Springtime at Hope Cottage

by Annie Rains

She sighed. “I sprained my knee. Not bad. Dr. Miles says rest and ice should do the trick.”

  Relief flooded through Tuck on her behalf. Josie didn’t seem like a woman who liked to slow down, which is exactly what a more serious injury would’ve done.

  “It’s just a grade one sprain of the medial collateral ligament,” Dr. Miles confirmed. “I expect, as long as you take it easy, Josie, your knee will be as good as new in a week’s time. Use the crutches today. After that, the knee brace I’ve given you should be sufficient.”

  Tuck took a closer look at the brace encasing her joint.

  “I’m also prescribing physical therapy to teach Josie some strengthening and stability exercises that she can do on her own to tighten up that MCL. Do you know any good PTs?” he asked Tuck.

  Tuck looked up. “Not in New York I don’t.”

  “Josie says she’s staying for a week. She only needs a couple sessions to get her started,” Dr. Miles said. He handed Tuck a prescription with “Physical therapy” scrawled in classic doctor’s handwriting. Tuck swore that doctors took a medical school course on the fine art of barely legible script.

  “Tuck is the best PT in town, if you ask me,” Dr. Miles told Josie, who was leaning heavily onto her crutches. She was no doubt tired and needed to go back to the inn and rest.

  Josie looked at Tuck. “I’m not sure if he has room in his busy schedule,” she told the doctor.

  “I can fit you in,” Tuck answered with a small nod.

  “Oh, good.” Dr. Miles turned to Josie and patted her back softly. “You’re in good hands.”

  That was part of Tuck’s hesitation. His hands were itching to get hold of Josie’s curves, and now he had doctor’s orders to do so.

  After helping her to his Jeep, he got behind the wheel and started driving back to the inn.

  “I’ve been a huge inconvenience to you since I got here,” she said after a few minutes. “If you want to back out of therapy, I understand.”

  He glanced over and saw vulnerability flash in her eyes. It surprised him that she cared about messing up his schedule or making him go out of his way. Perhaps he’d misjudged her based on a false first impression. Granted, she’d pulled a can of pepper spray on him. “It’s okay. And Dr. Miles is right. You need to learn some stability exercises to keep you from injuring it further. I just discharged a patient on my caseload so I have a spot for you in the mornings this week. I’ll swing by, and we’ll get started tomorrow. How does that sound?”

  “Great. Thank you.”

  He saw her shake her head from his peripheral vision.

  “I just can’t believe this is happening. It was so stupid to follow that bird,” she said.

  Tuck laughed softly. “Next time, follow the signs.”

  “I promise. I guess this’ll keep me from my daily jogs, won’t it?”

  “I’d stick to walking for the time being,” Tuck advised. “And keep your bird-watching strictly on the trail.”

  Josie laughed. The sound made him glance over just in time to see her lips part and her head tip slightly back, elongating her neck.

  His heart thumped to life at the sight of her. The tight ponytail she’d had earlier was loose from her struggle on the trail and her visit to see Dr. Miles. For a moment, Tuck imagined pulling the tie away and letting her hair spill over her shoulders. Then kissing that neck of hers until she forgot all about the pain in her knee.

  He turned into the driveway of the Sweetwater Bed and Breakfast, hot and bothered. He needed to go for a walk himself tonight. He got out of the Jeep, retrieved Josie’s crutches, and helped her make her way back inside to the couch.

  “Mitch can help her get upstairs to her room tonight,” Kaitlyn told Tuck. “Thank you so much. Why don’t you come to breakfast tomorrow before Josie’s appointment? It’s the least I can do to thank you for taking such good care of my best friend.”

  “I’ll take a rain check on that,” he said. “I have a patient at seven a.m.”

  “That’s so early,” Josie said from the couch.

  “I’ll be heading here after that,” he told her. “Be up and ready to work. Until then, keep it iced and elevated on a pillow.”

  “Got it.”

  Kaitlyn walked him and Shadow to the door and showed them out. As Tuck got into his vehicle and settled Shadow in the passenger seat, he found himself dreading tomorrow’s appointment with Josie almost as much as he was looking forward to it.

