. “Where did you get that from?” she asked.
“Dennis. He keeps the ice cream in the back though.”
“Man, I would love one of those.”
“Just ask for it,” he said. “So, who were you looking for outside just now?” he asked, his gaze watchful.
“Well, Lance was in the hot tub earlier,” she said. “He worried me a bit because he was sweating so heavily, but it also looked like he was still in a ton of pain.”
“It’s taking him some time to adapt to being here,” Shane said. “It will probably be another week or two before he’s fully acclimated.”
“Is it common to take that long to settle in?” she asked.
“It can be,” he said. “It takes some patients longer than others.”
“It feels like he wasn’t ready to come,” she said.
“Just don’t say that to him,” Shane said. “I think he was in this condition at the VA center for quite a while,” he said.
“So he heals slowly?”
“His body has been through a lot of trauma,” he said, “and each subsequent surgery added so much more. He had a bout of anemia too, which has really slowed him down.”
She winced at that. “That makes more sense.”
“We’re running a bunch more tests too,” he said. “We’re not exactly sure if something medically is going on or if it’s just that more recovery time is needed.”
“I didn’t even think to check his file to see if somebody was following up on that.”
“I think his whole team is a little worried about him,” he said, “but he’s back in his room now.”
“Okay,” she said. “Hey, did you offer him an ice cream cone?”
“I didn’t,” he said, looking at the cone, “but you can do that. Go get yourself one, and see if he wants one.”
She hesitated, and he nudged her gently. “Come on. You know you want to.”
“I worry about him,” she admitted. “Everybody else seems to be doing pretty well, but he isn’t showing the same type of progress.”
“Hence the extra tests,” he said. “And, in fairness, he hasn’t really gotten started yet. Go get him an ice cream.”
She chuckled and happened to see Dennis wiping tables just then. “So, Dennis, what’s this about ice cream?”
“Absolutely,” he
