Jaden Read online

  “Life is a little busy in your corner,” Brianna said, as she stood. “But speaking of food, you should get one of those ice cream cones before you head home.”

  “What flavors are there?”

  “Well, Dennis gave me maple walnut,” she said, “but I know the guys had three different flavors.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Of course they did. If it wasn’t for the medical staff salaries,” she said, “I think our food bill would be the next biggest expense here. But it’s all good because we are blessed to have our staff and our meals.” At that, Dani stood and said, “Let me show you the apartment.”

  They walked outside past the pool to a long row of apartments. “This side,” she said, “has full-size one-bedroom apartments down halfway, and the other half are more like studios. These apartments on the other side are larger, with more bedrooms, for the married staff and their families.”

  “Right,” she said. “That’s pretty amazing.”

  “We don’t often have that side full,” Dani said, “because a lot of the doctors and nurses live in town and just come back and forth.” She led the way to one of the smaller apartments, then opened it up and stepped inside. “This one’s still vacant.”

  Immediately Brianna smiled at the wash of cool air. “This is lovely,” she said. “And I don’t even need furniture.”

  “I was going to ask if you need a furnished unit or not,” Dani said. “We have both.”

  “I don’t have any, so this is lovely,” she said. They walked through to the single bedroom, which was more of a studio setup and then out back to a small private patio. “I love this,” she repeated, gasping in surprise at the green rolling hills around her. “It’s such a nice place to destress.”

  “Same rules apply when living on the property as when you’re working,” Dani said, “but the pool is accessible for you afterhours. Though we do close it down at eleven and the hot tub as well. Patients come first, from seven to five, but after that, the staff members are free to take advantage.”

  “Thank you so very much, Dani.”

  Dani reached out, and Brianna realized that keys were in her hand. She accepted them and said, “I guess I’ll head back to town and move in tonight.” She couldn’t help but laugh in joy too.

  Dani smiled and said, “You do that. I’ll get the paperwork drawn up for the contract on the property.”

  “And for my full-time job?”

  “And for your full-time job,” Dani said with a smile.

  As Dani took off, Brianna quickly looked around and grinned. “This is so beautiful,” she whispered to herself. She headed back outside. Her workday was done, but she’d left her purse upstairs. She quickly retraced her steps to her office, grabbed her purse and her keys, and headed out to the parking lot. She could have had dinner now too, but, since she had a two-hour window for her meal, she could do that later.

  Right now she wanted to get to her friend’s house and grab her stuff and then move in here. On the way, she called her friend and quickly told her about the change in plans.

  “I’ll miss you, but that’s perfect,” Rosie said. “That sounds like a great idea for you.”

  “Well, I really appreciate you giving me your couch for so long,” she said, “but this is a lovely solution.”

  “It is, indeed. Will you be in town for dinner?”

  “Don’t you have your regular book club meeting tonight?”

  “I do,” she said, “but if you’ll be leaving …”

  “I’m not really leaving though,” she said. “I’ll just be a little bit farther away.”

  “If it’s not that big a deal, then we’ll maybe set up dinner next week sometime.”

  “That would be wonderful,” she said with a grin. “If you’re okay with me coming over now, I’ll head straight home to grab my gear and then come back.”

  “I would love to do something like that too,” Rosie said enviously. “It’s got to be nicer than my place.”

  “Your place is great,” she said. “But, if I can start my life anew, you know that’ll be a good thing too.”

  “Starting life anew is a very good idea,” she said. “And a long time coming. Gerald, that nasty ex of yours, left you at the altar and forced your world into a crumbling heap as it was, so I’m really rooting for you on this one.”

  “Thanks,” Brianna said. She hated the mention of her ex since that was still a raw and open wound in many ways. “At least by leaving me at the altar,” she said, “I found out about him and my maid of honor having an affair before we were actually married. Not that hearing about someone cheating on you is good at any time.” After a moment, she added, “I wonder if they ever got married.”

  “Your ex and your maid of honor?”

  “Yeah. Did you ever hear?”

  “I did hear about Gerald and Jenna occasionally afterward. I just didn’t tell you,” Rosie said. “I didn’t want to mention their names and upset you.”

  “Well, there’s upset and then not being upset,” Brianna said. “It was pretty rough initially at the time, but whatever.”

  “They broke up anyway,” Rosie said.

  Brianna hated the fact that a note of satisfaction settled in her stomach when she heard that. “I should be a bigger person and say, Oh, I’m really sorry,” she noted, “but it’s really hard for me to find that sympathy. At least not yet.”

  “No sympathy needed,” Rosie said. “Once a louse, always a louse.”

  Chapter 2

  When Brianna was fully packed up, she made her way back to Hathaway House, loving that she could live here too. She pulled off to the side of the road before she neared the long driveway, so she could overlook the entire ranch ahead of her. She didn’t even know what you would call this place, all of it included, but Dani had acres where her horses—and the llama—were, and then she had multiple outbuildings as well as the center itself, which included a veterinarian clinic in the bottom floor.

