He chuckled and put his shoes and socks on. He headed up to the cafeteria, where he contacted Dennis. “You got any of those ice creams?”
“I’ve been preparing a flood of ice cream parfaits,” he said. “You want one?” He pointed to the side, where Shane could see trays full of the treats.
He snagged two spoons and two parfaits. “Perfect.”
“Who’s that for?”
“I’ve got Melissa in the hot tub,” he said. “This would be great.” He carried them down the stairs toward the hot tub.
She lay there, her long neck gently stretched with her head resting against the back of the hot tub, her body floating upward. He smiled at that because it was one of the best things she could do. Just completely relax, letting the heat work away on her joints, on her sore muscles.
As he approached, she looked up. “Is it that time already?”
“Not quite,” he said. He held out an ice cream parfait and said, “How about one of these?”
“Oh my,” she said, staring at it. “I love ice cream.”
“Well, we don’t always get it, but Dennis has been bringing more of it in.” He sat down beside her on the dry side and held out the ice cream.
Chapter 6
Several days went by as Melissa settled into a pattern. The next morning she looked at her phone on purpose. She’d been here now ten days. Ten whole days. It had gone by so fast. Even more of a surprise was to see that she was doing okay.
Shane looked at her halfway through one of her sessions and asked, “Problems?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m just shocked that I’m not in any pain.”
He looked at her, startled. “Does that mean we aren’t working hard enough?”
“Good Lord, no,” she said with feeling. “I’m just encouraged.”
“Good.” And he gave her a quiet smile.
Just something about that smile of his. But she had also come to learn that Shane was extremely well regarded by everybody else in the center, and his time was at a premium. She was honored that Shane was her therapist, and she had better remember not to take his attention as anything other than professional. She hadn’t thought she would ever be worried about that, but she didn’t appear to be herself these days. As she lay here, he nudged her gently.
“I guess that means you’re done, huh?”
She looked at him in surprise. “Sorry. I’m just drifting off.”
“That’s why I’m asking,” he said with a smile. “It just seems like you’re not quite here.”
“Well, I need to be,” she said, “because, in order to have the progress I want, we need to move this forward a little more.”
He nodded. “Good. I’m glad to hear that. Let’s get back to work.”
When he finally called it quits after another thirty minutes, she lay here on the ground, her chest heaving. “It feels like I have more range of movement in my arms,” she said, so pleased, as she stretched her arms overhead and stretched out her hands and feet as far as they could go.
“You do,” he said. “There’s been a lot of improvement.”
“Good,” she said. “Definitely room for it.”
He laughed at that. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We have a long way to go yet.”
She nodded. “As long as I can see progress, it’s so much easier to keep at it. I feel defeated when I can’t see any progress.”
“Exactly. Not to worry,” he said. “You’re a long way from hitting your limit,” he said. “Do you need a hand up?”
She looked up at him. “No, let me try rolling over.” She slowly rolled over, until she was on her hands and knees.
At that, he stopped her. “Now, instead of using the wheelchair for support,” he said, as got down beside her, “see if you can move your left leg so your left foot is in front of you for support, then slowly stand up.”
It took her a moment, and it wasn’t terribly graceful, but she did manage it. She looked at him in surprise. “Not sure I’ve ever done that before.”
“Getting up and down from the ground is a really good skill to train your body into doing,” he said.
She nodded and took the half step toward the wheelchair, and this time, instead of just plunking herself down, she slowly sat down.
He looked at her with a special smile. “And that’s another achievement.”
She nodded. “And I felt that one too,” she said, “so yay for having enough improvement to feel it.” And, with that, she headed out the door.
“Don’t forget to keep eating well,” he said. “How are the green drinks?”
She looked back at him and frowned. “I haven’t had any in a few days.”
He looked at her and said, “Did you cancel them?”
“I didn’t think they were something I was canceling or approving,” she said. “They were just appearing, but I haven’t had one recently.”
“I’ll check into that,” he said. “You need them every day.”
She wrinkled up her nose.
He laughed and said, “Now, none of that.” He walked over, tapped her lightly on the nose, and said, “You need them.”
“Okay,” she said. “As everything else is moving forward better than I’d expected, I’ll trust you on this.”
“Do that,” he said with a bright smile. “You won’t be sorry.” At that, he turned and walked out, heading back to his office.
She stared at his back as he left, feeling a heavy sigh releasing from her chest as she wheeled down the hallway.
“What’s that for?” Dani asked.
Melissa looked at her friend. “You always seem to pop up in the most unexpected places.”
Dani smiled and said, “Well, I’m all around this place all the time. How are you and Shane getting along?”
Immediately Melissa felt tongue-tied, but she shrugged and, with as much enthusiasm as she could find, said, “Fine.”
“Fine?” Dani’s gaze was a little more intense than Melissa would have liked.
“Fine,” she said. “There’s obvious progress, and, for that, I’m
