by T. L. Haddix
“That usually means you’re starting to feel better. On your side, please. You’ve got some tight muscles here under your shoulders. How do those feel?” she asked as she took control of his arm to slowly move it through a rotation.
“Sore. They’re not anything I can’t deal with.”
“There’s an excellent licensed massage therapist here. How would you feel about that?”
Eli groaned as she had him roll onto his stomach. “I’d be all over that. I had a pulled muscle in my lower back a few years ago, nothing worth having therapy over or anything like that. But man, alive. If I hadn’t been married, I’d have run away with the therapist. She was old enough to be my mother, but I didn’t care.”
Haley laughed softly. “Our own therapist has mentioned being on the receiving end of that sort of sentiment. She can work pure magic, unlock muscles that have been stuck for ages. That makes it possible for us to then work ours. I don’t remember seeing in your chart that you’re married.”
Eli tensed, then forced himself to relax. The explanation never got easier. “I’m not. She’s gone. Four years ago now.”
For just an instant, one of her warm hands rested on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” He usually left it at that, really not wanting to get into a discussion about the state of his marriage when Erica died. But with Haley… For some reason, he kept blabbing. “I was headed home from deployment, and as soon as I got home, I’d planned to file for divorce. The marriage was over. But she died before I got back. I wasn’t expecting that. I guess you never do, expect an accident, I mean.”
“No, you don’t. Did you have kids?”
He shook his head as she helped him get an exercise strap around his leg so he could apply gentle pressure during the flexion. “Thankfully, no. That would have been an absolute disaster. Neither of us was suited to be a parent. I like to think I’ve grown up since then, however. A lot of things changed after Erica died.”
“How long were you married?” She adjusted the strap, then stepped back. “That’s a good spot there. Feel the stretch in the front of your thigh?”
“Yeah.” He breathed out through the tension, which wasn’t painful but wasn’t exactly comfortable, either. “And we were married six years. We got married the day after we graduated high school.”
“That’s good. You can ease out of that one, then do your right leg,” she said. “That’s young to get married.”
“Too young. But I’m a stubborn Campbell, or so I’m repeatedly reminded, and we don’t always do the smart thing.”
“You don’t have to be a stubborn Campbell to make mistakes, believe me. Okay, go ahead and roll on over for me, and you can sit up.”
He did as instructed, studying her once he was upright. “What kind of mistakes have you made?”
She smiled. “None too big, I hope, but I’ve been impacted by folks who have.”
Eli grinned at her. “So no erstwhile teenage wild hairs for you?”
Haley laughed. “Oh, no. I’m a boring stick in the mud. My idea of a fun night is watching TV and knitting or reading a good book. My grandfather raised me, and he kept a pretty tight leash on my socializing when I was younger. My mother ‘got into trouble,’ you see, and Gramps was always afraid something like that would happen to me. He’s devoutly religious, though he’s not a Bible thumper, and I had too much respect for him to push very hard against the boundaries he set.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re a stick in the mud. And as someone who shattered boundaries as a teenager? Let me tell you, it’s overrated. I hurt a lot of people I cared about as a kid, and I’m only starting to be able to try to fix things now.”
He thought about how smoothly the rest of the family interacted and how awkward things still were to a degree when he was there, and he felt a sharp pang of regret. He knew he had to let that go, but right now that grief and guilt was as new and raw in some ways as the loss of his foot.
“Your Erica… was she part of your wild childhood?” Haley asked softly, then waved a hand. “I shouldn’t ask that. I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”
“I don’t mind answering. Yeah, she was a big part of it. I’ve had occasion to wonder the last few years what my life would have been like, turned out as if she’d not played such a big role. I’ve always heard not to speak ill of the dead, but the sad truth of the matter is that Erica was born to destroy people. And I allowed her to do a lot of damage right alongside me,” he confessed quietly, dropping his gaze to his hands, “so please don’t think I’m absolving myself of any guilt in the damage that was done. I’m not. It’s just that some couples, they enhance each other. We didn’t. Not in a good way, anyhow.”
“She sounds like a tortured, unhappy soul,” Haley said.
Eli gave her a sad half-smile, glad that she understood he’d not been trying to talk down on his late wife but offering a blunt statement of fact. “She was.”
She patted his shoulder. “Ready to head out to the main room?”
“Oh, looking forward to it,” he told her dryly. “Lead the way, ma’am.”
Once she had him set up on a stationary bike with hand pedals, she gave him a quick assessment. “I’ll be across the room checking on another patient, but Jeanne will be close by if you need anything.” She inclined her head toward the older lady in scrubs from the other day. “Are you set?”
“As ever. Thank you.”
“I’ll be back soon to check on you.”
As he exercised, he watched her work her way around the room, stopping briefly here and there to check on this person and that. Everything he’d seen from Haley thus far pointed toward her being a sweet, caring person. Quiet, yes, but not a stick in the mud. He wished she was a stuck-up prude with no personality. It would make ignoring her on a more personal level much easier.
