Wicked Healing

by Madden, J. M.

  He wouldn’t say anything, even though she’d just made him self-conscious again. Pushing it away he stood and reached for the cane beside his chair. The cane was temporary until he was solid with walking, and he hated using it in front of his mother, but he needed to. The cane wasn’t as bad as possibly sprawling on his face in front of her.

  “You guys haven’t seen the facility. Let’s take a walk.”

  Luca walked for longer than he ever had since the injury. The La Jolla Rehab Center was massive, but he was already beginning to recognize some faces. He waved as he navigated the halls to the elevator. Maybe if they went down and sat in the sun for a while they’d leave sooner.

  They sat at a nice table in the partial shade and he let his mother tell him about what was going on in Malibu, but his attention was divided. She’d already asked him what his plans were when he was released, and he didn’t have a good answer for her. She suggested that she could get him a job with her company, selling real estate. That really didn’t appeal to him at all, but he gave her a slight smile. He supposed it depended upon the stability of his leg, which he assumed would get better and better the more he wore it. He could go back to school. Thirty wasn’t too old to get a degree.

  He was going to have to do something.

  His parents left after a couple of hours of studying him like a bug, and Luca was glad. Yes, his room was secluded and he got bored, but he was at his hospitality max for the day.

  As soon as he returned to his room he checked his tablet for new emails. Nothing from Erin. Damn. He needed some of her lighthearted banter.

  Should he write her? There was a chance she wouldn’t even notice his email for a day or so. Sometimes when she was busy it took that long for her to respond. Feeling a little self-conscious in a different way, he sent her an email asking about Boss.

  * * *

  Erin heard the ping on her email and opened it up. Luca was asking about his buddy.

  He’s fine. Though he’s been pacing a lot. It’s almost like he knows we’re going in to get fitted with the prosthetic tomorrow. Or maybe he’s just picking up my nervousness.

  Something occurred to her and impulsively she asked him if he could call her. She left her number.

  It took several long minutes for him to respond, but eventually the phone rang in her hand. It was a California number.

  “Hello?”

  “Erin?”

  “Hi, Luca. It’s a pleasure to talk to you in person,” she said, smiling. And it really was. He had a whiskey gravel voice, though he sounded hesitant. Granted the call had changed their interaction status a little, but it would have changed in a few days anyway when she took Wicked to see him.

  “It’s a pleasure to talk to you as well. You have a very nice voice.”

  She laughed. “Thank you. I was just thinking the same thing.”

  “It’s a little rough, from the accident.”

  “I still think it sounds nice,” she admitted.

  The silence stretched for a moment, then they both laughed.

  “So, I had a question for you about Boss.”

  The dog looked around at the sound of his name, making her smile. “He knows we’re talking about him. He’s focused completely on me right now.”

  Luca chuckled. “That dog is entirely too smart. He knows things.”

  “Seriously,” she agreed. “He’s a better guard dog than any of my other dogs. By far. Is there an ease down command that I haven’t figured out yet? I thought he was going to kill my UPS man the other day. If I know someone is coming I put him in the outdoor enclosed kennel, but I can’t always anticipate.”

  Luca chuckled. “K noze. Pronounced K-no-Zay. It’s Czech for ‘heel’. If he’s out of line call him to heel, then you can ease him down.”

  Erin scrunched up her face in confusion. “Czech. Seriously? Is German too passé?”

  “For this dog it is,” Luca told her, voice wry. “We’ve had terrorists throw out German commands in an attempt to confuse dogs before. A split-second hesitation could mean lives, so I taught him Czech, which is a little more obscure.”

  She was still confused. “I’ve used German commands with him.”

  “If he responds to them use them. He’s been trained in English, German and Czech, but the Czech has been for his most recent combat situations. He might be a little confused in his mind about his status.”

  She sighed, looking at the dog. He hadn’t taken his eyes from her since she’d been talking to Luca. “Okay, say the word again. I’ll try it. Or will using it send him into combat mode?”

