“Maybe Avery could help you out as well,” his dad said as he lifted his cup to his lips.
“Avery?”
“She’s the physical therapist I was telling you about,” Mitch said.
“Did you leave anything for me?” Gabe, Mitch’s twin, walked slowly toward them.
“Plenty of food,” Mitch said. “And here’s a stool for you.”
“We are the walking wounded here, aren’t we?” Gabe said with a grin as he sat down next to Kenton. “Gonna have to rename the place Callaghan Rehab Center.”
His dad chuckled. “We’re now full up. No one else is allowed to need any rehab.”
“Here’s hoping I can check out soon,” Gabe said. “I’m thinking I should move back upstairs so Kenton can have the room down here on the main floor. You sleep on the couch last night?”
“No. I decided to go with the recliner. Pretty comfy, and it kept my leg elevated.”
“Still. You can have the room down here. I’m doing pretty good with stairs now.”
“I’d let you room with me, Gabe, but I only have the one bedroom,” Mitch said. “Bennett and Grace need to tie the knot, so they free up one of those two bedroom apartments in the block.”
“We need to have a family meeting about doing some building outside the apartments,” his dad commented. “With marriages and kids coming, those apartments aren’t going to be adequate for very long.”
“I noticed you added on to the house,” Kenton said.
“Once I had a chance to talk to the people working with your mom, we decided that having a space devoted just to her recovery would be better than doing stuff like that in the bedroom.”
“Helps to own a building company,” Mitch said. “We had that room up in no time flat.”
“You can use it too, son,” his dad said as he rested a hand on Kenton’s shoulder. “It’s fully equipped with all kinds of stuff. If you need anything else, let me know, and we’ll get it for you.”
“Apparently what I’m going to need next is a stationary bicycle to work on the extension of my knee.”
“We don’t have that yet, so I’ll see about getting one for you.”
As they continued to talk, others in the family wandered in, greeted Kenton, grabbed some food and wandered out again. When his dad left to go check on his mom, he ended up in the family room with Gabe and Mitch so he could elevate his leg and use an ice pack on it. It had been awhile since the three of them had just chilled out together.
His brothers could rib him worse than anyone else, but when things got serious, they were there for him. They didn’t dismiss his feelings and worries, nor did they feed him assurances about what the future held.
“You know I’ll help you however I can,” Gabe said. “I know how it feels to have the stool kicked out from underneath you.”
“You still have pain most days?” Kenton asked. His own pain was mostly manageable, but there were moments when it was more than he could handle without something to ease it.
“Depends, really. If I’ve overdone it on the therapy, I’m usually in pain for a day or so.”
“Is this Avery helping you too?”
“Avery? No. I was already working with someone when she showed up to help Mom. She’s asked a bit about my injury but didn’t offer any advice.”
Kenton knew that Ward was working to get someone to help him, so he might wait and see how that panned out before approaching Avery. For all he knew, she wouldn’t be interested in helping him out, although he’d be quite happy to make it worth her while.
CHAPTER THREE
“Thank you so much for coming. It was great to have your help today.”
Avery pulled on her coat, glancing over at Mary, the clinic director, who stood a short distance away. “You’re welcome. I’m glad that I’m able to help.”
When Avery had first realized that Max Zevardi was going to be paying her a full-time salary for basically part-time work, she’d begun to pray about how she might be able to best use the rest of her time. She didn’t feel right just sitting around at home while being paid, so when someone at church had mentioned about an inner-city clinic needing volunteers for medical services, she’d decided to look into it.
Her first visit there had been a bit daunting since the area around the clinic was quite rough. She’d claimed her word for the year and one of the verses that went along with it when she’d made the decision to go ahead and work at the clinic in spite of the dangerous location.
As the beginning of the year had approached, Avery had spent time praying for a word from God. In the past, she’d claimed words like peace, endure, and courage. The word—or words—that had come to mind as she’d prayed and studied the Bible the previous year had been fear not. And the verse that had stayed with her most strongly throughout the year had been Deuteronomy thirty-one verse six.
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.
So even though her mom had objected to her volunteering at the clinic, Avery had claimed that verse as she’d gone to work in one of the rougher parts of the city.
“We’ll see you tomorrow?”
Avery finished buttoning up her coat and grabbed her purse. “Yes. If anything changes, I’ll let you know. But as of right now, I’ll be here at nine.”
After saying goodbye to Mary and the receptionist, Avery went out and climbed into her cold car. She started it up and then took a minute to text her mom to let her know that she was leaving the clinic and was on her way to the Callaghan home. The first time she’d made the trip, she knew her mom had checked how long it would take so that she’d know approximately when she would hear from Avery.
They’d had to work something out when her mom’s anxiety over Avery’s safety had manifested itself following Avery’s dad’s death. One thing they had done was to set up an app that allowed her mom to track her when she was out and about. She still sent her texts, but at least her mom could track her progress and check on her location if it was taking longer than usual to get to her destination.