But she was sweet, even though he suspected she had a core of pure steel. She reminded him a lot of Sophie in that way, that sweetness over steel. For a few moments, he considered trying to set her up with Noah, but after a very short period of contemplation, he threw that idea out the window.
First off, he was sure there were rules and protocols in place that would prevent such fraternization. Second, he was still hoping against hope that someday his brother and Sophie would find their way back to each other.
And last but certainly not least, the very idea of trying to set Haley up with his brother was repugnant. He was being ridiculous, he knew, but Eli selfishly wanted to keep her to himself. Even though he didn’t think anything in the world would ever come of their relationship beyond perhaps a superficial friendship based around their professional connection, he wanted the idea of her to be his even if only for a little while.
Chapter Fifteen
Once Eli and her other patient were finished with their appointments, Haley hurried to her locker to get her purse. She had to run a couple of errands today. Since she didn’t want to leave her grandfather alone any longer than she had to, she figured she’d just use her lunch hour to do them.
Fred had been doing better the last few days though he was still weak and tired from the weekend. That said, he’d had such a rough time of things, Haley didn’t want to tarry over errands in town once she was off work in case he needed her, even if those errands would only take fifteen minutes.
When she left the office and went through the lobby on her way to the parking lot, however, she was surprised to see Eli sitting on one of the benches off to the side. “I thought you were long gone,” she said as she walked up to him. He’d left the office ten minutes ago.
He looked up from his cellphone with a smile as she approached. “Nope. My sister abandoned me in search of the perfect pair of shoes or a dress or some such.”
Haley’s jaw dropped. “She didn’t.”
Laughing, he shook
his head. “Not entirely. She did go shopping, which I encouraged, but she’s sending a replacement driver. My brother should be here any minute. You heading out for lunch?” He gestured to her purse.
“Yeah. I have some things I need to do. Are you sure your ride’s on the way? I don’t want to leave you here.” She bit her lip, realizing she was dangerously close to offering him a ride wherever he needed to go. You’re losing your edge, Mahala Seline, she thought to herself.
“I’m sure. Noah will be here in about three minutes. He just texted.” He held up his phone and tapped the face.
Haley narrowed her eyes, searching for any sign he was lying. “Okay. But if you need anything, just ask Lou inside at the reception desk.”
He saluted her, his blue eyes twinkling. “Yes, ma’am.”
She tried to prevent her own lips from moving into a smile, but he was incorrigible in a dangerously irresistible way. “See you Friday.”
As she walked to the Hulk, she thought about her newest patient. Far from being the ogre she’d feared, he was rather… charming. Charming and polite and entirely too intriguing for her peace of mind. It wasn’t just because he was close to her in age, either. She’d had plenty of patients who’d been contemporaries before Eli Campbell happened along.
Not one of them had caused the warmth in the pit of her stomach she felt when he was around.
That warmth was very disconcerting as it made keeping her mind on her job a little harder than it should be. It wasn’t that she was terribly distracted by his smiles or his muscles or his personality—though those were factors—but more that he made her curious to find out about him. To close the professional distance that was necessary between them for a solid working relationship and make their connection more personal. That he was tremendously attractive did not help.
As she drove to the post office across the way to check her mail, she considered whether she wanted to try to pass him off to Neesa or not, but she rejected the idea almost as soon as it formed. Neesa didn’t have the advanced training with amputees Haley had. From the perspective of treatment, Haley was his best option at regaining full mobility.
“I’m going to have to learn to ignore him on a personal level,” she murmured as she parked. “He needs the best therapist for the job, and that’s me.”
She didn’t make that remark with any hint of arrogance. But there was some satisfaction in knowing she was the best, and she ignored the little voice that told her that satisfaction was based on the fact that she was the one who’d be interacting with the attractive man and not the oversexed-though-engaged Neesa.
“Guess you’re a girl at heart after all, much to Jenna’s contrary opinion.”
Her friend Jenna was constantly trying to get Haley to go out on dates, to play the singles game.
“You’re too young to act so damned old, girl. You act like a nun, you’re so closed up. When are you going to get out and have some fun?” Jenna was fond of asking.
“I don’t have the luxury of having ‘fun,’” Haley would respond. “You know that. It isn’t that I’m not interested in having a so-called life, but right now that’s not an option for me.”
Though even if Haley did have “fun,” she wouldn’t enjoy herself in quite the same ways as her friend. What she’d told Eli earlier about enjoying a quiet life was true. The idea of parties and clubs and dancing and more with strangers for the hell of it had never appealed to her.
Suffice it to say Jenna had no such hang-ups. Nor did she have the kinds of responsibilities as Haley. She didn’t let anyone or anything hold her back from doing what she wanted, and as a result, she was quite popular in a way Haley never would be.