  Luca sighed on the other end of the line. “It shouldn’t. I think it’s more important for you to have the usable tool. K noze. K-no-zay.”

  Erin stood, maintaining eye contact with the dog, then she turned away from him, started walking toward the kitchen and repeated the word. Wicked was immediately at her side. Ears pricked and disposition intense, like he was looking for bad guys to kill.

  “Damn,” she whispered. “What kind of dog is this, Luca?”

  The man chuckled on the other end of the line. “That’s not a dog, Erin. Wicked is a weapon. He’s a Navy SEAL MWD, a multi-purpose canine. Bombs, protection, he can do it all. He’s been on almost as many deployments as I have. Saved our lives more times than I can count.”

  Though he hadn’t moved from her side, there was an aggressiveness to Wicked that was chilling. Even hindered and hobbling as he was, he had the drive and the training to try to complete the job. “How do I ease him down?”

  “If he goes into this alert mode, say phooey.”

  “What?” Had she actually heard him right?

  “Phooey. It’s the Czech word for no. It should ease him down.”

  Not having anything else to lose, she repeated the word. Some…alertness went out of him, his body. “And sit?”

  “Said-nee.”

  She repeated the word and Wicked sat. Erin eased out a breath, tension flowing from her own shoulders. Reaching out she stroked his head, and he seemed to appreciate the touch. Thoughts were racing through her mind, and anxiety. “Luca, I have a feeling you’re going to have a lot of work to do retraining this animal. I had no idea what I was agreeing to when I said I’d take him. I thought I was getting a bomb dog or something a little more run of the road.”

  There was a long silence on the other end of the line. “I know there’s going to be a reintegration period. I think whatever you’re doing is doing well. Have you taken him out at all?”

  “Not really. Nowhere other than the vet and my mother’s house. She lives the next town over.”

  “Okay. Well, if he gets tense like that again just ease him down.”

  Moving to her desk she jotted down the words he’d given her, the way they sounded, and what they were. This was beyond the scope of what she’d trained for, but she would do what she could for Wicked.

  “I bet you’re excited to see him.”

  There was a hesitation on the line. “Him, yes.”

  She wondered at the emphasis on him. Did he not want to meet her? “Oh. I’m sorry. I, uh… do you want me to have your parents bring him or something? I mean, I can hang behind or something…”

  “Fuck, no,” he said firmly. “I’m excited to see him and meet you. Completely. I’m sorry I made you think otherwise. My parents just left and I don’t want them to come back any time soon.”

  The tension eased in her stomach and she relaxed a little.

  “Ah… I’m sorry. Are they not dealing with your injuries well?”

  “Among other things,” he agreed. “I just have a lot on my plate. And I should probably prepare you for what you’ll see.”

  Erin’s heart softened. “It really won’t make a difference to me.”

  Luca snorted on the other end of the line and it kind of sounded… defensive. She hoped she hadn’t sounded dismissive to him. She really enjoyed writing to him and talking to him. “I know the kind of man you are. You care for your dog and your me
n. That tells me exactly what your values are.”

  The silence grew, until he cleared his throat a little. “Thank you, Erin. I kinda needed that boost today. I’m getting to the point that they’re probably going to release me soon.”

  “Oh, congratulations!” she said, genuinely happy for him. “That has to be exhilarating.”

  “In a way. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what I’m going to do once I get out of here. I won’t be able to go back to my team.”

  His voice faded away and Erin thought she could hear the quiet desperation in his words. When servicemen brought her their dogs to board, it was easy to see how excited they were and how proud they were to serve their country. That had been taken away from Luca. “You will find another way to serve, believe me. I know how all you diehard military types are.”

  “Yeah. You’re probably right,” he said eventually, but she could hear the doubt in his voice. “Listen, I need to go. The staff on the floor knows you’re coming.”

  “Okay, and I have the directions you sent. I should be there Saturday morning. I’ll send you an email tomorrow about Boss’s prosthetic.”

  “Thanks, Erin. For everything. It was really nice talking to you.”