  * * *

  Later that evening, Tuck grabbed some meat from the fridge and carried it to the grill on his back deck. He’d been waiting all afternoon to sit out here with his perfect view and grill a steak. Then he and Shadow would play a little fetch, watch the sunset, and go to bed—his idea of a perfect day.

  His cell phone buzzed as he lit the charcoal. It was Beverly Sanders’s number again. Time to unravel this mystery of why she seemed so intent on getting hold of him.

  “Hello,” he said, focusing his gaze on the horizon.

  “Hi, is this Tuck Locklear?”

  “That’s me.”

  “This is Beverly Sanders,” she said. “I got your contact information from an acquaintance and was hoping that you could help me.” She was interrupted by a cough that seemed to carry on for a solid minute. “I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I’m afraid I’ve been quite sick these days.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Thank you. My eleven-year-old granddaughter, Maddie, was in a car accident with her mother last fall. Her mother, my daughter, died, and Maddie was injured very badly.”

  Tuck walked to a nearby chair and dropped down in it. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Sanders.”

  “Please call me Beverly. And thank you.” She paused. “Maddie broke her collarbone and right leg in several places. She stopped seeing her first physical therapist soon after the accident. She refused to go to her appointments. If she doesn’t start back up, her doctor says that she might cause herself further damage. I was hoping you would agree to work with her.”

  Tuck stared out at his backyard. “I’ll need to have access to her files.”

  “Of course. I have copies of everything,” the grandmother said eagerly.

  He absently pulled at the chain around his neck, fidgeting with its charm. “I can’t make any promises but I’ll do what I can. She might not work for me either though.”

  “I think she’s ready. Thank you so much,” Beverly said.

  Tuck enjoyed working with children. He and Renee had always hoped to have two or three of their own. Instead, his wife was gone, and he was here. “You’re welcome. I can come to your home for the first visit if you’d like.”

  “No, I think Maddie would work better for you somewhere else.”

  “Okay, then you can come to my place. I work with several patients on my personal property. It’s right on Blueberry Creek.”

  “I think Maddie would like that.”

  They arranged the first appointment and hung up. Then Tuck returned to his grill, thinking about the day and his patients. His mind kept circling back to one patient in particular. It’d been two years since Renee had died, and none of the women he’d dated recently, while nice, had made him feel anything. Josie wasn’t at all the kind of woman he usually found himself attracted to. But there was something about her that energized him in a way he hadn’t felt in a while. He liked the feeling but he guessed it was as short-lived as her time in Sweetwater Springs.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Josie had barely touched the delicious breakfast Kaitlyn had prepared this morning in anticipation of this exact moment.

  Tuck walked through her bedroom door and pinned her immediately with that dark gaze of his. They were about to have their first physical therapy appointment, and her stomach was a bundle of nerves and butterflies. She’d had physical therapy before but the therapist she’d had in high school had been older and not nearly as cute. Tuck had a Jacob-from-Twilight vibe going for him, and she’d always been on Team Jacob.


  “Did you sleep well?” he asked.

  Josie nodded. She was alone in her bedroom with a man right now. This hadn’t happened in ages. She couldn’t very well do therapy on the couch downstairs, with the inn’s guests rotating in and out. This was the most private place at the B&B but it felt much too intimate.

  Her heart pounded, and she felt breathless and a little dizzy as he stepped closer. Maybe it was the pain medicine that Dr. Miles had prescribed but she didn’t think so. “Yes, I slept very well, thank you.” Except for the wee little fantasy she’d entertained about being with Tuck in this very bed. Why had she let her imagination even go there? Now she was going to have to block the fantasy out of her mind for the next hour. “Did you? Sleep well.”

  He smiled at her. Forget Team Jacob, she was Team Tuck all the way. She wasn’t even upset anymore that he’d kidnapped her cell phone the day before yesterday. “I’m not the one with a knee injury. I slept like a rock.”

  Josie swallowed. “Right.”

  “How’s the knee? Ready to get it moving?”

