Immediately she leaned across the table and whispered, “Seriously?”
He nodded. “I should have expected it,” he said. “Really. I mean, I haven’t played in a long time and was using muscles that I’m not used to using.”
“I never even thought of that,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” he said, laughing. “And, since I know now, I can do what I need to do,” he said.
She nodded. “So, no more impromptu concerts?”
He laughed. “Not for a few days at least.”
“Okay,” she said. “I can live with that. The piano is in the other room.”
“Yeah, I saw it. Looks like it hasn’t been played in a while,” he said.
“Dani told me that it’s been there for a long time and that it needs to be tuned,” she said.
“Well, if I can’t play the guitar,” he said, “chances are I can’t play the piano very much either.”
She looked at him, nodded, and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t even think of that.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “With Shane’s help I might actually get there.”
“So, Shane knows?”
He winced. “No way Shane couldn’t know.”
“Oh, my gosh,” she said. “That bad, huh?”
“Or that good,” he said, laughing again.
“As long as you haven’t permanently hurt yourself,” she said, worried and feeling guilty.
“Nope, even better,” he said. “He’ll add this to my training plan.”
“That’s awesome,” she said. “That’s so great to hear.” She smiled broadly. “That’s huge news actually.”
“Well, it’s one more thing to work on,” he said. “I don’t know what kind of news it is, but it gives me something to work toward that’s very close to my heart.”
“And, if that’s the case,” she said, “you’ll work that much harder in order to get something back that you really want for yourself. That Shane is a pretty wily one.”
Lance laughed, then smiled and said, “And you’re a great cheerleader.”
“I’m not sure about that,” she said, “but everything I do comes from the heart.” She nodded. “All of us want the best for you here.”
“And that,” he said, “is worth everything. So thank you.”
Lance watched as Jessica bounced away, almost as fast as she had come. He’d wondered what was up when he hadn’t seen her as much, but hearing they were short-staffed made a lot of sense. He’d noticed other people were a little frenzied at times too. He finished up his lunch and slowly made his way back to his room. His morning session had been a bit rough, but, then again, it was his fault because of the guitar work.
As he stopped, he checked his tablet to see what was next on his day and then groaned because it was Dr. Monroe for a shrink visit. When it was time, Lance made his way, wheeling himself toward the office with a full cup of coffee. When he got to the outer office, he pushed the button to say he was here, and the door opened almost immediately.
Dr. Monroe looked at him, smiled, and said, “Come on in.” As Lance made it in without spilling the coffee, Dr. Monroe laughed and said, “Well, that’s a new trick.”
“Seems like I needed some,” Lance said with a smile.
“From what I’ve been hearing up and down these hallways, you’ve come up with a few tricks of your own. The guitar playing was a surprise. You’re pretty good.”
Just enough admiration was in his tone that Lance perked up. “I hope it didn’t disturb you,” he said. “I guess I went a little overboard in my joy of playing again.”
“You should never apologize for having so much fun with a talent like that,” he said. “Clearly you are very gifted.”
“Well, if I can get back to it full-time, that would be a huge boon,” he said, “but the jury is out on how the muscles will handle it. They aren’t doing too well so far, but Shane has added some extra exercises to my program.”
“Does it need to be full-time?” Dr. Monroe asked, as he walked around the side of his desk and sat down. “You never mentioned music at all before.”
“I think I had shut off that part of my life,” he said. “I could tolerate only so much grieving and loss at once, and that just got lumped in with the rest of what I had lost.”
“And yet you haven’t, have you?” he asked. “Lost your talent?”
“Maybe not. I’m interested in trying other instruments now too,” he said. “I’m hoping I can find one that doesn’t put such a strain on my muscles.”
“Or some that you can build up to,” the doctor said with a laugh.
Lance gave him a crooked smile. “That too.”
“Are you thinking you can parlay something into full-time work?”
“Potentially,” he said, turning to stare out the window. “I used to play at a club, way back when, focused on jazz and blues,” he said. “I guess a part of me wonders if I could make enough of a living doing that in the evenings to not have to find a full-time nine-to-five job.”
“Well, you’ll get your benefits, so maybe that is something that you could do to make enough to tide you over.”
“Yeah, I don’t know,” he said. “Back then the tips were more than the actual wages, and that helped me get where I needed to go.”
“Do you remember what the tips were like?”
Only curiosity was in the doctor’s voice, so Lance answered with the same tone. “Hundreds a night,” he said. “I have no idea what it would be now.”
“If you built up a decent following,” Dr. Monroe said, “even working just Friday and Saturday nights, you could probably pick up five hundred a weekend then, right?”
“Probably twice that,” Lance said. “At least on a good weekend.”
“Lance, that’s four thousand a month,” he said in surprise.
“Puts it in perspective, doesn’t it?” he said, staring down at his arm, opening and closing his fingers. “It just depends on whether I