  “I thought so too, Luca. See you soon.”

  Erin hung up, wishing she could call him back and talk a little more. Which was ridiculous. She didn’t even really know the man. She did know parts about him though, and those parts were building a picture that she admired.

  The animals needed exercised and she was sitting here worrying about faceless men. Get your butt in gear, Erin.

  Chapter 4

  Wicked was not wild about having people mess with his leg again, and he definitely didn’t like the thing mounted to his foot and Velcro-ed, but once he realized he could move around like he used to he forgot about it. Within two minutes he was walking like he’d always worn a prosthetic. Erin went up and down the hallway of the vet’s office, watching his mobility. One of the vet techs took a walking video and they looked at it on loop several times.

  “I’m very happy with this,” Dr. Lang told her. “It’s a small prosthetic and I think he’ll be completely fine with it. If it was further up the hock the process would be a little more difficult, but I think he’s going to adapt like he should. You saw how easy it was to add the piece.”

  Erin nodded. Literally it had taken two straps of Velcro and five seconds to put on. It was only two shaped bars of plastic, with a cushion pad on the bottom and a strip of rubber on the sole. If anything he might need heavier Velcro to attach to the leg if he was going to be doing a lot of jumping. But that was an issue for later down the road.

  They walked out of the vet’s office side by side, and Wicked only had the most minor of bobbles. He jogged beside her as they went through the parking lot and even seemed excited to jump up into the back without using the old man ramp. Laughing, Erin drew her phone from her pocket and dialed Luca, then hit the FaceTime button. It rang and rang, and that was when she realized that maybe he didn’t want to see her, or for her to see him. She was just about to hang up when he answered.

  Her first view of him was a shock. Damn. Luca Carmichael looked to be a handsome dark devil, with dark hair and eyes. His curly hair was a little mussed, like he’d been running his hands through it, but there was an alertness in his expression that so reminded her of Wicked. She grinned into the camera. “I thought you would like to see your dog in action.”

  Turning the camera she scanned the view over his body and down to the prosthetic.

  “Oh, Boss.”

  Wicked jerked to alertness, focusing in on the phone, and she realized he hadn’t even heard his handler’s voice for weeks. “Luca,” she said, turning the phone back to herself, “I think he just recognized your voice.”

  She turned the phone back to the dog. “Hey, Boss, look at you, buddy!” Luca called.

  Wicked went nuts, whining and shoving his nose toward the phone, as if he was sniffing for Luca, and it actually brought tears to her eyes. It was obvious the dog recognized and missed his partner. He danced in the back of the car as Luca talked to him.

  “Erin,” he said.

  She turned the phone around, wiping her eyes. He seemed to be a little emotional too. “It seems like I’m always telling you thank you. He looks amazing.”

  Wicked bumped her hand, as if telling her he wasn’t done. Turning, she sat on the back end of the SUV, with the dog directly behind her so that Luca could see them both. “It was too big of a deal not to celebrate. I’m sorry if I caught you at a bad time.”

  Luca laughed, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it. There is no bad time for you to call. It was so worth it.”

  Erin related the conversation with the vet, along with her own observations. She wasn’t sure if Wicked could actually see Luca on the other end of the line, but he definitely recognized his voice. At one point the dog rested his head on her shoulder, as if in thanks for everything, and she teared up again. For a dog as reserved as Wicked, this was like a parade with confetti to Erin.

  Eventually she moved to the driver’s seat, closing the door on the back. Feeling generous, she’d decided to let Wicked into the back seat to ride home. Now that he had another foot she didn’t worry about his balance as much. She connected his harness to the leash attachment in the back seat.

  “I can let you go, if you need me to,” Luca told her, obviously seeing the process.

  “We’re good. Just strapping him into the back seat so he doesn’t go flying through the windshield if I hit the brakes.”