  Brianna had not yet even made her way to see the animals. She had heard about the vet clinic below the main floor where she worked, and she had caught glimpses of the therapy animals being shared with the human patients. Brianna had every intention to check out the animal patients in the clinic as well as the permanent animal residents here. She smiled at that thought and reminded herself to do that. Soon.

  She drove carefully toward where the apartments were, then took her assigned parking spot and started unloading everything. She was more than delighted to live here. As she took out her last load, she looked up to see one of the men on the deck above, outside the cafeteria area. She waved a hand and called out, “Good evening.”

  “Good evening,” he said back.

  She quickly dropped off that last box to her new apartment and then made her way closer to him, standing on the grass below the upper deck. “Did I miss dinner?”

  “I don’t think so,” he said. “But I just arrived today, so I’m not sure.”

  She raced up the stairs and recognized him as one of the men who had had the ice cream earlier. She smiled at him. “If you’re up for some company,” she said, “I’ll see if I can grab some food first before my time runs out and then join you.”

  His eyebrows popped up, and he nodded. “Absolutely,” he said. “I’m just finishing.”

  “Good. Can I get you anything while I’m there?” She turned to look at him as she walked slightly backward to the cafeteria line.

  “I might come and get seconds in a bit,” he said. “Go ahead and get yours first.”

  She raced up to see Dennis standing there, cleaning up a lot of the trays. “Did I miss out?”

  “Some of it’s gone, but we always have something to offer,” he said. “What would you like?”

  “Just give me a plate of goodness,” she said.

  He nodded and served her a massive amount of a beautifully unique salad. It had chickpeas and olives, and it looked like a variation of a Greek salad with skewers of meat and some beautiful rice, yello
w in color, with vegetables and maybe raisins too, but she didn’t quite know for sure. With that cursory glance, she put it on her tray, grabbed a bottle of water and some cutlery, and headed to where the guy was who she’d talked to earlier.

  As she placed her tray down, she said, “Thanks for offering to share your table.”

  “I think here,” he said, “we all share.”

  She smiled, nodded, and said, “I’m Brianna, by the way.”

  “Jaden,” he offered. “And I literally just arrived today, so I don’t know anything about the place.”

  “And I arrived almost four weeks ago,” she said with a conspiratorial look. “So we’re both newbies.”

  “Wow,” he said. “Yet you act like you’re very comfortable here.”

  “I am to a certain extent,” she said. “But now I just moved into one of the resident apartments, and that’s made my life a little easier.”

  “I’m sure it went well then,” he said. “You work here?”

  “Oh, sorry,” she said, as she paused and looked at him. She gave a shake of her head. “Yes, I’m one of the nurses. I was part-time, but now I’m full-time.”

  “Good for you,” he said. “Well, obviously I’m one of the patients.”

  She smiled and nodded. They ate in companionable silence, and then suddenly Dennis was at her side. “Jaden, how are you doing?”

  Jaden looked up at him and smiled. “I think I’m good,” he said.

  “Do you want any more dessert or other food?”

  “I think I’m full. That traveling is likely to upset my system as it is.”

  “Got it,” he said. Dennis took away his plate as well as the rest of his cutlery. “Do you want anything else to drink now?”

  Jaden shook his head. “I’ll probably crash after this.”

  “Good enough,” he said. He looked over at Brianna. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m doing great,” she mumbled around a chunk of meat that she’d popped off from the skewer and into her mouth.

  Dennis grinned and took off.

  “Is everybody this friendly?” Jaden asked. “I came from an institution where people speak in whispers, low voices, and everyone doesn’t want to disturb anybody.”

  “It’s not like that here at all,” she said.

  Just then came several barks.

  Jaden turned in surprise to see an older man and a great big Newfoundlander walking toward the edge of the deck. The dog stopped beside Jaden and woofed. Jaden reached out a hand, and the dog immediately came closer, looking for ear scratches.

  The older man looked at him, smiled, and said, “I’m the Major,” he said. “Dani is my daughter.”

  Jaden smiled, reached out a hand, and shook it, whereas Brianna stared at him.

  “Wow,” Brianna said. “You’re the one she started this for.”

  “Yep, in a way,” he said. “Although I’d say both of us started this.”

  Brianna immediately felt embarrassed. “I just heard rumors,” she rushed in to save her mistake.

  He lifted a hand. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “What we’ve built, we’ve built. But she has carried it on.” He reached down, scratching the dog on her head. “This is Helga. She’s around all the time too.”

  Both of them stopped for a moment to give her a cuddle, but Helga now stared and sniffed at the meat on Brianna’s plate.

  “Just remember to never feed any of the animals around here,” the Major said. “Most of them have stomach issues over the more obvious physical ones, and too much human food just causes them more trouble.”

  “I’ve heard about that,” Brianna said, giggling, “but Helga is not listening to you.”

  The Major gave a shout of laughter. “No, she’s not, but I’ll take her for a walk along the paddocks to distract her and to get her away from this temptation.” And he called Helga to his side, and the two descended the stairs and took off toward the fenced-in area. Several of the horses came wandering over to see the Major. He talked with a few of them and then kept going toward the others.