That was fine with Haley. Yes, she got lonely. Yes, she’d love to have someone to share her life with. But her definition of life and fun and Jenna’s were vastly different. That was also fine with Haley. She wished she could get Jenna to understand that, to respect that.
They’d been friends since grade school though they’d had several periods through the years when their relationship had grown strained. Usually, that happened when Jenna tried to pressure Haley into doing something she felt was wrong. When it occurred, Jenna would run to some of their other classmates, people whose definitions of fun were more in line with hers, and together they’d mock Haley’s hang-ups. As a result, Haley thought of herself more as Jenna’s back-up friend than anything.
She’d accepted that status long ago after a particularly vicious fight with Jenna during their freshman year brought things to a head. She’d spent the evening crying on the couch.
Fred didn’t quite know what to do. “Girl, you can’t let her tear you up like this time and again. Don’t you understand she has to be the one everyone loves? Whatever she needs to do to accomplish that, she’ll do it. She cares about you, I know she does, but you can’t give her what she needs, and she’s going to keep on using your sweetness against you.”
Haley still remembered how awkwardly he’d patted her on the back, a gruff older man beside himself as he tried to cope with the tearful female teenager she’d been.
“But Gramps, what can I do? She’s my only friend. None of the other kids like me much. I’m too quiet,” she cried, sobbing into the pillow she was hugging. “They think I’m odd. They talk about me behind my back. I know they do. Jenna told me so.”
“That’s their mistake, Haley girl. You’re pure, solid gold, inside and out. And someday they’ll realize that. You can’t control what other people think or say about you. For now, you have to be strong and keep your chin up. As far as Jenna telling you they don’t like you, maybe she doesn’t want you to make new friends. Stop listening to her. You shut her out this time.”
So Haley did. Turning her back on Jenna wasn’t easy, but she did it. She made a few other friends though none that were more than casual. She didn’t have enough in common with them to form really lasting bonds, and they all went their separate ways after high school anyhow.
The dynamic between her and Jenna changed after that, with Jenna showing the first inkling of respect for Haley that she’d ever demonstrated, even though they didn’t grow close again until they were fifteen. Haley’d asked Fred his opinion about Jenna one evening a few months later as she was doing the dishes.
“Do you think she’s really different? Or is she playing me again?”
He didn’t answer for a bit. When she glanced over her shoulder, thinking he’d not heard her, he was studying her instead.
“I won’t go so far as to say she’s two-faced. But I think she uses the opportunities that present themselves to her. Whatever she thinks will serve her emotional needs the most. That’s why she goes out with so many boys like she does. She confuses people who use her with people who love her.”
Haley turned, soapsuds dripping off her hands and onto the floor, stunned. “How did you…?” She’d never said a word to him about Jenna’s frequent dates or that they ended, more typically than not, in some guy’s backseat or out back of the gym.
Fred chuckled. “I know a lot more than you think, girl.”
She felt her face heat up as she cleaned up the wet spots on the linoleum. “How come you didn’t say anything?” He had strong views on premarital sex, and that he’d kept his mouth shut about Jenna surprised her.
“I wanted you to make your own decisions. I tried to dictate to your mother too much. I know that now. I don’t want to make that same mistake with you,” he said quietly. “You have a good head on your shoulders, and I figured you could make your own mind up about your friends. I’d have stepped in if you were in danger.”
Haley didn’t know when she’d ever felt more proud to be his granddaughter, though she didn’t tell him that. He would’ve gotten all gruff and blustery on her, as he didn’t deal well with emotions. But she felt an overwhelming gratitude that he was the one who�
��d raised her. And that he trusted her enough to make up her own mind? That night was one of the first times she truly felt like an adult.
“So what should I do?” she asked as she straightened.
“Well, you can keep her at a distance if you want. You can cut all your ties with her. Or you can accept her for what she is, and go on knowing very well that she’ll never change her spots. It depends on how much she means to you.”
She thought about the options he’d laid out as she scrubbed a pot. “Wouldn’t that make me foolish, trusting someone who’s misused me so many times?”
“Eh. You trust her as much as you can. Only as much as you’re willing to be betrayed.”
So after careful consideration, that’s what she did. She had missed Jenna. After all, a good portion of their childhoods were shared. She went back into their relationship with her eyes open, knowing there was only a certain distance she could trust her friend and accepting of that knowledge. They’d had a few minor kerfuffles after that, but for the most part, they’d rolled along well enough.
Haley’d gone to college after high-school graduation. Jenna had gone down south late in their sophomore year of high school after her parents had divorced, to live with her brother who was stationed at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina. She’d come back a year or so after Haley graduated college, taking a job with a construction outfit over in the Pikeville area, about ninety minutes away from Hazard.
They didn’t see each other much anymore between their work schedules and all that swirling chaos called life. Mostly they kept in touch with calls and texts and messages on social media, as Jenna was renting an apartment in a small town that was halfway between Hazard and Pikeville, and the drive combined with work and Haley’s other responsibilities was prohibitive.