  “It’s sore and no,” she said honestly. She’d kept ice on it since yesterday, and every time she’d even moved it slightly, it had throbbed. That was the whole point of the knee brace Dr. Miles had given her, she guessed. To keep it from moving too much.

  He grabbed a couple of pillows from the other side of the bed and brought them around. “Here.” After guiding her to sit up, he placed the pillows behind her back. Then he sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled her leg into his lap. He grabbed the top edge of her brace and pulled it down. It wasn’t like he was pulling down an article of clothing, but still it was strangely sensual.

  Josie sat up straighter as he pressed his fingers into the puffy skin around her kneecap. “What are you doing?”

  “Palpating your knee.”

  Her skin came alive under his touch, sending shock waves through her body. She shifted restlessly.

  “Does that hurt?” he asked.

  “A little.”

  “You know what they say: no pain, no gain. But don’t worry—I’ll try to go easy on you.”

  “I’d appreciate that,” she said.

  He put a hand under her knee and used his other hand to bend her leg just a little bit.

  She flinched, hoping she didn’t look like a big baby. Usually, she considered herself to have a high pain tolerance.

  “We’re just going to hold this stretch for a moment.” After a few seconds, he straightened her leg and repeated the process several times. Each time, it was less painful. “This will get the swelling out of the joint,” he told her.

  “Is there a less painful way to do it?” she asked, trying to keep her breathing under control.

  “I’m afraid not. Sorry.” He released her leg and stood. “Okay, now I want you to sit on the edge of the bed.”

  She did as he asked, cringing as her knee bent in an almost ninety-degree angle for a fully seated position.

  Tuck sat beside her on the bed again, close enough to where his thigh brushed against hers just slightly. “Watch me.” He straightened his knee, lifting one of his legs out in front of him. “We’re just going to do a few active knee extensions.” He crouched down on the floor and helped her with the first few and then removed his hands as she continued on her own. “Great. That’s perfect.” He gave her an approving look.

  Meeting his eyes did something to her insides. She didn’t want to explore what or why. If she was going to be working with this man in such an intimate way, she needed to turn this silly attraction off. A fling on a minivacation might be appropriate in some circumstances but not in this one.

  He grabbed the knee brace that Dr. Miles had given her, wrapped it around her joint, and stood. “You ready to stand? I still don’t want you putting a lot of weight on your leg today. But moving around your room and to the bathroom is necessary.”

  He offered his hand to help her stand.

  Josie took it, the motion bringing her face-to-face with him. “Hi,” she said, not knowing what else to say. He was standing right in front of her with his hands steadying her waist. They were in her bedroom with the door closed; under any other circumstance, making out seemed like the right next step.

  “Ow.” She bent to grab her throbbing knee.

  “You’re putting too much weight on it. Here, lean on me,” he said, moving to her left side.

  They took a few steps, turned around, and walked back to the bed. He kept his hands on her until she was seated again.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t tell him. “Yeah. Feeling better already.”

  He nodded. “I want you doing the seated knee extensions ten times on the hour today. Keep the joint moving. When it’s not in motion, keep it iced. Tomorrow, I’m guessing you’ll feel a whole lot better.”

  “Okay,” Josie said, fighting her pain and attraction.

  “I’ll be back in the morning for your next session. Wear something comfortable. We’ll be going outside.”

  “We will?”

  “Nature’s rehab. I’ll bring my binoculars in case we see a bird.” He winked. “But we’re staying on the path this time.”

  “Ha-ha,” she said sarcastically.

  Then someone knocked on the door. “Hey, you two. How’s it going in here?” Kaitlyn asked as she stepped inside.

  “We’re finished until tomorrow,” Tuck told her.

  “If you’re done, I’ll see you out.” Kaitlyn led Tuck out of the room like the good hostess she was. Josie listened to their retreating voices and glanced at the brace on her knee. She’d worn something similar when she’d injured her knee in high school. With track and field on hold back then, she’d joined the journalism crew after school, and thus her love for stories had begun. She’d considered the injury an act of fate somehow, leading her in a new direction. That wasn’t the case this time. Now it was just a hindrance.