  “It’s beautiful here,” she said dreamily.

  “It is,” he said. “For you, it’s home and work. For me, it’s a place to rest and to heal and then to move on.”

  “A small distinction,” she said, “but one that is very important.”

  “Exactly,” he said with half a smile. “And, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll head to my room now.” And he slowly pushed his wheelchair back from the table, pivoted, and headed inside to the cafeteria and beyond.

  “Have a good night,” she called out. He lifted a hand and wheeled away. She picked up the next piece of souvlaki and dug in. She understood that, for him, this wasn’t necessarily an easy place to be. But, for her, well, it was darn near perfection.

  Jaden headed to his room. It was barely early evening yet, but he also had several of his medical team members who he expected to stop in to see him, to greet him, to give him tips and pointers and other info. He didn’t even know who they all were still. Back in his room, he made his way onto the bed before collapsing in relief. As he did so, a head poked around the corner. He looked up and smiled to see one of his doctors, given the white lab coat.

  “I’m Dr. Blackwell,” he said. “I hear you’ve just arrived, and you’ve been assigned to my team.”

  “Or you’ve been assigned to my team,” Jaden said with a laugh.

  “True enough,” the doctor said with a smile. He sat down for a moment in the only chair in the room, and they went over a few of the things that he needed to check up on from Jaden’s latest test results. “Your physical file still is not here, but I’ve been given a short overview, which I’ve just confirmed here with you,” he said. “But, as soon as I get the full medical record on you, I’ll review it. For now, do you need anything to help you sleep for the night?”

  “Dennis mentioned that I should get some muscle relaxants for my first night,” Jaden said, as he stretched out fully now, dropping his head back on the pillow. “But honestly, after all that traveling, I’m pretty tired. So I doubt I’ll need any help.”

  Dr. Blackwell chuckled. “I happen to agree with our armchair advisor, Dennis. I’ll leave you a couple muscle relaxants on your bedside table with a glass of water for tonight. That way, you don’t have to get up, if you suddenly awake in pain.”

  Jaden nodded his thanks.

  “But feel free to press the Call button at any time, especially for those painful episodes.”

  “Thanks.”

  “So are you eating? Are your bowels moving? How is your stress level, from a range of one to ten?”

  By the time they were done discussing these matters, and the doctor had gone, Jaden felt even more tired. Two more people poked their heads in. One was Shane for his physical therapy needs, and one was the psychologist, his shrink. Her name, he had already lost track of.

  “And don’t forget,” she said. “A lot of information about a lot of our systems are coming at you real fast and all at once on this your very first day. Don’t worry. Everything is on your tablet. You can find and contact any of us anytime you want. Feel free to ask questions of anybody, and, if we don’t have the answer, we’ll find someone who does.”

  “Thank you,” he said.

  As she walked toward the door, she stopped, looked at him, and said, “How do you feel about your recovery so far? From your last rehab center?”

  He stared at her blankly.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Do you feel like you’re there yet? Do you feel like you’re 100 percent there or 50 percent there or have you just started on this rehab journey?”

  “I would have said, prior to coming here, that I was already done,” he said. “But I see from Iain that, in his case, a lot more progress was available to be gained.”

  “In his case?”

  Jaden nodded. “Because I didn’t think something like that was available for me, I thought I’d hit as far as I would go.”

  “So, le
t me ask you this,” she said, as she walked back into his room a few steps. “Do you feel like you’ve given up?”

  “No,” he said, “but I do feel like the medical practice gave up on me.”

  She smiled a brilliant smile that lit up the room. “Good,” she said.

  “That makes you happy? I don’t understand.” Puzzled he studied her, not sure where she was coming from.

  “And we’ll talk about that too,” she said, “as time goes on. But that’s an answer I do love to hear.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because what it means to me is that you didn’t give up on you.”

  Chapter 3

  Several days later Brianna crossed Jaden’s path again. She found herself in line behind him at lunch. He was looking decent and chipper but not any different. “Hey,” she said. “How are you doing?”

  He looked at her in surprise, then recognized her and smiled. “Well, I’m a few days ahead from when we first met,” he said.

  “Have you adjusted?”

  “No,” he said with a head shake. “Not sure how long it takes to adjust to the craziness of here. It’s so different from the VA hospital. But different in a good way. It’s a lot to take in.”

  She laughed. “Good point,” she said with a smile. “I’m a little further along, so I can say that the adjustment gets easier.”

  “Maybe,” he said. “So, far it’s tests and meeting people and talking, but …”

  Such disgust was in his tone that she burst out laughing. “You don’t want them to jump into something like your rehab when they don’t have a plan in place first, do you?”

  “No, but I hate waiting,” he admitted grudgingly.

  At that, Dennis turned to look at him. “So, if you don’t like waiting,” he said, “what is it you’ll have today, young master?”

  “You’re not that much older than I am,” Jaden protested. But they quickly wrangled their way to his food choices.

  By the time Jaden had a full plate, she’d sorted out what she wanted. Dennis gave her a plateful of her own, and she headed over to grab water.