by Dale Mayer
She glanced at her watch. “That’s the problem with me working nights. I can’t take you down either. Everyone’s asleep or settled in for the night.”
“I’m sure you don’t want to be there during nonworking hours of course.”
“I work with Stan quite a bit,” she said. “There are never enough hands to do all the work needed.”
“So if I go down there tomorrow, is there any chance you’d be there?”
She shrugged. “No idea. Depends on how good a night’s sleep I get.”
“Right, sleep. Something I don’t get much of.”
Then a muscle had him twisting in pain. She walked closer and could see his shoulders tensing into a big hard walnut. She gently massaged his back, lessening the tension around the knot. When the pain finally passed, she stepped in front of him.
“Look. I have a bit of a break in my routine. I can give you a back massage to work out some of those other knots. It might help.”
He looked at her in surprise.
She smiled.
“I would love that,” he said gratefully. “I must admit, almost every time you or Shane give me a massage, I fall right to sleep.”
“I can’t guarantee that every time, but I might be able to help.” She checked her watch and looked at her tablet. “Give me about twenty minutes, okay?” She turned and walked out. She quickly finished her rounds. Back at her office, she walked to the counter and picked up a special cream to ease the pain of sore muscles and a small hand towel. Then she headed back to his room.
Elliot lay on his stomach, his sheet draped over his hips. She stepped quietly through the doorway and waited a moment. If he was asleep already, she wouldn’t disturb him.
“Come on in. Not asleep.”
“Too bad,” she said, walking closer. She put some cream on his back and gently coated her fingers and then went to work. Muscle cramps weren’t easy to get out, but she could help ease them for a few hours. She made a mental note to add this nighttime massage to his file as she continued to work the muscles across his back and his shoulder blades. His back had taken quite a beating. Some muscle mass was missing, and the scar tissue ran across the lower side. One shoulder appeared to be slightly higher than the other one.
She worked gently and steadily for twenty minutes, feeling the muscles finally relax under her fingertips. She never said a word but kept working from one side to the other, then down through the center of the spine and back up again. Her approach was different from that of a massage therapist. She was working out the tension to give him relief from the pain more than anything else. By the time she was done, gentle soft breathing came from Elliot. She hoped he had dropped off to sleep.
She stepped back and wiped her hands, closed the tube of cream and tiptoed from the room.
She waited outside the door for a moment, but she heard no other sounds. She smiled and returned to her office. It hadn’t taken long, and it had given him some measure of peace. That made it totally worth it.
Now to catch up on her paperwork.
When Elliot opened his eyes, he blinked rapidly at the bright sunshine streaming in through the window. He didn’t move for a long moment, feeling peace and a sense of awareness in his system he hadn’t had in a long time. He’d slept last night. He didn’t know what time it was that Sicily had come in and given him the massage, but since that point, he’d been out like a light. He didn’t even remember her leaving. He wondered how often he could get her to give him a massage. He didn’t want to take advantage of her, but it was becoming very clear that massages were one of the few things that helped put him out. On the other hand, if he could make the hot tub thing work, that might do the same job.
His body felt so heavy, he wanted to lie in bed and relax.
There was a knock at his door and then it opened. Shane stepped in and raised both eyebrows. “Well, I didn’t expect to see you still in bed.”
Elliot smiled. “I literally just woke up.”
“Waking up means you slept, so that is freaking awesome.” Shane glanced at his watch. “You know? You’re already late for your therapy this morning, so I suggest we have a pool session instead.”
Elliot sat up in shock. “Are you saying I missed breakfast?”
Shane laughed. “You missed most of this morning. It’s after 11:00 a.m. already.”
Elliot stared at Shane in surprise. “Holy crap, I haven’t slept like that in a long time.” He slowly rotated his shoulders and his neck. “Sicily gave me a massage after my back seized in the night, and I fell asleep and slept right through.”