  Kaitlyn reappeared in the doorway a few minutes later. “Since we can’t walk around downtown like I’d planned, I’m taking you for a brief driving tour. Then we can grab takeout on the way back. Sound good?”

  Josie grinned. “Sounds perfect. I want to know everything there is to know about Sweetwater Springs.”

  Kaitlyn’s excitement seemed to funnel out of her. “Wait a minute. That sounds like Journalist Josie talking.”

  Josie pulled her lower lip between her teeth. “Nothing wrong with a little research while I’m here, right? Readers wanted to know more about Sweetwater Springs so I thought I’d deliver.”

  Kaitlyn’s brows lowered over her narrowed eyes. “But you’re supposed to be relaxing and enjoying yourself. I want you to have a good time.”

  “And I will. But another article means more business for you and your new friends. You can’t argue with that, can you?”

  Kaitlyn seemed to consider this. “You are impossible, you know that? Carry your little notebook if you must, but it’s my duty as your best friend today to show you a good time while you’re here.”

  * * *

  “You’re almost there,” Tuck encouraged Mr. Sajack late that afternoon as they walked to the elderly man’s mailbox. After seeing Josie this morning, Tuck had been hiking with a patient with neuropathy, swimming with a man three months out from a rotator cuff surgery, and bicycling with a woman who’d had a total knee replacement a few months ago. All in a day’s work.

  Daniel Sajack was a below-the-knee amputee. He kept his body upright, just like Tuck had taught him, and continued forward on his prosthetic leg. His breaths came out in labored bursts.

  “Gotta breathe, Mr. Sajack,” Tuck instructed. “If you turn blue and pass out, then I have to carry you back inside the house. Just five more steps and we can see what’s in that mailbox. Who knows? Maybe it’s a big check.”

  Mr. Sajack started laughing, which rocked his balance slightly. Tuck reached out and steadied him. Shadow watched the two men from the grass, waiting where Tuck had ordered her
to sit. Tuck didn’t want her getting under Mr. Sajack’s feet accidentally.

  “I don’t get big checks anymore,” Mr. Sajack spit out. “I get medical bills now. Lots of ’em. If I’d have known it would cost so much to cut my leg off, I’d have done it myself with my grandpa’s old pocketknife.”

  Tuck cringed. Part of him suspected Mr. Sajack was serious. “The hospital allows you to make small payments so don’t let it worry you.”

  “Oh, I know.” The older man lifted his prosthesis and carefully pushed it forward for another step. “I’ll be dead before they get a full payment out of me,” he said. Then he let out a war cry of sorts as he reached for his mailbox.

  Tuck watched satisfaction crawl through his patient’s features. “You did it.”

  “Darn straight. Now open that box up and hand me those big checks you promised.”

  Tuck chuckled. “I didn’t promise anything.” He did the honors of opening the mailbox because having Mr. Sajack do so would require him to step on uneven terrain, and his patient wasn’t quite ready for that. Tuck grabbed the mail and started thumbing through the envelopes, reading off the senders’ names.

  Tuck took his time. After all that exercise, this was a small break. For a new amputee, something as mundane as walking to the mailbox was a lot of work. When he was done, Tuck checked his watch. “All right. Let’s get you back inside. If you hustle, you’ll be there in time to see the five o’clock news.”

  Mr. Sajack frowned. “I never miss watching Serena Gibbs on the news. You better get me there.”

  Tuck shrugged. “I’m not picking you up and carrying you.” He’d already carried one person this week, and Josie was considerably lighter than his current patient would be. “Let’s go.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Tuck helped Mr. Sajack lower himself to his couch and handed him the remote. “T minus two minutes. I’ll get you some water.” After handing him a glass, Tuck spoke to Mrs. Sajack for a couple of minutes with Shadow at his side.

  Mrs. Sajack offered Shadow a dog biscuit as usual, which Shadow held between her teeth. “Please stay for dinner. I always make too much,” Mrs. Sajack insisted.