“Fine time to ask that,” Lance said with a laugh. “I used to swim very well, but now I don’t know.”
“Try a couple laps, so I can take a look,” Shane said.
Lance dove under the water, came up to the surface, and started with a strong right crawl. He flipped and turned at the other end, came back, then flipped, and turned again. He did this a couple more times until he could feel his body fatiguing. He came up halfway in the middle and then slowly floated toward the shallow end.
Shane was making notes.
“So, is it good news or bad news?” Lance asked.
“I’d say it’s great news,” Shane said. “We have some work to do, but you’re doing quite well.”
“It feels great,” he said.
“Yep, and you were strong enough to do six laps today, even after a workout,” he said. “So we’ll need to work you up to twenty laps,” he said, as he continued to write notes.
Lance lay in the water and just floated. “Something is so special about this,” he murmured. “Dani was so right to put in this pool.”
“She did it quite early on,” Shane said. “We get the same reaction from everybody who comes here. The pool is an added benefit, and you’re free to come here after we’ve gotten through a certain amount of training,” he said. “There’s no lifeguard on duty, and everybody has to understand that.”
“Got it. What about the staff members?”
“Same thing. They’re allowed to come and go after physiotherapy sessions are over,” he said. “So you’ll often find them down here Sundays, tanning or swimming in the pool or just sitting in the hot tub.”
“That would be nice too,” he said. Pulling himself up, he sat on one of the lower steps and asked, “Am I done for today?”
Shane looked at him and smiled. “Are you kidding? We haven’t even gotten started,” he said gently.
Lance winced. “Okay, then, do your worst.”
Chapter 13
Jessica heard about the swimming over the next couple days. Lance told her about it. Shane told her about it. And even a couple other people told her about it. In other words, everybody was excited that Lance’s progress on land—which had been slow but steady—was nothing like his progress in the water. She was happy for him. The water was a full-body workout, and he would show quite a rapid improvement, if he kept it up. When she came in at lunchtime one afternoon, tired and stressed with some computer glitch going on, Dennis looked at her.
“Uh-oh.”
She gave him a wan smile. “Honestly, it’s not bad. Just computer stuff.”
He gave a mock shudder. “I don’t like computer stuff at all,” he said. “So, what can I get you for lunch?”
“A chicken Caesar salad, please.”
He quickly made her a beautiful Caesar salad, then chopped some chicken and put it on top for her. She smiled broadly and said, “You’ll make some woman a great husband,” she said with a laugh. “This is perfect.” He just smiled at her and turned to the next customer in line. She wandered onto the deck but couldn’t handle the direct sun at this time of day and stepped into the shade a bit.
“Hey, why don’t you sit with me?” a man called out to her.
She turned to see Lance. She walked over with a weary smile and sat down.
He looked at her and frowned.
“I’m fine,” she said. “We’ve just got some real glitchy computer stuff going on right now, and it’s frustrating me to no end.”
He shook his head. “I love technology, but only when it works.”
She laughed and laughed. “I think that’s how we all feel,” she said. “And all too often it doesn’t work at all.”
“True enough.” He looked at her lunch and said, “Now that looks really good.”
“I was hoping for something that would give me vitamins and nutrients but with a little protein at the same time, so I can destress and head back to work,” she said. “So, how’s the swimming going?”
“It’s wonderful,” he said. “I would go in every day, but Shane wants me to up some of my regular gym routines and to ease back on some of the water stuff.”
“I’m sure it’s more about balance than anything,” she said.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Still, it’s frustrating because I’d rather do the water.”
“Which is why you have to do the land,” she said, laughing. He just grinned. She looked at his empty plate. “I guess you got here before I did.”
“It’s almost one-thirty,” he said, checking his watch. “I have to go for one of my doctor visits and then another at two-thirty.”
“Wow,” she said. “I forgot your schedule is always so busy here.”
“It’s seriously busy,” he said. “I never expected that.”
“A lot of different avenues to improve,” she said.
He nodded. “True enough, but my first appointment is with the medical doctor to go over my meds, my supplements, and my general physical condition,” he said.
“That’s very important,” she said. “Better not miss that one.”
“I don’t dare miss any of them,” he said. “I hated going to the shrink at first, but now, well”—he gave a light shrug and a lopsided grin—“I am finding it to be very helpful.”
She beamed. “Good,” she said, “because, like I’m sure he said, it’s all about balance. Emotional, spiritual, and physical.”
“I don’t know about the spiritual part,” he said, “but the emotional and the mental are finally coming into line.”
“You’re doing so great. It’s really amazing,” she said, leaning in with a smile.
He reached across and covered her hand with his. “Thank you.”
She shrugged and settled back a little bit, but she was pleased. “Are we getting another concert next weekend?”
He grinned boyishly. “Dani did ask me about that,” he said. “A lot of the other patients were hoping that it could be a regular thing.”
She stared at him in delight. “What about the dissenters?”
“Well, apparently they’ve been fairly