“In that case, you’d better talk to her about getting another one tonight,” Shane said. “Massages appear to be the answer for you.”
“I also asked Dani if it was possible to hit the hot tub during the night. Because the heat would definitely help also. I haven’t heard an answer yet.”
Shane nodded. “As long as an orderly is with you, I think that’d be a good idea.”
Elliot stood up slowly. “Should I shower first and then go to the pool? Or do we want to do the pool first? I’m not hungry yet, but I doubt I can go for long on an empty stomach.”
“I suggest we hit the pool for a bit. Then you can have a shower and lunch around one o’clock. Your schedule’s been cleared until two-thirty this afternoon.”
Elliot looked out of the window and blinked, still adjusting to being awake. “Did you do that?”
“Yes. Better you sleep first, then get some physical exercise second and finally food.” He walked from the room. “Meet me at the pool in ten minutes.” Shane gave Elliot a big grin. “Congrats on getting some sleep.”
And damn if it didn’t feel like an accomplishment. Although he owed Sicily for that success.
Elliot brushed his teeth, got into his swim trunks and made his way to the elevator. He was a couple minutes late. He dropped his towel on a bench, went to the deep end of the pool and dove in. As soon as the water closed over his head, he smiled and broke through the surface and struck out strong.
Shane waited at the other side.
Instead of a physical workout in the weight room, it would be a physical workout in the pool. For the first time in a long time, Elliot felt he could handle that. Although, by the time his hour was done, he felt shaky and worn down physically already. Still, he felt decent mentally and emotionally.
As he walked to the bench where his towel lay, Shane joined him. “Got to say Elliot, that was a hell of a workout. If that’s what sleep does for you, we need to find out how to get you more of it.”
Elliot grabbed his towel and rubbed his head down and wiped his face clear of the droplets. “I feel good. I’m hungry, but I feel strong for a change—even though you wore me out.”
“That’s what we want here. Same time tomorrow. Let’s see if you can get some more sleep, and then we’ll get you back into the pool. After a few days of this, we can move to the gym and do some very specific exercises.” On that note, Shane took off for lunch.
Elliot wasn’t quite as full of energy as he had been when he first made it downstairs, so getting back to his room and getting changed took a lot longer. But he showered and got dressed, then stopped at his bed, wondering if he should take the wheelchair to save some energy. Then, deciding he was okay, he grabbed his crutches and made his way very slowly to the kitchen. The dining hall was mostly full, but there were plenty of spaces with both staff and patients eating inside and out.
As he walked along the buffet to see what was on offer, Dennis smiled up at him. “Hey, don’t you look a whole lot better?”
“I have no reason to be better at all,” Elliot joked. “I finished a session in the pool with Shane. That’s brutal.”
Dennis nodded. “But just think—at least you made it through the session. It wasn’t all that long ago you wouldn’t have made it even halfway through.” He quickly served up a big plateful of food and then walked around the buffet to stand beside Elliot. “Do you want this tray inside or outsid
e?” Dennis scooped up the tray, a juice and a water and at Elliot’s request, a cup of coffee, and then led the way to one of the small tables on the deck in the sunshine.
Elliot followed much more slowly. But he knew that today, even slow was still progress. As Dennis had said, a few weeks ago Elliot had looked a lot worse. For the first time in a long time, he was filled with excitement and optimism. He sat in his chair and realized his first meal of the day would be fried chicken, and he couldn’t wait. He set the crutches off to the side and dug in.
Chapter 11
Sicily woke up to find it was already four o’clock. She’d had a lot of trouble sleeping but had managed it eventually. Wishing she could have gone to the pool and the hot tub herself, but not wanting to interfere with the patients’ daytime therapies, she’d stayed in her room, tossing and turning until she finally nodded off. She got up and grabbed a bathing suit and went for a swim. The pool wasn’t empty, but it wasn’t crammed with people either. She dove into the water and proceeded to do laps. When she had done thirty, she pulled herself out and sat down on one of the chairs and lounged in the sun. Now, if she had a coffee and a glass of orange juice, things would be perfect. She closed her eyes and rested.