Some might find it annoying, but given what she’d gone through herself, Avery understood why her mom felt the way she did. And it was a small thing to do for her peace of mind.
Thankfully, the traffic was average, and she made good time. After parking, she turned off her car and sent her I’m here text to her mom. The walk to the house had been cleared of snow, as had the wide covered verandah that ran around the house. She walked to the back of the house and the large room that had quickly been added upon Emily’s return home from the hospital. It had everything a professional clinic would have, and it was where Emily had her physical, occupational and speech therapy.
Using the code she’d been given, Avery unlocked the door to the room and stepped into its warmth. She was immediately greeted by the now familiar woodsy-lemony-honey-like scent of the frankincense essential oil that was being diffused along with some soft, calming music. One of the other therapists believed in using things like essential oils and music as part of her therapy. Avery wasn’t going to argue. It definitely created a calming atmosphere, and as long as Emily’s doctor—who was overseeing all of her care—didn’t object, Avery certainly wasn’t going to.
She knew it was lunch time for Emily which gave Avery time to speak with the therapist who had been working with her that morning. Though they were there for a couple of hours each, it wasn’t like they worked Emily hard for the entire time. Usually, it took awhile to get Emily to cooperate with them. Much more rarely, she would agree to do what they asked of her right away, and at those times they would be done much more quickly.
Rowena, the occupational therapist, greeted her with a wide smile. “Happy Monday.”
“Did the morning go well?” Though Rowena, a dark-haired woman with a bubbly personality, was usually upbeat regardless of how things had gone with Emily, she seemed particularly happy right then
.
“Eh,” she said with a shrug. “Not the best session we’ve ever had.”
“So why the happy mood then?”
Rowena glanced around before leaning toward her. “Another one of her sons showed up over the weekend, and he is quite a nice-looking guy. It looks like he could use a little therapy as well.”
So Kenton Callaghan had come home. Though reports had him leaving LA, none had zeroed in exactly on where he had ended up. “Well, he certainly came to the right place.”
“Sadly, I think he’s in need of your type of therapy rather than mine.” Rowena gave a sad shake of her head. “And here I am in between boyfriends.”
“Wouldn’t that make it better that he’s not your patient?” Avery asked as she hung up her coat and put her purse on the small desk that held the laptop they used to make their daily reports.
“Yeah, but one look at your pretty blue-green eyes, and he won’t look twice at me.”
“I’m not interested, so it wouldn’t matter, even if that were true.” Avery knew that Rowena would probably think she was nuts if Kenton was actually interested her, and she turned him down, but she had her reasons. Reasons reinforced by memories that she had no way of forgetting.
“When you see this man…he is fi-ine.” Rowena said it as if it was a done deal that Avery would change her mind upon seeing him.
Had certain events not happened to her, the woman might actually have been right. Avery had been raised by a confident man. One who knew that he was good at what he did, so she found herself attracted to the same type of man. The unfortunate thing was that sometimes that confidence bled into arrogance and then into something worse.
She had no doubt that Kenton Callaghan had that confidence, but when confidence was undermined by something as debilitating as an injury, it could turn bad. Avery had no interest in allowing someone with that potential close to her and her family—especially the boys, even if he was their hero.
The door that led from the therapy room to the main house opened, and the subject of Rowena’s fascination hobbled in on crutches. His gaze landed on Rowena first, and he gave her a smile that Avery was sure got him a lot of things in life. She also noticed that for a hockey player, he’d somehow managed to avoid the hockey smile and didn’t appear to have broken his nose. Or if he had, he’d had it fixed properly. His light brown hair was cut short, and he sported stubble that was just a bit past a five o’clock shadow.
“Hi again,” he said as he leaned on his crutches, his one leg bent at the knee, toe just resting on the floor.
“Hello,” Rowena said, taking a step closer. “Is there something I can help you with?”
“I’m actually in need of a conversation with the PT. Avery?”
Avery wished she could grab her coat and leave because she had a feeling that she knew what Kenton was going to ask of her, and there was no way she could refuse. With Max paying her salary, she knew that she would do whatever was requested of her.
“She’s right there,” Rowena said as she waved at Avery and gave her a wink.
Kenton shifted on his crutches, his brows rising as he looked at her. “Avery?”
“Yes. That’s me.” She approached where he stood and held out her hand.
He released his hold on one of his crutches and took her hand. The warmth and strength of his hold lingered even after he released her. “I’m Kenton Callaghan. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“You too,” Avery said, figuring that it was sort of true. “What can I do for you?”
“I hear you’re helping my mom with her physical therapy.”
Avery crossed her arms as she nodded. “I am.”
“Great.” He kept his gaze on her as his smile widened. “As I’m sure you can see, I’m in some need of therapy myself. I’m going to be seeing someone at the sports clinic initially, but if I could get some of this help at home, I’d like that better. Less chance of reports being leaked and stuff like that.”
“I don’t specialize in sports therapy, to be honest.”
“But you are aware of the therapy needed for rehabbing after surgery for a torn ACL?”