  That done she climbed into the front seat and put her phone on the windshield magnet, repositioning it so that Luca could see the dog. And they talked all the way home. They had a lot in common and it was easy to find things to talk about. Wicked leaned into the center, panting happily. Erin realized she was grinning as she looked at the dog, then to the man. They were both the happiest she’d seen them, and she knew that in person it would be even more special.

  “Are your parents going to be there when I bring Wicked?”

  Luca snorted. “God, I hope not. My mother would throw a fit and I don’t want to deal with it.”

  Wow. He really didn’t have any support. Did he have people at the hospital that supported him? Yeah, there were nurses and stuff, but she wondered if he had a buddy or anything to help him out. Or a significant other. She hadn’t even thought to ask about that. “Do you not have a wife or anything?”

  He barked out a laugh, again sounding incredibly bitter. “No, no wife or girlfriend. No children. For years it’s just been Boss and I. We are each other’s significant other.”

  Erin could understand that. “Well, you’ll be reunited soon,” she promised.

  “I can’t wait to see him in person,” Luca admitted. “It’s so fucking… sterile, here. I need some kind of connection to who I used to be.”

  “Well, we’ll be leaving early Saturday. So we should be there after noon.”

  He was silent for a long minute. “Thank you, Erin. I have a feeling I’ll be pacing out front waiting for him.”

  After goodbyes she sat quietly in her seat, driving on autopilot. She missed his voice. Wicked whined and nosed her ear. “Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll see him soon.”

  * * *

  That night her mother called.

  “I wanted to confirm when you’d be getting back. I have someone I want you to meet.”

  Erin rolled her eyes. “Mom, I told you when I’m getting back. And I would appreciate it if you would quit trying to set me up with weird men.”

  “This one isn’t weird, I swear,” Linda told her. “I met him through my hair stylist.”

  “Is he gay like the last one you introduced me to? Did you explain that it was Erin with an E and not A?”

  She harrumphed on the other end of the line, then giggled. “Okay, I’ll admit, that one didn’t go as planned. But I apologized for it.”

  “I know you did, Mom, but here you a
re trying to set me up again. I will find someone in my own time. Quit meddling.”

  She sighed and Erin could hear the acceptance in the sound. “I only want you to have what your dad and I had, honey.”

  Erin’s heart softened. “I know, Mom, but this isn’t something you can force. Believe it or not, I date. You just don’t always hear about them because you blow everything up into a big relationship.”

  “Maybe you can hook up with this soldier you’re going to see. I bet he would be up for some action since he’s been in the hospital so long.”

  “Mom,” Erin gasped. “You are so bad! And he’s a sailor, not a soldier. He’s a former Navy SEAL. And he’s had more important things to worry about, like walking and coming back from the brink of death. And reconnecting with his dog.”

  “Oh, men always think about sex. It’s in their nature. But okay, I’ll cancel the meetup with the guy.”

  “I love you, Mom. I have to go.”

  “Later, dear!”

  Erin shook her head at her mother’s antics. The woman was incorrigible, but she understood her motivation. Linda and Erin’s father Mike had been truly in love, as the stories went. They’d met in college and had fallen hard, starting their family right after graduation. As they’d gotten older, though, they’d begun to grow apart in their beliefs. They’d divorced when Erin had been in college. When Dad had gotten sick Linda had gone to Tucson to be with him and the two of them had reconnected, but it had been too late then. By that time they knew the pancreatic cancer would eventually take his life. Erin thought that her mother regretted divorcing him, and she still professed to love him all these years later.

  It was a sad story, but Erin had good memories of the three of them together. She knew what love looked like and she knew that she would find it someday.

  * * *

  By eleven o’clock Saturday morning, Luca was ready to jump out of his skin. Though his stump was sore from physical therapy, he paced back and forth in front of the hospital for almost half an hour before a gunmetal gray SUV with a Paws at Home magnetic sign on the door pulled up into the patient drop-off loop. A petite woman with thick, dark-brown hair up in a ponytail stepped down out of the vehicle, gave him an enthusiastic wave, then moved to the back passenger door. Luca hurried back toward the loop but he was a good ways away.