“There you are.”
She jumped at the familiar voice, and then she opened her eyes and smiled up at Shane. “Hey, how are you doing?”
“Good. I wanted to thank you for seeing Elliot yesterday. He had a marvelous night and is a completely different man. It’s amazing what sleep can do.”
“That’s awesome.” She raised her eyebrows. “His back’s muscle spasms last night were pretty bad. I gave him a short massage to help ease the tension. I wasn’t sure if he was asleep or not when I left, but if he wasn’t, he certainly was out before too long.”
“Also his soul feels a little bit better. Confession and apologies are good for that.”
She chuckled. “He had nothing to apologize for, but I put his worries to rest anyway.”
“The combination was good. He had a much better night, which made today much better.”
She beamed. It made her feel good to think she had helped Elliot in some way. “I’m glad to hear that. He’s a good guy.”
“He is, at that.”
She shook her head and then glanced around to make sure nobody was close enough to overhear. “Maybe you can help me with something. He’s afraid of horses and is refusing to have anything to do with the sessions other than possibly watching part of one session from the other side of the fence. There could be more behind it but he’s not ready to go there yet.”
Shane’s mouth formed an O of surprise, and then he shrugged. “He mentioned the horse thing to me. It’s too bad, but it’s his choice. We can’t deal with everything. At least some of the other patients can give it a try.”
“True. At least if he could see what the others are doing, I think it might help him.”
Shane nodded. “I’m looking forward to seeing what the horse therapist can do. Let me know when it’s all scheduled, so I can fit it into my day.”
“Will do.” She watched as he walked away. She got up and grabbed her towel, wrapped it around herself and headed back to her place. She had to shower and change and then head into town for a few things. Maybe even include a walk in the park for a change of scenery.
Suddenly she remembered she needed to speak to Dani again about the hot tub. That could potentially be another answer for Elliot.
She dressed quickly and headed to the office. As she reached the main office area, she watched as Dani and several other members of the medical staff exited the small meeting room. Sicily waved at her. “Hey, Dani, may I see you for a moment?”
Dani nodded and motioned to her office. “Perfect timing.” She said a few quick goodbyes to the other staff as Sicily entered the small office. Dani shut the door and walked around her desk and sat down. “Would you rather grab a coffee and go for a walk outside?” she asked.
“I’m fine here for the moment. I wanted to check if you decided on the hot tub issue?”
“That came up in the meeting a few minutes ago.” Dani leaned back. “There are a few concerns. One is more patients might want to have the same treatment, and we don’t have the staff to watch over them.”
“That’s a definite concern, but as a night nurse, I can tell you I only ever talk to three patients who are awake at night, and one usually falls asleep easily. The other one hates water. Everyone else is asleep, except Elliot.”
Dani pursed her lips. “The doctors and therapists agree with the suggestion in theory. Others are concerned about the intimacy of the setting.”
That threw Sicily. She stared at Dani in shock. “Are they thinking something inappropriate would happen during that time?”
“They are concerned that it could,” Dani stressed.
“I’m not as well thought of as I’d hoped then,” she said with a frown. “I’m officially at work. The hot tub area is under camera surveillance, and as much as I might be friends with Elliot, I certainly wouldn’t cross the line and have a tawdry sexual encounter with a man in the hot tub.” The longer she sat here the angrier she got.
“Exactly what I told them, but the discussion needed to be out in the open.” Dani smiled. “I’ll speak to both Edward and Paul and let them know their assistance would be needed to get Elliot in and out of the hot tub during their night shifts.”
“Right.” Still a little dazed, hurt and quite royally pissed off, Sicily stood. “I’m sorry. This has thrown me. I’ll leave and try to enjoy the rest of my day before I return to work. Somehow that thought is no longer quite as appealing as it was an hour ago.”