“Yes, of course.” She really wished that she could somehow get him to see that she wasn’t the best choice to help him. “I’m just a new graduate though. I don’t have a lot of experience. I’m sure the people at the sports clinic would be better equipped to work with you.”
His smile dimmed a bit as a speculative look came into his eyes. “And yet my family is trusting you to work with my mom. I would say that your lack of hands-on experience isn’t standing in the way of that.” He paused. “I wouldn’t be asking you to set up the plan for my therapy. My trainer and the orthopedic doctor I’m seeing here will do that, but I’d like to have your help implementing the plan.”
Without a good excuse to turn him down, she said, “Why don’t you have a seat on the table?”
Flashing her a grin, Kenton made his way to the exam table, propping his crutches against the wall. He used his arms to lift himself up onto the table. Since he was wearing a pair of loose athletic shorts, she was able to see the bandage on his knee right away.
She walked over to the sink and washed her hands before pulling on a pair of latex gloves. Then, trying to ignore the way his T-shirt showed off his muscles, Avery approached him.
“When did you have the surgery?” she asked. “Did you want me to check the incision?”
“I had it five days ago. They said I should be off the crutches in seven to ten days.” He gestured toward the counter and a bag sitting there. “That’s the bandages and stuff they gave me after the surgery.”
Avery bent down and worked the tape surrounding the bandage carefully off his knee, seeing how it was rather haphazardly placed. “Sorry if this hurts.”
“What? The tape pulling the hair? That’s nothing. Pain is just a fact of my life,” he said.
“Maybe I should have the nurse take a quick look at this,” Avery said, not terribly comfortable with her skills in observing infection or what a wound should or shouldn’t look like. The things she dealt with were inside the body most the time.
“I’ll go get her,” Rowena said and slipped out the door Kenton had come through earlier.
“Do you think there’s an issue?” Kenton’s brows drew together over his piercing blue eyes.
“No, but I’d rather the nurse tell you that. I’m not used to dealing with wounds beyond skinned knees.”
“Got kids?” he asked.
“Yep.” However unlikely it was, if he did have any interest in her, hopefully, that would dissuade him. Usually, guys seemed to back right off when she let them know she was a mom. In any non-work setting, she usually wore rings, but when she was working, she didn’t tend to have them on.
“Boys? Girls?” he asked.
“Boys.” Though Elliot was technically her brother, she usually claimed him along with Benjie.
“My mom patched up more skinned knees than a lot of doctors, I’m sure. With six active boys, we kept her busy.”
“And now she’s got two of you back under her roof with leg injuries.”
Kenton sighed. “In a different set of circumstances for her, she’d be happy to have us home. I’m not sure that’s the case right now.”
“I’m sure she is happy to have you guys here, she just doesn’t know how to express it very well at the moment. We’re hoping to help change that.” She gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile.
Rowena reappeared with one of the nurses right behind her. She was an older woman that Avery had worked alongside quite a bit over the past few weeks.
“I hear you have an incision for me to look at,” she said with a smile.
“Torn ACL surgery. Five days post-op,” Avery told her as she gestured to Kenton.
The nurse washed up her hands and donned gloves before approaching the exam table. Avery stood to the side as she listened to the conversation between them. From the sound of things, the incision looked
as good as it should five days after surgery.
The nurse replaced the bandage with efficient movements, then headed back to help Emily finish her lunch. “See you in about twenty minutes.”
“I’m done here,” Rowena said. “See you tomorrow, Avery.”
Avery was conscious of Kenton’s gaze on her as she cleaned up the remnants of the bandages and tossed them out. She stripped off her gloves since she had no intention of touching Kenton again. Though they didn’t use gloves with Emily, they had them there just in case they were required, and Avery had needed to use them to keep her skin on skin contact with Kenton at a minimum.
“So what have you been doing so far with your leg?” she asked, crossing her arms as she turned back to him.
“Keeping it elevated and icing it. I’m supposed to be working up to putting weight on it in the next few days.”
“No doubt they want you to increase the range of movement.”
Kenton nodded. “There was talk of me using a stationary bike.”
“I think your dad was going to order one for your mom to use as she progresses.”
“He’s going to get one today, I think.” Kenton leaned over to grab the crutches from the wall. “I guess I should let you get ready for my mom.” He slid off the exam table and propped himself up on the crutches. “I appreciate you being willing to help me out. I’m happy to pay you for your time.”
“You can take that up with your dad and Max,” she said. “Whatever the three of you decide is fine with me.”
She hoped that she’d be able to continue working at the clinic, but with what Max was paying her, she figured she had to be available for whatever hours they wanted her to work.
“Thank you.” He gave her another smile. “See you later.”
Avery let out a long sigh once she was alone. It was a good thing that she never talked about her work at home. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep the fact that she was helping her son and brother’s hero with his recovery, a secret. And yet, she felt kind of bad that she was this close to the man and couldn’t let them meet him.
Crossing Center Ice Page 3