Dani stood with her. She held up a hand, indicating caution. “I didn’t tell you that to upset you. I wanted you to know that the topic was brought up and was discussed, and it was dismissed as not being something we needed to worry about. I wouldn’t be doing my job if we kept it under the table. It’s always better to have subjects like this in the open.”
Sicily nodded. “But why would it even be under consideration?”
“Rules about relationships between staff and patients have changed over the past while and have become a bit more of a concern than before. I understand that you and Elliot may not be at that point. But intimacy in any surroundings moves relationships forward. We wanted to make sure that wouldn’t be a problem.” Dani laughed. “Particularly with the fact that the video cameras are on, I can’t imagine it being an issue.”
Sicily could feel the heat crawling up her skin. She shook her head. “No, I’m not into videos.” She stumbled to the doorway. “But I hadn’t considered that something personal, private and special, especially in its early stages, was something that all the staff discussed.”
“Oh, they aren’t,” Dani rushed to reassure her. She stepped closer and reached out a hand, clasping Sicily’s in her own. “Don’t think that. We were not sitting there gossiping about you. It was an ethical, professional discussion—that’s it. Let me share this bit of backstory with you, because it applies here, and I know you’ll keep it confidential. Since you’ve always worked the night shift over your five years with us, you may not have heard about this. But Sidney and Brock had a passionate kiss in the pool, which Marsha saw and recounted as something much more. We don’t want a repeat of that.”
Sicily studied Dani’s gaze, feeling something settle inside. Finally, she nodded. “For the record, I respect Sidney. But just because she kissed Brock in the pool doesn’t automatically mean I will kiss Elliot in the pool or hot tub or wherever. I feel like I should be judged on my own merit, not based on Sidney or Marsha or anyone else for that matter.”
Dani nodded. “I’ll make sure to mention your concerns in the very next meeting. I’m sorry you are being judged based on the actions of others. It is not fair to you. I’ll make certain that kind of thinking is stopped at the outset from now on.”
“Okay, that makes me feel a bit better.” Sicily shook her head. “But I m
ust admit I was thrown there for a moment.”
“I would be too,” Dani exclaimed, “if I thought that’s what our staff was doing. But it wasn’t anything like that.”
Sicily took a deep breath and walked toward the closed office door. Dani’s voice stopped her.
“We also discussed the equine therapy sessions.”
Sicily faced her. “Any issue with it?”
Dani smiled. “No, not at all. But I do understand that Elliot might have one. Is that correct?”
“Apparently, he’s afraid of horses. He doesn’t want anybody to know and is not prepared to do much about handling it.”
“Of course not. He has enough on his plate.”
“I did get him to agree to at least see some of the therapy in action. I told him he didn’t have to touch a horse or even get close to the horses, but if he could understand it’s not such a scary thing, I thought it would be a step in the right direction.”
“Potentially. But as he’s under a lot of stress now, I wouldn’t want him to feel pressured even to do that much.”
Sicily winced. “You are right. I’ll mention it to him the next time I see him.” She headed to the door again, then turned back. “I think it would be better if you told him about the hot tub. Also, when is the horse therapist coming?”
“She’s booked for next Thursday, at one in the afternoon. She’s just bringing one therapy horse this time. She’ll arrive early to give the horse time to get comfortable. Then we’ll bring down some patients for her to work with.”
Sicily nodded. “That sounds great.” She walked out of Dani’s office. She had been planning on stopping by Elliot’s room, but after the conversation with Dani, she went back to her place and headed into town instead. She could use a break. As much as she loved being at Hathaway, she didn’t quite have that warm, fuzzy feeling about her workplace after what she’d just heard. An hour later she settled into a coffee shop in town. She’d gone to the drugstore and picked up a few essentials as well as the latest novel by her favorite author. At the coffee shop, she ordered a latte and a sandwich and sat back to read. When her phone went off a few minutes later, she frowned and pulled it out.
